The farmer and mechanic. [volume], October 06, 1914, Page 11, Image 11

About The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??

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THE FARMER AND MECHANIC.
11
HOW A MODERN BATH
AS VIEWEDJA BYSTANDER
m'wiA neral ?af ' Ay Gi Out Interview
"What does a real battle Kiok like
to the bystander these days?" This
ijuestion, homely and ungrammati
ral. yet persistently insistent, the ma
jority of America's 100,000,000 are
asking themselves each day.
For the dispatches from Kuro
though they fill columns of the
dailies, are held down, by reason of
disjointed censorship, to more or less
disjointed items from a battleline 200
miles long sprinkled through with
poetic metaphors of how a division
was "mowed down" or some fort was
"a veritable hell," or some brigade
was surrounded and "swept away";
all which take the reader back to
youthful Friday afternoons at school,
when in fear and trembling he recited
The Charge of the Light Brigade"
and "Hohenlinden," but doesn't get
him very far in forming an idea of
what a real battle looks like."
Nowhere, indeed, thanks to this
same censorship, has the public been
aMe to get a clear and coherent ac
count of the actual details as con
trasted with the battlefields of half a
century ago. If dodging bullets . on
the firing line were an ev.y-day oc
currence to the every-day man, like
dodging automobiles on the street
crossings, the dispatches would con
vey some idea. Hut unfortunately,
not one man in 10,000 has any data
or experience from which to visualize
the things that actually occur when
thousands of men, armed with mod
ern arms, clash upon the lattlefield
:ti article in the Washington Star
cays.
The pictures and accounts f the
battles in our civil war are worse than
useless as guides, or even aids, to an
understanding of the modern con-
llict. for conditions have been so rad
ically changed by the marvelous ad
vance made in both offensive and de
lensive armaments in the last fifty
years that any conclusions drawn from
the battles of a generation ago are as
worthless as those drawn from the
battles around Troy a thousand years
lore Christ.
The censorship, with lines drawn to
a lightness unknown in all previous
wars, renders it impossible for the
most enterprising war correspondent
to obtain the facts and details if the
i. hial battlefields that he would eag
rly write, could they be gotten at.
-Vnil the survivors of the civil war can
iily emphasize the fact that battles
today are mighty different frcm what
they were in their fighting days, with
out being able clearly to set forth
the difference.
Vet. through all these recent and
radical changes in the form of battle,
wrought by the tremendous revolution
in firearms. Uncle Sam has been able
to obtain, for his own private use, a
pretty clean-cut conception of yst
how a modern battle is fought today.
Jn his army he has an organization,
known as the general staff, composed
of hi best soldiers, whose business is
to keep abreast of all thii.gs martial
the world over. And not only abreast
are they; if it funics to actual fighting,
this general staff will probably be
found ahead of the line in up-to-date
tactics and strategy.
Officer (lives Interview.
A Star representative, therefore,
fought out and obtained an interview
w ilh an ofTicer of this body, who, while
Mndly consenting to give all necessary
infoi ination, for obvious reasons with
holds his name.
"The changes in the actual opera
tions of battle made in the last fifty
years are most radical," said this of
ficer. "Indeed, they are almost revo
lutionary. The direct cause of this
the marvelous advance made in of
fensive weapons. There is almost as
much difference between the modern
Hick-firing field gun, as compared to
the cannon of 1861, or the modern
rifle, as compared to the old muzzle
loader of the same period, as dere
J1'" between those weapons and the
bow and spear of medieval days,
therefore, upon their introduction
into practical war, the methods of at
tack and defense had to undergo
changes equally radical; for a field
'Miration that, in the civil war, would
have been perfectly feasible, would,
in the face of n.odern guns be sui
cide." "What are the most 'marked
changes in the actual conduct of a
battle?" was asked the officer.
"I think that the infantry attack
hii an intrenched position has prob
ably undergone more radical changes
III?" anything vse," was the reply.
I hat, by the -way, is the most im
iH.rtant of all movements in battle,
indeed, it is upon such infantry at
tacks that pitched battles generally
turn. The raids and reconnoissances
f the cavalry, the shelling; of the
nemy's positions by the artillery .are
tl mere preliminaries to the heart of
the battle the attack of infantry in
T,rce upon the main body of the
ncmy. So matter how successful the
Rivalry and artillery may be, if the
infantry attack fails the battle is lost.
-Now. the introduction of lo-ng-??iKj
;n1 rapid-ftre jruns has com
piled the total abandonment of the
-fashioned methods of inCant y .at
tack. The day of the specta ular
martial themselves in the open in
close-drawn lines in full view oT the
enemy-hut out of range T M n ,
in preparation for an aslau It and
nn, ; the d . vr;!
tranche, v ver the "y'
2Lx y' sIjread ut in full view
strike terror to the foe bv a show of
numbers. Such movements as these
common enough a half eentuk ago
SyJntf;,tter destruction "today
idea of a modern infantry charge i to
compare it to or rather contrail it
with similar movements in the civil
war, and note the differences
Compared With Our Var.
