Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-06

armies at war with one ANOTHER. The gen
eral commanding the maneuvers, in charge
of both armies, will cause to be prepared
program of the exercises for each day
This program will be in three forms. There
will be what is called a general situation.
that is, a statement of the conditions which
both sides may know to exist. such as the
conformation of the ground and conditions
and such parts of the general plan Of cam
paign as might readily be known to the
commanders of two such armies. Such,
for instance, Gems Kuroki and Kuro-
patkin and their armies and attaches know
of the conditions of each other. Copies of
this general situation, which may change
each day, are presented to the commanders
of each of the opposing forces. The major
part of the opposing armies are imaginary,
the troops actually in the field representing
only certain portions Of them.
The two other forms Of the program will
be called the special situation and each side
will get one. These special situations are
supposed to be orders issued from the
commanding generals of the two opposing
forces to the commanders of the units that
are actually represented by troops in the
field. AS a rule the commanding generals
of the two main armies are imaginary per-
sonages, the orders emanating from the gen.
eral in command of the maneuvers. Each
side gets copy Of that special situation only
which relates to that side and does not get
any information as to the other side by
this means. 1t is regarded as important
that neither side should be able to judge
the exact strength of the other. OF course,
each commander of the actual troops in
the field knows in general way the
strength of the other command of actual
troops in the field. but neither Is instruct
ed as to the exact strength or position of
the imaginary army and this is an import
ant factor, as 1t compels each side to Sc
cure this knowledge by proper methods.
The program for each day Is issued the
day before so that the opposing command
ers can have time to study the situation and
issue orders to meet it. 1t is customary to
have actual maneuvers on each alternate
day and the day between is taken up In
correcting mistakes of the day before. Thus
a company troop found to be deficient
in certain element of advance guard is
put In the field on the day after the maneu
yer to correct this error. The instruction
given is, as a rule, in advance guard out
post and rear guard formations. Ordinarily
advance guard and rear guard are given
at the same time one force having the ad-
vance and the opposing troops, the rear
guard. and they fight each other for su-
premacy.
The Value of Practice.
1t may appear ridiculous to those unfamil
lar with military affairs to think for mo-
ment that war can be simulated but 1t will
be found, by careful study, that in some
conditions the warlike conditions can be
simulated and troops can be instructed
Just such sham situations. Years of study
of special evolutions, in their practical ap-
plication well by theory, in war as
well as in peace, have caused the production
of certain text books for military forma-
tons which contain in detail every move
ment that can be made with troops. The
drill regulations. sometimes referred to as
the tactics gives the elementary princi-
pies and an outline of the advanced course
in extended order, while certain special
books and pamphlets issued by the War
Department with the stamp of its approval,
with hosts Of volumes of text books and es-
says issuel privately by well-known stu
dent-officers, cover every possible situation.
The text books cannot teach everything to
be known, however and much must be left
to the individual commander who is con-
fronted by the real situation. Therefore, in
the maneuvers, such as that to be held at
Manassas, the individual commanders are
given opportunity to put into practice the
theories they have studied to solve tactical
problems, 1t is called, and a force of Of
ficers, known as "umpires," or judges ac-
companies each force and many of the units
of the forces to observe how the movements
are executed.
The Umpires.
The force of umpires includes those Of
flcers who have acquired regulations in the
army as tacticians and students of the mill
tary sciences. They are under the COM
mand of chief umpire" who has as his
many "umpires as the occasion and the
size of the force of troops demands. The
chief umpire accompanies the general COM
manding the maneuvers or goes to any part
of the field, from one force to another, as
the occasion seems to demand. The senior
umpires are placed one with each of the
opposing forces and the umpires are dis
tributed as before explained.
The difficult part OF solving the problems
prepared is in gauging the effect Of rifle fire
han 10 E y-fF docs Ao
Is hit 1t Is very hard to determine just what
effect certain fire will have. BY system
of tables, however, those in charge of the
maneuvers have arrived at a fairly accu-
rate system by which the umpires are re-
quired to rule during the exercises. By
these tables infantry, cavalry and artillery,
at various distances, are given markings as
near possible what 1t is supposed they
would be In actual warfare. A standard is
set for each arm Of the service Following
is the infantry standard which may give an
Idea what the word means in connection
with the maneuvers:
Soldier lying prone, or advancing by
PUSHES; average marksman; firing at five
hundred. yards over an open plain at the
rate of six shots per minute from the mag
aZine rifle losses two per cent per minute.
That is. the losses In such a case as stat
ed for a company of infantry would be
per cent per minute. The losses inflicted by
artillery at / 600 yards are 8 per cent pei
minute In the standard. Special situations
of course. make differences in calculating
the losses With these tables and a thor
ough knowledge OF how special movement
should be worked out the umpires accom-
pany the forces and mark them accordingly
When command has been under fire for
a certain time the umpire computes Its loss
and orders the proper percentage of men
to retire from ranks and make their way
back to camp. The command that executes
its movements best and receives the least
damage from the opponents fire is the side
that wins. and II can be seen that some.
thing like the same conditions would pre-
vail in war time The officers in charge dc
not pretend to believe that situations in the
maneuvers and in actual warfare would be
the same, but they do believe that they are
as near the same as 1t possible to make
them, and that they give the troops an op-
portunity to learn valuable lessons.
The Camp at Manassas.
The troops that are to assemble at Ma.
nassas the latter part of next month are Il
be divided into three camps. Major Genera
Henry C. Corbin, commanding the Atlantic
| division of the army, will be In suprem.
command of all the troops. He will estab
| lish his headquarters at Gainesville, Va.
about sevan milaa from 1anaAAaA Ha vii