The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1914-10-23
For Infantry Fifteen Miles Is a
Good Days Work.
HORSES MAKE TWENTY MILES
But to Do This Day After Day Re-
quires Good Artillery Stock and Al
most Perfect Conditions - The Pace
For Soldiers In Various Countries.

quires Good Artillery Stock and Al
most Perfect Conditions - The Pace
For Soldiers In Various Countries.
The infantry pace varies in detail In
the armies of the nations. 1t varies
not only in length of step. but In the
number of steps to the minute, and
each nation. of course, thinks its own
step is the best.
One peculiar step, known as the pa
rade march," or goose STEP" Is USED
at times by German soldiers. No 9th
err army has a step similar to 1t. The
German goose step consists in throw
ing our the legs without bending the
knees. and it is used only on ceremo-
NAL occasions, In changing guard ana
when a detachment of men pass an
officer of high rank.
The rate of march Of detachment
OF infantry in active service depends
on many factors. including the size or
the marching body or the length of the
column. the training. physical condi'
ton and spirit of the troops. the road
and the weather.
Two and half miles an hour and hf,
teen miles day is good average Tor
seasoned infantry carrying, of course,
field equipment. Seasoned troops In
good spirits and spurred by the pros
pect of action may be depended on to
do much better than this when the sit
uation requires it, but when an In
fantry division or even brigade has
moved over fifteen miles Of road In one
day it has done days work.
Stonewal .Jackson's foot cavalry OF
the valley" now and then covered for
ty miles in one march. but 1t was ex'
traordinary infantry.
In some of the press reports from
the Russo-Japanese war 1t was given
out that on occasion large bodies OF
Japanese infantry covered fifty miles
of road in a day and night and came
I'D Oh the firing line fresh enough to
shoot But a great many prod1g1es
were accredited to Japanese troops In
that war.
IL has long been saying among
military men of countries other thai
France that the French foot soldier
has the best legs in Europe. and the
mobility of an army depends on its
feet and legs. Infantry is as good as
its feet. An infaDtryman who can
10 north n rQOimpnf
of men who straggle. hunt shade. pant
for water. develop blisters on the feet
and keep their ears pricked up only
for mess call. sick call and recall.
In the American army the length Of
the full step in quick time Is thirty
inches, measured from heel to heel
and the cadence is at the rate OF LIZ
| steps to the minute. At 100 steps II
( the minute the soldier marches 3.6O'
inches minute, which equals lo'
wards And marching 100 yards
minute he will march 5000 yards IL
one hour, or three and nine twenty
seconds of mile-a little under tire
and a half miles They do not do thi
practically because time must tie take
out for rest.
/ The British infantry step Is thirty
one and one half inches. the longest o
all the steps Germany keeps ste
with Switzerland. each doing thirty
one inches. while twenty nine inrhe
is the pace of the armies OF Italy
France and Austria. The Russian
take the shortest STEP twenty SIEVE
and one-half inches and only do II
in "A minute The German infantrymn
does ia. the Austrian lis and I'll
French and Italian each manage IN
Consequently, to march mile take
the Russian twenty minutes. the Ans
TRAN eighteen and twothirds minutes
the French and Italian eighteen mil
utes. while the German could beat tn
by ten OF eleven seconds
A fair days march for a battery {
battalion or regiment of field artiller
Is twenty miles, but to make this da
after day on the usual American roa
without killing the herSeS not Only r.
uuires good artillery stock with SON
warm blood in their arteries, but pc
feet fitting harness and drivers VII
have some native intelligence and int
whom discipline has been hammers
The usual practice in the light artiller
~ to march for fifty minutes and ha
and rest ten minutes. During tn;
rest which is mainly in the interest {
the horses. collars are opened and lai
back so that a horses shoulder ma
be relieved and cooled, and, of cOurs
the timber props are let down that Il
weight of the pole may be taken o
the necks of the wheeleTs.-SpokaI
Spokesman, Review.