Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-05-18
FOUR COMPANIES
OF THE NATIONAL
GUARD MANElNER
Citizen Soldiers Burn Up Blank
Ammunition in Defense
of the Red Hill Line

/
Four companies of the First Infan
try, National Guard of Hawaii, tool
the field Satr cday for nne-aight
! camp at Red f,;H, and although tht
stay was necessarily limited for the
citizen-soldiers the best possible use
was made of time from Saturday tC
Sunday afternoon. Major NJ AZ. John
son, commanding the 1st battalion
had his command out, less Company
| C, and with Company H attached, and
while not much more than 80 per
cent OF each company could get away
for the camp, there were enough men
to engage in an interesting problem
Sunday morning. Camp arrangements
were excellent, and the show ex-
ceptionally appetizing, but many mild
cases of ptomaine poisoning reported
this morning led to the belief that
some article Of diet was off color.
This was the only incident to mar
the success of the encampment, and
fortunately there was no sickness un-
til the men had returned to Honolulu.
Companies A, B. and D were sche-
duled to leave the armory at 3 Sat
urday afternoon, but ii was not until
3:45 that the column marched Com
pany H, the Chfnese-American ergani-
cation. left according to schedule at
o'clock, taking the street car to Fort
Shafter, and getting into camp we'll
ahead of the other companies. A
strcng interior guard was posted
around the camp, but no outpost work,
or night maneuver was attempted. :
Yesterday morning the, guardsmen
worked out a problem of attack and
defense prepared by Lieutenant W., C.
3: As that the column marched Com
pany H, commanded by Captain L. w.
Redington. was assigned to the de-
tense of the Red Hill line, while Com
panies A, B. and d. under Major John
son, joined in the attack As is the
case in most tactical problems the
men ran away to the front" too fast,
and an advance that would have Ia
ken several hours was rushed through
In jig time. The discussion that fol
lowed showed, In the opinion of
the inspector, who acted ais chief UNI
pire, that both sides had followed q
weIl-defined tactical plan, and that
their dispositions were good Neither
commander knew the mission of the
other, but both handled their forces in
conformity with the assumed situa-
ton. -~:'' ...- -
Company H was supposed to be one
r. nc nv of RIO ra hot
covering defeated force falling back
from Honolulu to Schofield Barracks. |
At Red Hill the company was detsch-
ed to hold the enemy, consisting of a
superior force or infantry. for one
hour, while the bridge near Aiea was
repaired Major Johnson's side of the
problem called for the dislodgement
If the force that was between him and
he main Blue body. ..,.-..eej 4
The defenders. to hold the entire
Inc for an hour. were called upon to |
light an aggressive delaying action, |
.athef than to occupy a strong posi-
ion for themselves, in which case the |
Enemy could have avoided combat en-
irely and fallen on the imaginary rear
guard, according to the Blue problem
Major Johnson dispatched Company |
D, Captain Kolb, on a wide, thanking |
movement on. the defenders left, hold
ng two companies less one platoon /
or frontal attack The D company
Ittack was resisted by about one-third
4 the defenders under Lieutenant Lo. |
The balance of the defending company
occupied the ridge north of the Helei-
road. while Blue patrol
couted Signal Hill in order to guard I
gainst surprise from that side The
defenders had 40, and the attackers
o rounds of blank ammunition. per
nan, and all this was burned up in
hort order. Recall was sounded
Vhen the two parties had advanced
within the danger zone. The Blues
we're driven from their position in
ess than the allotted hour, but had
all instead of blank ammunition been
sed, the advance, would have been
t far slower, rate, although the
osses would have been heavy on both
ides. Companies A and B of the Reds
Fere commanded by Captains O'Sulli-
an and Super respectively.
The battalion broke camp immedi-
tely after dinner. and moved at lis,
taking the march to the armory,
honolulu, in l hour, 55 minutes. /