ITALY'S EAGLES OF COMBAT AND DEFENSE 



Heroic Achievements of Aviators Above the Adriatic, 

 the Apennines, and the Alps 



By Kindness of General P. Tozzi, Chief of the Italian 



Military Mission 



IN THE supreme struggle of civili- 

 zation the employment of twentieth 

 century warfare's most important 

 weapon, the airplane, has entailed tre- 

 mendous sacrifice and called forth inspir- 

 ing deeds of heroism on the part of 

 Italy's airmen. 



None of the other Allied nations has 

 faced such a variety of difficulties in the 

 terrain over which its flyers have had to 

 operate incessantly since the peninsula 

 kingdom declared war on Austria in May, 

 19 1 5. For two years the battle line ran 



tortuously among the perpetual snows of 

 the Alps, and high above the mountain 

 peaks Italy's aviators performed with 

 stoic fortjtude their patrol of the skies, 

 ever watchful of the enemy's planes and 

 keenly alert in scouting for information 

 to aid their own advancing Alpine troops. 

 While one branch of the Italian avia- 

 tion service has been employed as aux- 

 iliary to the land forces, an even more 

 numerous force had to be organized at 

 the beginning of the war to protect Ven- 

 ice and many other beautiful and historic 



A SALVAGE CREW HOISTING AN ENEMY AIRPLANE WHICH BECAME A SUBMARINE 

 AFTER AN ENCOUNTER WITH A VICTORIOUS ITALIAN AIRMAN 



38 



