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Show Yank Superior To Nazi Soldier U. S. Fighters Better Than Enemy on Most Counts, Says Col. Stovall. WASHINGTON. The U. S. soldier sol-dier has shown himself to be superior su-perior to German fighters on most counts, says Col. Albert S. J. Stovall of the cavalry, who has just returned re-turned from a six-month observation tour in the Mediterranean war theater the-ater for the army ground forces. "There is no evidence on the front line that we are a soft people," Colonel Stovall, whose home is at Elberton, Ga., reported. "I am being be-ing absolutely honest when I say that in no particular has the American Ameri-can soldier shown himself inferior to the best of the Nazi fighters. In endurance, en-durance, bravery and every other quality a soldier must have, the American soldier will match his German Ger-man adversary and on most counts he has shown superiority." Our ground soldiers, he declared, have proved themselves to be equal to any emergency. They fight without with-out asking or giving quarter and, at the same time, carry on the war ' against disease which Stovall said ; was a bitter foe to any army. j Heroes in Front Lines. "I wish everyone could realize," , said Stovall, "that the man who ! slugs it out with the enemy on the front line the combat trooper is I really the toD hero of them alt "To him," the colonel said, "there, will not be one melee, one moment! of concentrated combat; to him' those moments happen over and ' over again." "Great" battles, which to the soldier sol-dier surpass such achievements as the landing at Tarawa or Salerno, ' are going on hour after hour on the front lines, Stovall said. ' "We are too prone to think in terms of 'big' battles of a landing at Salernoi or Tarawa. To the individual in-dividual s6ldier a dozen artillery shells landing near him, a few enemy ene-my machine guns trained in hi.',' direction, di-rection, make for him a 'big' bat-: tie. As 'great' a battle may be fought by a few soldiers over a few yards of front as though the battle; were ranging over miles of terrain." , Describes Big Battle. i Describing what he termed one of the "great" battles, Stovall said it was fought for a German-held hill in the Gangi Heights sector of Sicily. "The space was so small and the area of maneuver so limited that only two or three squads of men could be used," he said. "Time after time those few squads went up and over a small crest that had to be crossed in reaching the hill. Time after time the Germans beat them back. "The leader of the small assaulting assault-ing force called for artillery fire. Those men advanced, separated by only 25 yards from this concentrated concen-trated fire. They had to do it to do the job. Of course, our own artillery artil-lery fire caused casualties, but those were nothing to what the casualties would have been in this final assault without artillery fire. Finally, late in the day, the Germans were driven from the hill and our objective was reached." i |