The patriot. [volume] (Indiana, Pa.) 1914-1955, 1915-02-06
MARCHING ARMIES
For Infantry Fifteen Miles Is a
Good Days Work.
HORSES RAKE TWENTY MILES


quires Good Artillery Stock and Al
most Perfect Conditions - The Paes
For Soldiers In Various Countries.
The infantry pace varies Ia detail In
the armies of the nations. IL 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 pm
rade march, or goose STEP" Ia used
at times by German soldiers. No 9th
er army has step similar to it. The
German goose step consists In throw
ing out the legs without bending the
knees, and it is used only on ceremO-
NAL occasions, In changing guard and
when q detachment OF men pass an
officer of high rank
The rate OF march of a detachment
of infantry in active service depends
on many factors. including the size OF
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 IF
teen miles a day Is a good average for
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 1t, but when an in
fantry division or even a brigade has
moved over fifteen miles Of road In one
day it has done days work.
StonewaIl Jackson's foot cavalry OF
the valley" now and then covered for
ty miles in one march. but it was ex
t-aordnary infantry.
In some of the press reports from
the RussO-Japanese war IT was given
out that on occasion large bodies of
japanese infantry covered fifty miles
of road in a day and night and came
up on the firing line fresh enough to
shoot But great many prodig!es
were accredited to Japanese troops in
that war.
1t has long been a saying among
military men of countries other than
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 infantryman who can
march and shoot Is worth a regiment
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 l2C
steps to the minute. At 12O steps tC
the minute the soldier marches $500
inches a minute. which equals 1ot
yards. And marching 100 yards 6
minute he will march 5000 yards In
one hour, or three and nine twenty
seconds of d mile-a little under three
and a half miles They do not do this
practically because time must be takeI
out for rest.
The British infantry step Is thirty
one and one-half inches. the longest O
all the steLs Germany keeps steE
with Switzerland. each doing thirty
one inches, while twenty nine inches
is the pace of the armies or Italy
France and Austria. The Russians
take the shortest step, twenty sever
and one-half inches and only do IL:
in a minute. The German infantrymal
does ia. the Austrian ll5 and tn
French and Italian each manage l2O
Consequently. TO march mile take
the Russian twenty minutes. the Aus
trian eighteen and two-thirds minutes
the French and Italian eighteen min
utes. while the German could beat thl
by ten or eleven seconds.
fair days march for a battery o
battalion or regiment Of field artilier.
is twenty miles. but to make TINS "a.
after dav on the usual American roat
without killing the horses not only re
ouires good artillery stock with SOM
warm blood in their arteries. but per
feet fitting harness and drivers VIII
have some native intelligence and int
whom discipline has been hammered
The usual practice in the light artiller-
Is to march for fifty minutes and hal
and rest ten minutes. During tha
rest, which is mainly in the interest o
the horses, collars are opened and lai
back SO that q horses shoulder ma
be relieved and cooled. and. of course
the timber props are let down that tn
weight of the pole may be taken oi
the necks of the wheelers. -Spokan
Spokesman-Review.