Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-24
PRESENT WAR IS
DEVELOP INC NEW
SCOUT NE H0Ds
Field Intelligence Service Is
Brought to a Most Conpli-
Gated Science by Modern
InSirumentaIitieS.
Associated Press Correspondence

ASSOCIATED Press Correspondence
Berlin, Jan. 1.--At no time has the
military observation system been us'
veloped as it has been in the present
war. The field intelligence service
is an institution as old AS warfare ~
self, but never before has II been en-
ployed 80 generally and thorouEnW'
cavalry scouting and RECONNAISSANCE.
work by infantry ARE the Oldest OF
modern methods used TO this class
belongs also cavalry contact ana
screen work--maneuyers by mnuniec
troops in which demonstrations
against the enemy were hoped 10 sup
ply information as to his strength am
disposition
To bring the information thus gain
cd to the attention of the command-
ing Officers, rapid means of communl-
cation had to be employed. As late
AZ the American civil war ard the
Franco Prussian war in 1921, dig
patch riders were largely depended
upon The field telegraph, while al
ready fairly well developed. was not
thus available for as extensive use ~
il was during the later wars. White
the hellograph was used by the troops
of Alexander the Great, and has al
ways been looked upon as a very con-
gence, the fact that it depends upon
the rays of the sun, and is utterly
useless at night, made II negligible
factor in European warfare.
Telephone Causes Revolution.
The development OF the telephone
gave another means of rapid eommu-
nicatlon. The method Is now generally
used, and has proved Of far greater
Importance than even the wireless. 10
this list must be added the signal
lamp, flag signalling, the rocket and
the searchlleht #I
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 n~
formation is needed, the observers in
an aeroplane are able to report the
minutest details. This has led TO Il
new development in warfare-finding
cover from observation above. No
longer is the trench a mere ditch MS
was the case formerly. Today 1t is
rooted, if not against the shells and
shrapnels of the enemy, then against
the eyes of the men who sail above.
Trench which are not covered with
timbers and earth, and are then what
is known as bombproofs, are screened
with small trees and boughs in order
that 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,
Difference on Two Battlefields.
But conditions in this respect are
not the same on the two great battle
fields The field Intelligence service
in the eastern theater of war diff
radically from that of the western
field.
In Poland and Galicia cavalry has
retained much of its former impor-
lance in that respect. Here the va
rious armies and army corps still have
flanks, and here also is room for those
maneuvefs which only mounted men
can watch. The aeroplane is used TO
quite an extent, though not as gem
orally 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 theator of war, but this de-
partment of the intelligent 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 theater of war and even the
dispatch rider has now and then taken
mp his ancient niche. Light signals
Of any sort have not been in favor,
principally because the heavy, misty
atmosphere of Poland and Galicia
does not permit their being seen al
great distances
Taken generally war in those parts
las so far taught nothing rev in
eth. er reconnaissance operations or the
transmission of reports. nor has 1t
presented new problems in that de-
partnent.
For these the military observer had
TO turn to the operations in France
and Belgium.
Cavalry Patrol Disappears.
Almost from the very start ii was
demonstrated there that the accepted
notions on reconnaissance and commu-
nleation would have to be consider
ably modified, and some Of the wholly
discarded. During the first two
months of the war the German and
French cavalry, and English scouting
forces are employed in what may be
termed the conventional manner. But
when the lines on the Aisne and in
Belgium became fixed it was discoy-
cred that the sphere Of the cavalry
patrol and reconnaissance party had
disappeared. Distances between the
trenches of the opponents became so
small that only infantry could be used
for field intelligence purposes. To-
day these spaces between the lines
nave shrunk so much that even this
can no longer be done.
Though it is impossible now to pen