Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-09-30
MOUNTAIN MANEUvERs.
How the French Train Their Soldiers to
Alpine Fighting.

How the French Train Tnefr Soiolofb W
Alpine Fighting.
There seems no end to the ingenuity OF
the French-the Yankees Of Europe.
Their rovel canal locks, their lofty Eiffel
tower, their new inventions of delicate
fabrics aud their completed railroad con-
nections have put q new face on the BUSH
ness situation, and now they have added
some surprising features to mountain war
fare.
Hitherto they have paid little attention
to that part of their eastern frontier where
the mountains separate France and Italy,
but recent complications have made it i'm
portant, and they have organized twelve
battalions for expert service in the noun
tsins. with q reserve behind which will en-
able them to concentrate $4,000 men on
commanding points from which no attack
ing force could dislodge them. Of course,
the men in permanent service there are
largely mountaineers, but the novelty con-
sists in the new method adopted Of reach
ing heights hitherto conside Ted inaccessible
and even planting cannon on commanding
peaks.
The uniform of the mountain troops is
an adaptation ofthe regular French uni
form, with caps, jackets, gloves and over
coats for the Alpine cold and boots with
flaps extending above the knees. These
are for protection in crawling over
rocks, ice and glacier, and in climbing the
cliffs. Each soldier also carries Long and
stout alpenstock, one end terminating in a
stout hook and the other in sharp metal
tipped Joint, SO that it can be firmly
planted in the snow. The soldiers are
trained to climb sipgly, or to Cross
over glaciers in long files, with rope
attached from man to man like the
guides on Mont Blanc. Thus equipped
the soldiers have lately been put through
a complicated get of exercises and evolu-
tions which satisfy the war authorities
that at short notice they could seiz3 and
hold every commanding point.
Of coure each officer in these exercises
has exerted his talents in the way of ex-
temporiziDg bridges by throwing lines or
telling trees across chssms, and the more
ambitious soldiers have Wed with each
other until, az one officer reports,
more than one man can balance himself
with an alpenstock, on trunk far above
mountsia torrent, in manner that fairly
rivals our celebrated Blondin."
The mules, too, have been educated in
mountain climbing. They have hauled
artillery to the SUBMITS of the highest
range, where it could hull destruction into
all the passes of approach At the same
time the telephone is utilized; the officer
in command OF q squad on peak 10000
feet high converses freely with his COM
mander in the valley 5000 or 5000 feet
below, and that commander, in instant
with the squads on all the
peaks around, can map out the progress OF
the battle far more rapidly than COM
mander in the open country, who must de-
pend on mounted orderlies.
Bat the most ingenious invention Of sll
was by an obscure captain OF an artillery
company. Taking light cannon with
small bore, he ''loaded" it with wrought
iron rcd, terminating OF the end in stout
hukes. like those of an anchor; to this rod
was attached stout rope, fitted with knots
q foot or 40 apart. The gun was pointed
at an inaccessible peak and fired; the crap
mel fell on the peak and caught, and there
was q rope ladder fixed. One man climbed
and secured the upper end more firmly;
then the entire company followed, drew
MP the gun, and light battery wac estal-
lisbed on peak which only the birds had
hitherto reached.
This was an achievement, indeed; but
when they had lowered the guns and the
men had descended, there WAS the anchor
and the rope-must they be lost2 On the
first experiment they were, but private
soldier solved the problem. When an
Choir, gun and men were safe below the
last man on the summit attached q small
"time torpedo" to toe upper end of the
rope, calculating the fuse to give him time
to get down. Soon after his descent the
torpedo goes off, blows the rope loose
above, and down it comes. There need be
no surprise that the commanding off Ger
closes his report in these words:
These sscensions and the passage of ar
tillery along the edges of precipices are at
times painful and exceedingly dangerous;
but such is the skill and sang froid of men
and officers that we are without grave &C.
cidents in any of these maneuyers"
The dogs of St. Bernard have also been
trained to special services, and class of
that breed is known land rated on the pay
rolls) as "chiens de guerre''-'dOss of
war;" What with mountain dogs, climb
ing mules and men rivalipg the birds, the
case is one of great interest.