Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-01-24
Field Intelligence Service
Developed to a High
Degree.
SURPRISE IMPOSSIBLE
Get Close Enough to Hear
Conversation in Enc
mics Trenches.

BERLIN, Jan AT no time has
the military observation system been
developed as it has been in the pres
ent war. The field intelligence ser
vice" is an institution old as warfare
itself, but never before has 1t been
employed so generally and thor
oughly. Cavalry scouting and recon
Nuisance work by infantry are the
oldest of modern methods used. TO
this class belongs also cavalry con-
tact and screen work-manoeuVres by
mounted troops in which demonstra-
tions against the enemy were hoped
to supply information as to his
strength and disposition.
To bring the Information thus
gained 10 the attention Of the com
manding officers, rapid means of
communication had to be employed.
As late as the American Civil war ana
the Franco Prussian war of 1901,
dispatch riders were largely depended
upon The field telegraph, while al
ready fairly well developed, was not
thus available for as extensive use as
Il was during the later wars. While
the heliograph was used by the troops
of Alexander the Great, and has al
ways been looked upon as very
convenient transmittor of field intelli'
gence. the fact that 1t depends upon
the rays of the sun, and Is utterly
useless at night made it negligible
factor I'm European warfare.
The development of the telephone
gave armies another means OF rapid
communication. The method is now
generally used, and has proven of far
greater importance than even the
wireless. To this list must be added
the signal lamp, flag signalling, the
rocket and the searchllght.
Aeroplane the Best
As was expected the European war
has established that the aeroplane Is
the most efficient means OF modern
field intelligence work Soaring above
the positions and troops on whom In
formation Is needed, the observers In
an aeroplane are able TO report the
minutest details. This had led to
new development in warfare-flnding
cover from observation above. No
longer Is tho trench a mere ditch, as
was the case formerly. Today II is
rooted, IL not against the shells and
shrapnel of the enemy then against
the eyes OF the men who sail above.
Trenches which are not covered with
tmbers and earth and are than what
Is known as bombproofs, are screened
with small trees and bOughs In order
thai they may escape the notice of the
hostile aViators.
These are the means of gathering
and transmitting field intelligence in
the European war and the counter
measures they have led to.
But conditions in this respect are
not the same on the two great battle
fields. The field intelligence service
I'm the eastern theatre of war differs
radically from that of the western
field
Different I'm the East
In Poland and Calicia cavalry has
retained much OF its former import
ance in that respect. Here the various
armies and army corps still have
flanks, and here also is room for
those maneuvers which only mounted
men can watch. The aeroplane is
used to quite an extent, though not
a. generally as in Belgium and
France, and during position fights"
the captive balloon has been pressed
into service.
Infantry patrol work has not been
done on as general a scale as in the
western theatre of war, but this de-
partment of the intelligence service
has been extended with the falling of
snow, which has made the rapid
movement of patrols on skis possible.
Telegraph wireless and field tele-
phone have been widely used in the
eastern theatre of war, and even the
dispatch rider has now and then
taken up his ancient niche. Light sig
nails OF any sort have not been in
favor, principally because the heavy,
misty atmosphere of Poland and Gal
icia does not permit their being seen
at great distances.
Taken generally. war in those parts
has So far taught nothing new in
either reconnaissance operations or
the transmission of reports. nor has
Il presented new problems In that de-
partmcnt.
For the military observer had to
turn to the operations in France and
Belgium.
Modified Their Plans.
Almost from the very start il was
demonstrated there that the accepted
notions on reconnaissance and com
munication would have to be consid-
erahly modified, and some Of them
wholly discarded. During the first
two months of the war the German
and French cavalry and English
Scouting forces are employed in what
may he termed the conventional
manner. But when the lines on the
Aisne and i'm Belgium became fixed,
1t was discovered that the sphere OF
the cavalry patrol and reconnaissance
party had disappeared. Distances be-
tween the trenches OF the opponents
r. became so small that only infantry
could be used for field intelligence
purposes Today these spaces between
the lines have shrunk so much that
even this can no longer be done.
Though 1t is impossible now to
penetrate beyond the infantry posi-
tions OF the enemy. II is still impera'
tive that Information regarding his
artillery. movements of troops behind
the line, and the like, be obtained.
Tho aeroplane. provided 1t flies
high enough, has little to fear from
small arms and machine-gun fire.
and is thus able to cross the enemy's
infantry positions and inspect the
ground occupied by the artillery and
deserves.
There are military men who be-
lieve that tho advent of the seroplane |
Is largely responsible for the state Of