Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-02-21
4 SPECTACLE OF WAR
HOW A GREAT ARMY APPEARS WHEN
ON THE MARCH.
Description of the Order In Which a
British Column Advances When Ii
Is Preparing to Attack the Strong
hold of an Enemy.


Is Preparing to Attack the Strong
hold of an Enemy.
A British column advancing in time OF
war through an enemy's country is at
once magnificent and a remarkable
spectacle; or rather, to be quite correct,
it would hr, provided the eye could take
in all the details at single glance.
But that is just precisely what the eye
cannot do. A column of even moderate
strength, when on the move, lengthens it
self out abnormally, so much so indeed
that a body of troops which in review or
der could be packed within a moderate
sized parade ground will occupy ribbon
wise eight, ten or even more miles OF
country.
We will, therefore, take up position
on an eminence and watch in imagination
q column OF British regulars marching on
an enemy's stronghold.
First there will come in sight. riding
at walking pace, solitary pair OF horse
men. These are the advance points, as
they are termed, and are thrown forward
perhaps mile ahead of the vanguard.
They are on the lookout for the enemy,
and on the first hint of danger it is their
duty to ride back to left and right and
alarm the fiankers.
These latter are thrown out fanwise
from the cavalry which screens the infan-
try vanguard, and they in turn pass the
word back along the trailing, snakellke
ribbon of armed men, till within half an
hour, say, of the enemy's being hrSt
sighted the entire command knows of the
threatened danger and is prepared to deal
with it.
The two advanced points have been
well likened to a couple of electric but
tons, which, on being touched, thrill the
alarm down both fanks throughout the
entire length of the column with which
they are in communication. The simile
is not quite perfect, however, for the
alarm is sounded by these living electric
buttons while yet the danger is remote.
Some hundreds of yards in the rear OF
the cavalry screen comes the advanced
guard, subdivided into a vanguard and
a main guard. This latter constitutes
the first fighting unit of the advancing
column, and its strength is of course pro-
portionate to the strength Of the force
il is covering. With it are field and ma
chine guns, sappers, miners, engineers,
ambulances, reserve ammunition wagons
and so forth. In fact, the advance guard
of q large column constitutes in itself
fighting force-a miniature army, so 10
speak, complete in practically all essen
tial details. After the advanced guard
has passed we shall probably see, emerg-
ing from the clouds of dust which al
ways except in wet weather envelops as
with a mantle a column on the march,
another solitary pair of horsemen and
then at intervals another and yet an
other. These are the connecting links.
A half troop, or perhaps, if the force is
a large one, q whole troop of cavalry
will come next, then more connecting
links and lastly the officer commanding,
surrounded and accompanied by his staff.
The uninitiated in matters military will
now probably expect to see the main
body of the army, but no. A single in-
fantry battalion, or maybe two, will per-
haps pass, marching strictly Ito atten-
tion," bayonets fixed and officers swords
carried naked at the slope, after which
there will heave slowly into sight an ap-
parently endless train of field artillery,
machine guns, ammunition wagons, am
balances, tool carts, forage and store
wagons and numbers of led horses. 1t is
only when this heterogeneous procession
has come to an end that the thickening
of the dust cloud aud the measured
tramp, tramp, tramp, herald the ap-
proach of the infantry brigades. On they
come, rifles at the slope or at the trail,
talking, laughing, joking, singing. smok-
ing, as though war and its attendant
horrors were thousand miles away. On
they come-and still on! Battalion after
battalion, brigade after brigade.
1t becomes almost monotonous after
awhile, for the mighty fighting machines,
each composed of / 1000 or more individu-
al fighting units, swing past with me-
chanical precision of gigantic automata.
Everything moves as If by clockwork.
Thirty PAGES interval is the regulation
distance between battalions and brigades,
and 80 PAGES interval it is-no more, no
less. There is no slackening, no hesitan-
cy, for all the apparent free and easinesS.
A company lags but foot or two. 1t is
spurred sharply forward by a biting
phrase-half expostulation, half COM
mand-uttered by it's captain. a battal-
ion does likewise, and a wave from the
hand of its ever watchfu chief sends the
adjutant galloping down the right flank,
exploding as he goes. So is the force
kept "strung up" And a very necessary
process is this same stringing up. The
loss of a few yards at the head means
hundreds at the tail Trivial check to the
front of a long column is a serious delay
to the men in the rear of it. and continu-
al stepping out or rapid closing tends to
exhaust troops.
With the passing of the rearmost bri-
gade the interest to the average spectator
largely vanishes. True. there follow more
machine guns, more tool carts, ammuni-
ton wagons, led horses, etc, but all these
have been seen before. The bearer COM
panies, with their trim stretchers and the
Red Cross of Geneva showing conspcu-
ously on their tunic eeves~arouse brief
curiosity, but they are out of sight, swal-
lowed up in the dust cloud almost ere we
realize their presence. If. however, we
care to occupy our position for another
hour or so we shall see yet another cloud
of dust advancing toward US. This is
formed by the baggage train which fol-
lows all armies. Lastly comes the rear
guard. followed by small detachment of
military police, whose duty it is to look
after stragglers.-London Express.