The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-08-27
Evolution Of the Battlefield.
From the Indianapolis News.

From the Indianapolis News.
New, what will happen in the big
battles Of this war? The popular mind
conceives battles as occurring in a
small space of ground, where one side
or the other can AXE good aim at the
other, and the side having he largest
number of men n the best aim will
win. Gettysburg INC Waterloo are
looked upon as h great battlefelds
Of modern times.
Though it Is now apparent that
much of the fighting is likely to occur
in Belgium, under no circumstances
can Waterloo ever be repeated.
For Americans Gettysburg a be
used best in comparison. Every stu
dent of American history knows that
on the third day of that battle the
C~onfederates were lined up on Semin-
airy ridge and the Union army on Gem
etery ridge. The distance between
these two was about LOO yards.
EARLY in h afternoon Of the third
day General Lee ordered his artillery
to she'll the Union position. After the
was ordered to make the charge which
broke the back of the Confederacy.
Pickett lined his men up in solid for
nation and marched them across LOO
yards Of open space. Thousands of
them were shot down., but many
ICGSllCo llC ollloil 111lIS llSii1klSllSS LII q
few made the last rush over the wall.
Deadly Machine Gun.
To-day Pickett and his men could
not march 100 yards across that space
with 9. single man standing at the end
of the 100 yards. Machine guns were
not known at the time Pickett made
his charge. Today a machine gun can
fire 600 rounds a minute in a sweeping
fashion and car be aimed with all the
accuracy Of q rifle. A machine gun
is easily effective at the distance OF
LOO yards-the distance between Sem
mary and Cemetery ridges at Gettys-
burg.
The great deadltness of present fir
ing, however, can be found in the diff
During the civil war the infantry q
to aim their guns up In the air, trust
ing to the bullets to do their damage
when they started down after reaching
the topmost point in a curve.
To-day, with the modern powder, a
bullet will travel 1000 yards-over one
mile-before it will drop a distance
equal to the hight of an ordinary a
Thus it is possible for infantry COM
pantes to sweep everything before
them within one mile if a solid front
attack is ordered. There is no safety
mile Of a modern infantry rifle is in
LANCER Of destruction.
During the civil war, when Gettys-
burg was fought, and during the Ma
poleonic wars ended by Waterloo, such
a thing as rapid fire artillery was not
known. Today rapid fire artillery can
be sighted and made effective at a dis
lance of five miles. The shells are in
comparably more effective thar those
Of the old artillery.
Danger Zone Much Wider Now.
Another illustration of t~his-during
the civil war President Lincoln often
looked from his executive offices in the
White House to the Virginia hills
across the Potomac, where the Confed-
crate army was intrenched from time
to time. Today a sharpshooter using
an ordinary infantry rifle, concealed
on those Virginia hills. could pick off
persons on the White House grounds,
while artillery On those hills could raze
the whole city of Washington in a few
minutes.
During the civil war and during the
Franco-Prussian war infantry fought
in columns. Today infantry fights in
extended order. Then infantry could
make long rushes with safety. Today,
protected by artillery from the rear. it
can not rush I'VE 100 yards at a time,
dropping at the conclusion of each
rush; and on each rush it will lose
many men.
After getting in range Of the nemy
the European infantry will be ordered
into extended formation, with a firing
line, supporting line and reserve line.
The firing line will be ordered to rush
so yards, opening fire on the enemy
Immediately after dropping to the
ground.
while this firing is going on the
supporting line will be ordered to rush
to a distance several yards In front of
the firing line. Then the firing will be
ordered to advance again. From time
to time the reserve line will be ordered
up until they reach a point within $50
or 300 yards Of the enemy's position.
Then. If the fire is too whitening,
they must hold their ground, or else
retire. If the final rush is ordered, 1t is
made after something has been done to
~disconcert the enemy's attention. SO
that the minut the men leap to their
feet they will not be moved down by
machine guns n rifles.
Short Rushes and Men Wide Apart.
"a rush of more than 300 yards will
not be seen in the present European
war. If one Is attempted not a man
will live to tell of it a~fterward, so dead
ly are the modern rifles and machine
guns. The hope Of the infantry must
rest with the artillery. two or three
miles in it's rear. which can fire over
the heads of its own men with safety
and at the same time with deadly ac-
curacy If he enemy's position is
known.
I'm the rushes also the men will not
be close together. in solid formation,