In those days the cannon wt had
were not effective at a distance great
better Tn V00 yards
2rf mU8kets rifles used
ere, for the most part, muzzle-load-
ISo onr lre eeetive "o re than
Port w yds- lf- nded. that,
lurthermor , it took from three to
four minutes to load .and fire a can
non. After firing in had to le swab-
?rUV uh lack into position
from where the recoil had flung it
loaded, primed and aimed The
muskets and rifles could not be fired
oftener than once a minute, and owing
to the lack of uniformity in the am
munition the matter of sighting at
anything more than 100 yardj was a
matter of guesswork.
"Under these conditions an infantry
attack upon the enemy's lines was a
simple thing, com oared to m.i.-.,
tack. Take, for instance, the most
ccieoiuioa enarge in the civil war
ine enarge of Pickett'
Gettysburg. Here 14, C00 Confederates
lormeu tnemselves in three battle lines
at a distance of about a mile from the
reueral lines and marrhpri Tit
front a mile in extent m-p non ii...
that afforded no kind of cover rr nrr.
tection, straight up to the trenches of
me union soldiers. Here, after re
maining for fifteen minutes, thev were
driven back. Their loss was but five
or six thousand. The whole battle was
over in less than an hour.
I do not mean to detract from tho
bravery of those daring men, whose
fame has gone down in historv hut
merely to note that, compared to what
such a body of attacking troops would
have to encounter todav undev the
same conditions, their work wa? at
least possible, as the result shuwod
ine enemy s cannon could not play
upon them with effect until thev were
well on their march, and the rifles of
the Union infantry could not rem-h
tnem until they were within or
400 yards of the trench e n nr H irt it
become highly effective until they were
well Within 300 yards. Moreover the
defending riflemen could only load
ana nre two or three times before the
attacking troops were upon them."
"How would a commander ,attacl
reply. "Such an order would be in
was asked the officer.
"He would not attack it," was the
such a position with infantry today?''
slant murder of every soldier in the
attacking force. While such an act
is without precedent, I should say
that the subordinate. comma nrlers
would, in all likelihood, refuse to obey
sucn a command on the ground of the
insanity of the commanding officer
w mi me rapiu-nrmg cannon and
rifles of today everv man of the 14.
00.0 would be killed half a dozen times
before he had gone 100 yards across
those open fields.
Attacking Kntrenehed Positions.
"Hut battles are foueht and in
fantry do attack intrenched positions
today, do they not?" was queried.
"Yes." replied the officer, "but in
vastly different manner. Iiet us sup
pose a modern campaign, such as is
tatting place m France. The con
frontinsr lines, with their hosts o
men, stretch for countless miles and
the battle is really made up of a serie.
of battles along these lines. The out
come of the lattle is the net result o
all these smaller conflicts.
"Let us take a section of five mile
in this battle line and see how a bat
tie is conducted. Both sides are en
trenched, their trenches beiner severa
miles apart probably, so as to be out
of range of cannon. The general of
one side commanding the troops along
this front, on determining to make an
assault, first endeavors bv -everv oos-
aihle iriAans "tx fin.fi out the Btrnpth
and disposition of the enemy's forces
along tnis iive-miie line, lor it must
Itf borne in mind that trooos are not
placed shoulder to shoulder, like posts
an a row, aiong xre wnoie ime.
'Ilather, they it re concentrated at
favorable positions at intervals Along
the line with artillery -and horse -and
foot soldiers so disponed as to guard
and protect the intervals. J nus, there
-
may oe a space or a mue or more i be
tween two of these fortified positions
in -which there is not a single soldier
stationed. JUit investigation would
show that this interna! was swept
by the artiHery of both positions and
the inlantry stationed o that they
could make a -deadly flank attack on
any force of the enemy darinr rn.jrh
o try ti treak thrcush .hr.- Tin-t
the whfle line is 'controlled.
15ut sonie places are. of n,tir-
more weakly defendfd than eihets!
And the attacking ccnerl fns.t tnri
to di5ci,ver the weakest point f all
In's he d'tes by scuts. both iti !h
air and in the cavalry service, by fruit
a i lack.. I'V stues in vh.,rt
.-- - ..... . UE
method that will disci e- the weak
ness of the line.
