Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 291, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 December 1910 — MANEUVRING AN ARMAY WITH AEROPLANES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MANEUVRING AN ARMAY WITH AEROPLANES

HE great millin tary mapoeuvers 111 picardy by the Second and Third Corps of the French army which took Place early in September, probably were the most scientifically planned and executed of any of the great national war games that the nations of Europe have played as yet. ese manoeuvers the utility of aeroplanes and dirigibles for actual warfare was given its most severe test. The aeroplanes proved to be a “tost marvelous means ol \ transm ittlng orders “id unsurpassed for reconnoitering. The dirlgiblea were used in trans> mltting messages long distances. Paris was supposed to be beleaguered, and one of these giant cylindrical balloons was

Bent across the bills and plains and dropped A Bas el y to its) appointed resting place in tbe heart of tbe French capital, France has the number of air-

en employed in its army of any na- . °°, the world. In the manqeuvers n Picardy eleven aeroplanes and four dirigibles were in use. As the result of these tests the French army's serial fleet will be increased without delay. The military authorities already possess thirty aeroplanes, and orders have been given for thirty more to be delivered as soon as possible. They will consist of ten Bleriot monoplanes and twenty Farman biplanes, seven of which are to be capable of carrying two passengers, besides the pilot, and making a single flight of 180 miles at a minimum speed of thirty-six miles an hour. Prizes have been offered by the minister of war for machines that will fly in excess of this speed. Never before has there been such a great contrast in mimic warfare as in these evolutions in Picardy. Moving along the highways were great automobile wagon trains loaded with supplies for the troops. Far in advance and high up in the air soared the aeroplanes. They seemed like huge-winged birds of prey hovering over the earth ready to swoop down when they sighted their quarry. In reality they were spying out the position of the opposing force which, under ordinary circumstances, would have been hidden by the contour of the country. The aeroplanes moved swiftly to and fro directing the slower progress of the foot soldiers and the cavalry and the supply trains. Because the air-men made the way sure and plain for those upon the earth, the troops lost no time or effort in aimless wanderings, but proceeded directly to their destination by the shortest route. The first and most important principle of the art of war consists of concentrating at a given time at some point in contact with the enemy a force superior to his at that point. One eminent authority expressed it as the principle of “giftin' than fusttest with the mostest men.” The rest of the game of war is a relatively simple operation. It resolves itself into the mere question of comparative man-killing or man-scaring capacity. All other considerations being anywhere near equal, the question of being able to move rapidly is the thing that counts in war. The best of troops are worthless to a commander unless he can have them where be wants them when he wants them, and, moreover, In a condition to do what he wants them to do. The fighting men are useless unless they can reach the place of conflict in time to take part in it, and they are equally without value if the effort to get there exhausts them. That Is why the aeroplanes, are so tremendously useful in spying out the location of the enemy and enabling the troops to reach that point with the very least amount of exertion. But no matter how fast the troops may march they must be fed regularly. That is where* the automobile supply trains come in—huge motor driven trucks that never grow tired. A bursting shell might disable the horses dragging the commissary wagons or the ammunition caissons, but it would take a well placed shot in a vital part of an automobile’s machinery to put it out of commission. Then, too, a wounded cannot be repaired, but a wounded motor truck can be patched up unless it is blown into smithereens. The problem -of food supplies is one of the great things in war. It is an old and trite saying that an army really travels upon its belly. An army 1> a clty Aung down suddenly, over night, as it were, in the country. It moves day by day in such a manner as to require constant attention and changes of plan as to its subsistence. It cannot move a step faster than its food supply travels and it <*“ maintain a position only as long as it i« fMMdy fed there. An

W \ army with a full stomach I will fight every step of the J w ay if it has to retreat. If It is hungry the retreat .will be turned into a rout. In the French army quite as much attention is paid to giving the soldiers the kind of food they have been accustomed to and plenty of it at regular Intervals as to anything else. American army officers who have watched the big manoeuvers, like those In Picardy, say two Frenchmen can live well on what one American civilian cook wastes. Yet it is quite likely the French soldier can march as far and be just as fresh at the end of the journey as the American. The French are ahead of the Germans in the matter of cooking scientifically. Also the French soldier knows about as well as any In the world that his ration must be made to last for the full period of time for which It is Issued, and that once It is eaten or wasted or given away the balance of the period will be a foodless one, be It- twenty-spur hours or three days. This is an Important thing for the soldier to realize, for the gross weight of one day’s rations for an army of 150,000 men is 520,141 pounds. It takes more than 100 automobile trucks, such as those used for the French army, to haul a day’s supplies of food. But all this vast machinery Is necessary. Napoleon once said: “According to the laws of

war every general who loses his lines of communication deserves death.” For if once the foe successfully interrupts the flow of food to his opponent’s firing line his victory is practically assured. These great manoeuvers of large bodies of armed men are a common thing in Europe and are beginning to be common tn this country. Civilians often wonder wherein is the sense of spending hours, days, weeks, teaching a man to stand in a certain fashion, to step in a certain way or to carry a gun in a certain manner. They ask themselves what difference it makes whether the soldier faces to the right, or to the left about, or whether he rubs shoulders with the same man or a different one day after day. To these people it seems like a waste of time training large bodies of men to step a pace this way or that and to do it instinctively, automatically, always just the same, so they could not do it In any other way to save their lives. Yet although all this may seem trifling and purposeless it is like the Interminable polishing and oiling of a delicate mechanism. It is the process by which is manufactured a human machine that will work cheerfully to exhaustion, starve without a murmur,. or march up to the cannon’s mouth merely because the voice they have been trained to recognize tells them to. It is the means by which the hallmark of proficiency is placed upon the professional soldier, and that is the ultimate end of these great manoeuvers.

NEW AND OLD METHODS OF CONVEYING INFORMATION IN WAR