Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 161, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1915 — MOTORS IN ARMY SERVICE [ARTICLE]

MOTORS IN ARMY SERVICE

Wonderful System Has Been Evolved for Transportation of Supplies During the War. Twenty thousand men are now engaged in the mechanical transport section of the British army service corps on the continent. In addition to the transport of men, ammunition and food, motors also serve for ambulance work, dispatch services, searchlights and gun carriers for antiaircraft service. Among recent developments are the motor kitchens and motor bath houses. For reasons of- safety the railway base must be kept well in the rear of the battle line. But the motors practically continue the railway service up to a point from which horse transports or other motors can distribute the supplies. One of the striking features of this war is the motor transport column. With each vehicle keeping station, about fifty yards apart, and running to a set speed limit, trains nearly a mile long wind over the roads carrying the hundreds of tons of food and ammunition required by the army. A well-arranged traffic system, with motor-cycle dispatch riders, keeps these huge convoys under control, and their smooth working is a guarantee that the men in the trenches are well supplied. The vast fleet of motor omnibuses forms an important part of this transport army, and on occasion, says the Sphere, they are used to carry men from point to point when rapid movement Is required. Eye-Witness graphically describes the operations of the motor transport at the front "This war,” he says, "has at different times been characterized as a war of high explosives, a war of howitzers, a petrol war. In two senses can the struggle on land be called a petrol war. The employment of this substance in the internal combustion engine has rendered aviation possible, and has also immensely simplified the work necessary for the supply of the army. Indeed, to such an extent has mechanical propulsion, whether of steam or petrol-driven vehicles, especially the latter, taken the place of animal traction, that the change caused may not unfairly be compared to the revolution brought about by the introduction of railways.”