Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-29
How the Information Which
Guides Armies Is Obtained
Interesting Story by Eye Witness of This Most Important Branch
Of Modern Warfare as Now Practiced in Europe.

, much OF the time Of certain bureaus
in all armies. AS it has been flip.
PANTY but by no means inaccurately
expressed, an important part of the
duty of a great general staff is that
of constituting army corps out of
shoulder straps.
During the wal the air is full of
rumors even at general headquarters,
and when these rumors are concerned
with the dispositions of the enemy
their scope is much enlarged if the
hostile army is composed of forces Of
different nationalities. On the other
hand, it is not only the connection OF
units with localities that is useful. II
often happens that the mere pres
ence of a unit being in the field be
trays the fact that reinlorcements
have come up or that new formations
are being raised, inaccurate as knowl-
edge of the enemy may be, it is gen.
orally sufficient for the original or
%ganization of his army to be known.
''As is seen, a considerable part OF
intelligence work is synthetic in CHAR
acter and amounts to the building up
first of a possible and then of a prop
able theory based Oh a mass OF sus-
picious, facts which mere amount 70
sidelights, and established evidence.
1t resembled that of a detective or
the Trainer of a jig-saw puzzle. No
small clue OF seemingly irrelevant fact
can De neglected. 1t is often an ap-
,parently useless scrap of information
that fits in and forms the final link in
a chain of evidence.
ut is obvious, apart from discus
sion as to causes and results, how
ever, that if all this trouble is ac-
tually taken to identify, individuals,
whether in connection with places or
not, it must be considered worth do
ing. And it follows that it must De
worth while to put every obstacle in
the way Of the enemy doing the same.
That this view is held is proved by
the pains at which all the combatalts
in the present war are to prevent ref
in the press to units in the
field. This reticelce is not main
tanned in order to deny to the gen
eral public news which would quite
naturally and rightly be of absorbing
interest, but in order not to give
gratis to the enemy information he
needs and to acquire which-if it is
not presented to him-he is forced to
spend much money and trouble.
"It is better to help the nation in its
struggle for existence by an admitted
ly tantalizing %reticence, or to satisfy
the peoples curiosity and natural anx-
iety at the risk of endangering ma
tional success in the field? This is
the question. To it there can be only
one answer.
"a further and natural step beyond
this negative policy of Withholding
from the enemy the knowledge where
troops are is the more active course
of inducing him to suppose that they
are in localities remote from their &C
tual situation. This, Of course, ap-
pertains to the art of mystifying,' mis-
leading and surprising the enemy,
which is so valuable a part of the con-
duct of a
Reports of an intended invasion Of
England may be spread by the enemy
in the hope of causing a dislocation
of plans Of which full advantage can
be taken. such a course would only
in accordance with the action of the
Germans in 1870, when they spread
broad rumors that there were large
concentrations of their troops in the
Black Forest-where there were ,prac-
tically nOne-in order to induce the
French to detain forces in southern
Alsace. ~.
misleading reports of this nature
are usually set in circulation by those
interested and spread either by their
dupes, honest people who are pur-
posely allowed to overhear carefully
arranged conversations held for thei1
benefit; by means of espions doubles,
or agents in the pay of both sides;
by common traitors willing to sell
their W nation; or by lei working
periodically for their own country
who have an Intimate acquaintance
with the enemy nation. As an ex-
ample Of this may be mentioned the
at the capital of a neutral
country of a German officer who was
for some years stationed in London
and has an intimate knowledge of our
naval, military, political and social
life, and has probably made such al
deep study of our national psychology
that he would be we'll equipped to
play on our idiosyncrasies."