Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-03-05
THE GREAT NAPOLEON.
How He Executed the Movements of n,
TrooEss

AAO" 49, vi TIT
Troorsy
An example of Il gooa system of IL. |
ristics is the wonderful concentration /
Of the French army in Che plains a. /
Gera in 1906. Another is she entrance
of the army upon the campaign of ISL.
Saws Jomini: In each of these cascs
Napoleon possessed the ability to muko
such arrangements that his columns
starting from points widely separated
we're concentrated with wonderful pre-
cision upon the decisive point CT the
zone of operations; and in this way he
insured the successful issue of the cam.
paien. The choice of the decisive
poilat was the result of a skillful april.
cation of the principles of strategy; and
the arrangements for moving the troops
gives us IN example of logistics whica
originated in las " closet. 1t has
| been long claimed that Berthier framed
those instructions which were con-
ceived with SO mUch precision and usu-
| allv transmitted with SO much clear.
ness, but ! have had frequent opportu.
! mites of Knowing that such was not the
I truth. The Emperor was his own chief
! staff officer. Provided with a pair of
dividers opened to q distance by the
scale Of from seventeen to twenty miles
in a straight line (Which made from
twenty-five to twenty-five miles, taking
into account tic windings Of the roads,,
bending over and sometimes stretched
at full length upon his, rNap, where the
! positions of his corps an& the supposed
positions of the enemy We're
marked by pirs- of different colors,
| he was able to give orders tor extensive
movements with ,. certainly and pre-
| cision which were. astonishing. Iurnl
ing his dividcrs about from point I'd
! point on the map, lie decided I'M a mo
mcnt the number of marches necessary
for each of his columns to arrive at tho
desired point by al certain, day; then
placing pins in the, new positions and
bearing in mind ths'rate of 1nerchins
that he must assign TO each Column and
the hour of it's setting out, he dictated
these instructions which are alond
enough to make any man famous. NeA
J coming from the shores oftl.ake Con
stance, Lannes from upper. SuabiaI
Soult andDavoustf from Bavariaaana th(
Yalatniate, Bernadottc and Augeread
from F]ranconia, aad! the Enperia
Guard from Paris, we're all thus ar
ranged in line on three parallel roads
to debouch simultaneously hetwee
Saalfcd, Gcra and Flauen, few per
Sons in fine army or in Germany ha9
ing any conception Of the object d
these movements, which seened
very complicated. In, the same man
ner in 1915, when Butcher rad hi
army sN1ietly in c~antonment batwee
the Sambre and the Rhine, ard Wei
I lingtcsp was attending etes in Brusscld
both VISITING a signal for the invasicnd
France. Napoleon, who was supposd
to, be sa Paris entirely engrossedi viii
diplomatic ceremonies, at the lead, d
his guard, which had sen but recent
formed ila the capital, fell like % thur
derhesl1 upon Charlerci and Blcchcc
quarters, his COMMUNICATING f-om'a
points,of the compass with rare punl
tlulisT,, on the 14tlssof June III u
plains OF Beaumont alaa tnponthe banA
of the Sambre. Napoleon Dad NJ
4 leave Paris until the 18th. The con
binations described above were. the
suits of wise strategic calculations. b
their execution was undoubtedly alm
ter1safce' Oh sogistics .-BoStoD He,Sld.