"There are many factor th.it p., ir.
letermine the weakness ,f a position.
oi niy is the number r it irr.i.n.
and cannon to le considered, but aiso
me number that can be brought up
to reinforce it when the
that it is tfi te made the point of at-
n r. Ana what has become in mH.
em warfare . a determining fucim
eqiuil in weight to any other cnd
emtifn is the nature of the cunT-x-
in front of the tosition
This, as comTvared t4 jf imnmt.
ance a half century ago, has become
iJiuiucaiiy a new tactor. hN.r. if the
grounci ior one or two miles in front
of the objective position does not of
fer some de-ree of shelter and pro-
hpi me attacking f c rce. that
position may le COnsirtererl
sailable. even though held bv a com
paratively weak force.
lTsin; the Artillery.
We Will SUPnoSe. then thit rmr
commanding general, after a careful
examination, has learned that a cer
tain mile of the line is held by 4.000
men, supported by thirty guns that
is, the guns are placed in position in
the rear of the defending trenches in
such way as to fire upon the ground
is tmiaea here and there bv stone
fences, strewn with boulders," gullies
zigzagging through it, hillocks and
rock ridges traversing it in rtifr.
directions in short, offering many
smau sneiters for advancing troops.
And he determines that this offers
the most favorable point for attack.
And his determination is reached on
account of the favorable shelter that
the ground offers' his attacking
troops.
"He now-brings up sufficient artillery-
to give him a superiority of tire.
This is absolutely essential; it is laid
down in all books on modern tactics
as the first rule of attack, to obtain
a distinct superiority of fire over the
enemy at the point of attack. Of
course, the enemy is not aware of
this concentration of artillery, for
every move is hidden from his prving
eyes.
"This artillery he places within
close range if possible that is, within
2,500 or 3,500 yards of the enemy's
trenches. This is considered the ideal
distance for field guns, for with mod-
-m kuiis amiierymen can nit a
sentry box at that distance, wliile still
being out of range of the enemies'
rifles.
His artillery in place, the general
now brings up his attacking infantry.
Here, too, he must have a superiority
of fire, for these men have a double
duty to perform; they must not only
use their rifles against the enemy,
but they must advance upon him
over more than a mile swent. as fui
as possible, by that enemy's fire of
neict gun and rifle.
"As an assaulting column, then he
brings, let us say. 10.000 trooos. These
he didives into three bodies; the first
the firing line, the second the sup
ports and the third the reserves.
These troops are formed in the three
lines behind one another in some po
sition well screened from the
enemy's view.
"At the word the first line moves
forward. Not. as at Gettysburg or at
Fredericksburg, shoulder to shoulder,
keeping step in martial array with
gleaming arms and blazing uniforms
in full view of the foe, but by small
squads, by twos and threes, by indi
viduals, perhaps, clothed in dull
Khaki that melts into the landscape.
Stealing along in this manner, crouch
ing to the better escape obesrvation,
they make their way forward, taking
advantage of every means to shelter
and concealment to prevent their dis
covery' by the enemy's gunners.
"J-ong lines of them creep in single
file up the gullies or behind fences, or
moving diagonally to get the protec
tion of some ridge or hillock, make
their way cautiously forward. Over a
front of perhaps a mile these little
parties creep forth, apparently in
aimless disorder, but, in fact, dom
inated by one master mind and one
mastering idea.
Defending- Artillery ItcVios.
"Meantime their artillery behind
them has opened upon the enemy's
trenches. Over their heads the shells
fly screaming, and. after a few trial
shots, hurst squarely upon or in front
of the enemy's trenches. This can
nonading pounds away, not at a single
point of the enemy's line, but over a.
space of perhaps xl mile or more; for
it is a serious blunder to disclose thus
early to the foe the exact point of
rttack and thus give him time to
hurry up reinforcements before the
-attacking troops can Assault it.
"'And now the artillery of the de
fenders commence to reply to the
cannon of the attacking army. Their
heavy ?runs train upon the cannon;
their stwall rapid-firers sweep the
ground in front, searching out every
spot where the advancing infantry
may find concealment. Tins, how
ever, is liable to prove ineffectual, for
the commanding general of the at
tacking force has een to it that he
has superior w-eight vf artillery, and
so. in a short tne. he has proband y
silenced most of the -de fetid ing guns.
Mean4rroe the firing line has con
tinued to creep forward and now.
r-t'T-d in -nui Kr-up lrhtnd hiU
ai d boulder and fncr and
crouching in ditchc and cul'.o they
ha"r come within runs; (f the rifl
in the d fn:Jj.g trt-nehm Krcm
!on; the remy's poMticn th re v..ur
-i Mady tr :n t.f fire, ytrsvinc t
halt the cr,j.srg croups of khki.
Thereupon the artillery !upp.rtng
the .tttaV k rd-ube it. cf!rt
the trenchr.
