Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-07-07
READY FOR BATTLE.
s.ssnd Regiment VIII Attack the
 Camp.

Mantle, July 7.-The advance
 guard of the forces which on Mon-
 day. will take possession of the state
 muster field here and constitute
 Camp Cole arrived during the fore
 noon and began to prepare quarters for reception of the individual com
 mands. Brigadier General Frost pf
 South Norwalk, the brigade comman- der, and several of his staff officers were among the early arrivals, and their attention was specifically di- rected to conditions in and around the camp. Tomorrow a number of line officers will be here, both to look after their quarters and to spy out the
 ground over which on Monday and
 Tuesday nights the mimic fights in
 force will be made. The disposition of
 forces will not be known in advance
 IS the use of troops in the night af-
 fairS on picket will be known only
 to the regimental commanders. All
 the field officers have secured topo-
 graphical maps of the ground over
 which the forces will be maneuyered,
 but it will be necessary for all off,
 cers to have general idea of the
 character of the country over which
 they will have to skirmish in the
 dark.
 The first command to report to
 Camp Cole to-day was the Signal
 Corps which had as its first task the
 establishing of lines of communica-
 tions by wire in various directions as
 an aid to regimental commanders in
 handling their respective forces. The
 troopers detailed for provost duty
 will be the next to report, and early
 Monday the commands will arrive in accordance with the general orders of General Frost.
 The Second regiment will be as- sembled at New Haven for the most
 part and brought to Lyme station on
 Monday forenoon. There will be a seven mile hike" across country to to the Paine farm which is about a mile from the South Lyme station, but inland and we'll situated for a temporary camp. At the same time the Third infantry will be detrain-. ing at Mantle and will march into Camp Cole, its arrival meaning the formal opening of the. state camp. Colonel Fitch, after establishing guard and issuing his orders for the day, will have before him the carry ing out of the problem of disposing of his commands to resist the attack of the army of the Browns, as the Second infantry probably will be des- ignated. He will have received word during the day that there are indi- cations of an advance of an enemy and he will have to prepare for what may be night or early morning at- tack. Colonel Geddes will have had the country between Lyme and South Lyme well secuted over in accordance with the drill regulations and will have had his individual commands disposed in approved methods of march, his scouts being supported by a screen of skirmishers who in turn will be followed by the fain force. The baggage train will have to be protected as Colonel Geddes will as- sume that his advance is into the ter ritory of the Blues. The hard work and excitement for the Second infan- try men will be after nightfall when the pickets will be pushed out in all directions in the hope of feeling out the position of the Blues. There seems to be variety of ground with in the territory assigned as the place of maneuvering for the Second, sev- eral low hulls offering opportunities for entrenching force that might dominate Camp Cole if they can be seized before swept by artillery which Colonel Fitch will have at his com mand.
 But the men of the Second will have all sorts of natural obstacles to and on the face of things the easiest problem is with the Third infantry in defending itself. After daylight on Tuesday morning will come the attack on the camp, pro vided Colonel Geddes finds himself In a position to deliver the attack without having his force annihilated either by rife or heavy gunflre. The Idea of the night attack is to make practical application of the rules of to drill the men in outpost duty, and to make them develop an initiative as an individual and as an integral part of a unit in their com mand. In other words, each man sent out in the advance forces will have to do his part in finding the picket of the other side who is some where in front and at the same time screen himself from observation from the enemy, and upon locating the enemy get word to his own picket of dcer in the quickest way possible. The work of the night will probably teach the men more than they could earn in a year of indoor drfff and study of the tactics. The rules laid town for the mimic fights are those lsed by the reEplar army and gov srned the movements of troops at Manassas two years ago. It Is not l likely that there will be any personal | encounters. as the umpires will de- ! ermine when and how captures are made or where q disposition of a !, 'orce means the out of action" con- iition of the opposing force.
 For the fist three days the state 1 amp will probably be less attractive l O the civilian visitor than usual for I he reason that the men will be pret- y we'll tired out. The work of Mon- lay night will be repeated on Tues lay night. only Colonel Fitch will the attack. The disposition 4 troops in. this'second affair is like y to be made with greater skill and will offer a better problem. as the nen> will have become familiar with l rh.f is IA, he exuacfed of them and I