Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-28
PLAN NIGHT TACTICS
Reds and Blues to Maneuver
at Gettysburg.
DETAILS NOT ANNOUNCED
Number of Tents Are Damaged
During Rainstorm.
TROOPS WILL RETURN SUNDAY
Six Heat Prostrations in the I'd
Reeiment-Food Bill Amounts
to 81, $40.
ROOPS WILL RETURN SUNDAY
peciaI From a stsr Correspondent.

headquarters IN advance ana no decision
will be made by the umpires. No one
except the officers in command of each
army knows what is going TO be done. No
one knows even what part of the country
the forces will be taken to.
The army officers here say that night
attacks are no longer fashionable The
Japs learned in their encounters with the
Russians that they gained little by
actually firing on the Russians al night.
but found out that maneuvering about
under the cover of darkness. preparing
for an attack al dawn. was very profta-
BILE
Tonight's maneuvers will be along those
lines, 1t is probable. The problem will be
for one of the armies 10 maneuver into
position from which an attack at dawn
will be fatal to the enemy. and perhaps
the opposing side will have the exact OPP
posite Of the problem. or Will be supposed
to maneuver so that quick retreat could
be made in case OF attack. OF course,
the men will not stay out all night await
Ing the dawn but will march back to
camp after the problem is solved.
Night Maneuvers Unpopular.
The men say that night maneuvers are
nuisances. Even some of the officers are
kicking themselves rather hard because
they have to take part.
What do you learn in night ma
neuvers?' asked a visitor In camp of a
regular from the Goth Infantry.
You learn to cuss like you never knew
before" was the prompt reply.
What does a battle look like? And feel
like?
1t depends upon whom you ask. for the
see that the brigade flag does not get
torn in the barbed wire fence, doesn't
get the same impression as the boy who
has to run over mile of Stubble, with
the sun licking him in the face and his
legs feeling as II they had been beaten.
In the morning they marched them out
of camp in a long line of men four
abreast, swinging along over the dusty
road. They talk, but not too loudly. and
carry their rifles any way they please.
They are going to war. This relaxation
of discipline en- route always seems like
q little taffy given to fellows who are go
ing to get all that is coming to them,
with no chance of getting back to camp
until the last gun is fired.
On close inspection it Is rather untidy
column. The uniforms of khaki are not
very clean, the shoes are horrible with
dust and dirt. Every one seems to be
carrying a gaudy handkerchief.
Army wagons come along behind regi-
ments. Army mules come trailing along,
each mule with a man at his head. The
mules carry machine guns and tools for
manning tichCHCS. I1OSpAIdl Wd6OuS OIlScH
by men who haven't shaved for days
trail along. A wagon crowded with men
comes Gathering after some of these 1t
is one of the Signal Corps outfits. late,
but ambitious. trying to crowd along the
side of the road to get somewhere near
the front Of the column.
Dust Hard to Bear.
Canteens are full and in the morning
the men are talkative. The dust is ter
rife. but no ones cares yet. Wait until
their tired legs and lungs begin to pro-
test that there is not another ounce
of strength left. and then the dust will
seem like a persecution.
1t Is long column, and when it turns
down road at right angles to the road
on which ii has been marching the
men in the middle and rear Of the column
can see away across the fields. half a
mile perhaps. the bobbing motion of
mems hats as they appear just over the
level of the rail fences.
After halt or two they get to some
woody spot. 1t has been q fairly long
hike" and the men are lined up in COM
panies in the woods. where they discard
everything they can and sit down and
wait for the wagon trains to bring along
the Chow" which is soldier talk for
food.
All this has been preparatory to the
scrap to come. Meantime the Signal Corps
gets out on the extreme front and trails
wires along the fences for miles. They
are making telephone system to connect
with the commanders headquarters. One
or two companies have to grab their
lunches and hike two or three miles
out farther to act as scouts, to keep head
quarters in touch with the enemy's move
ments, il he appear at ALL The scouts
wear red bands on their hats. like all the
Red army, but there is nothing in the
regulations which prevents them from
concealing the red. SO they cover their
hats lith leaves and lie in the woods
keeping a sharp lookout for the enemy,
his scouts or his outposts.
Hear Infantry Fire.
The men eating lunch three miles back
hear the first clatter of infantry fire.
There it goes" they say.
And after that IL is all action. What
does the eighteen-year-old boy know of
the pins on the maps, the red and blue
pencil marks on the big charts at the
comfortable farmhouse where the head
quarters staff is getting telephone mes
sages from the Signal Corps that some
thing Is happening a mile away? All the
boy knows is that his shoes hurt him,
and that his company has to get out
across country and get there in a hurry
Away of behind him there's a boom
boom.
"Fox's Battery" SAYS a corporal. who
has been to war before. 1t seems fool
TO himself. and no one really gets hit
Boom boom-boom. Three of them, deem
and resounding, but rapid as revolver
shots. The guns are covering the bow =
advance. but he doesn't know it, 1t Just
makes noise. the same as he will be
doing when he gets a chance to shoot
his twenty or thirty cartridges that were
given to him In the company street In
the morning Away off to the right he
notices company of regulars getting
over fence. Behind him he sees a
long line-two regiments-spreading out
to cover almost a mile of country He
does not know what they're doing All
he knows Is that the sun is hot that the
captain has ordered double time and that
there Is a stone under his heel.
The crack-crack has grown into n
steady roar i'm the woods ahead
Gee" says one of the men in the boy
company. guess the Blues must have
gotten in on EN-, huh?'
Sure" Gays the boy wished I was
there. / wanta lie down. amt got a
Ditto pep left i'm me-
They are In the woods now. The ad-
vance guard of regulars liz scattered all
up and down the woods. The men are
lying down. taking advantage of every
bit OF cover. The boy IL standing Their
looking at the regulars, thinking he has
never seen men get fiat to the ground.
Get down. there, you fool Get down.
swearing at the boy. who is standing
there, looking foolish and taking in the
sight of hundreds OF men popping away
at nothing at all, as If it were a moving
picture company making a lfm
There they are" whispers one of the
boys next to the sergeant.
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