"Th-y with hrapteS, th.it
deudheM f iiunsiI.-s Ttt ttilert.
f-'hrapne! he!j ntairs tw. hundred
and .uci fifty -two bullets. It ran
thrown with fatal accuracy l a point
a hunritd yards m trtul .f tt
trenche-, where, striking the gnu.v
it bursts ami erul it ddi 1
of lead in a .thowcr of leaden mm
full against tr-ncli. Nothing car. liv
in that hail
"'prradirc tait f.nwi tte irt.t
f lead sw eet s clem i, .t?H f.ftv v .
wide an 1 six hundred v.rfiw
lnagine what a v ritable" hell ti - T.,
have forty guns, each firm mi time
minute. lammir sh runnel ,1..ua. ...
a trench half a mile long.
I nuir the deadly fi re 111' rtlr-n in
the trenches h:ive "vm-.n
raise themselves above the brt t
works and fire with any ucwrat ul
the approaching en inv Tl.v
the first attack hnve ".-., t
along the trenches at the kiou-c of a
man to a yard. liunnin biick from
the front trenches are hitorui t-.n.,-
es trending diagonally tt protect them
om ironuil fire. These lend t.. ti.e
protected ptitions in tle ivar where
tne supports and res-rvcs are iyiig.
FtHtling In Hie 1 1 mini u tJrisi.
"As the im-ii in the trenches fi)l
the supports are fed up through the
lateral trenches and take the
of the killed un.i u.. nim.i r.. ti,.
line must be kept at its nuuitmitn
strength. And er thev Mnve, in
siite of tne hail of hail" from "the
shrapnel, to lift above the breast
works arui pour their fire into the
advancing infantry. It i. tnnwt try
ing position, that of these defendes.
thus rootci in tinir truieho, ikuIm'
to go either forward or UrkuHnl,
while the flying death goes hurtling
just overhead; to U- waiting there by
inches, as it were, for that nipr me
moment when it shall come to a
hand-to-hand struggle with that slow
ly creeping foe out there in front. To
a nervous man it is much more trying
than that of the assailants; thy at
least have some outlet for their nerv
ous tension.
"Hut though the defenders' state be
an evil one, it is not all rakes and
ale with that advancing line of at
tack. The enemy's guns, lately si
lenced by superior weight of met;,!,
hae been hurriedly reinforced, and
the new gunners. having swift I v
found the range, are pouring in a
withering fire upon the assailants.
The commanding olticer has n Kbo.
down, whether fatally or not i not
known, and none is curious enough
to risk his own life for the ascertain
ing just now.
"And now. out there on the flanks,
as the biie has thrust fotward far in
advance of its most advanced later
al defenses, the .enemy's cavalry has
driven in the cavalry supporting ibe
attack and planted several rapid-fir-.;
guns in position to take the advanc
ing infantry in the flanks.
"In the center, too, seyetal f-quads
of soldiers sheltered behind a friendly
mound of boulders have lost all their
oflieers and more thun half their
number in vain attempts to dash
across an open and fire-swept rpacj
of fifty yards to a gully that beckons
protection and offers advance.
"Hut go forward they must. Seiz
ing their intrenching tools .they fever
ishly attack the ground, seeking to
run a trench to the gully. Commenc
ing well back in the shelter of the
boulders, they push the work out
ahead, throwing the dirt up as addi
tional protection. It is a back-breaking,
heart-breaking task: but H'O men
working for their lives' can doubly
discount what the unions might
reckon as a man's labor, and the
trench advances with astonishing
rapidity. In half an hour they aie
all safely rn the gully, creeping slow
ly forward, while others behind, tak
ing advantage of their work, are mak
ing their way crouching through tht-new-dug
ditch.
Hcscrves Cumo Creeping l'p.
"Meantime, behind the attacking
firing line, there cr-ep the su imports
at a distance of 1 ('( or 200 yardt. And
at a distance i-ehind tlem comes
creeping the reserves, every nun
seeking cover like those, ahead .f
him. These, however, are not ex
posed to such fire as the first line,
and hence can ins-.kc their way for
ward more rapidly.
'The Attacking line has now reach
ed a position within ."l0 yards of the
enemies' trenches. To the casual ob
server, who has tt-u picture t( lit
tle charges, n janoramic view of the
field would be disappointing. He
would see no b-ng lines rushing for
ward, closely ranked, with banners
waving. He would see no men stand
ing upon breastworks defying the
enemy nor cannoneer with artillery
perched mi bitterest, ramming Khot
home or sending .an explosive kIw U
into the middle .f the "ke-rai-.J
enemy.
"AH he -would ee wouki e
scattered gxotiiis of ien lying lhutd
fences ind bowlders, or eepiog tit
ti-run gullies and dib tics, while tie re
wl there -a stuad rf nvei ruki iush
t from hiding fr few mom.! a
to run f4rw4irl 4tnd leop beMl
i Continue! oti I'ae Twei.
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