The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-06-29
TRENCH.
N AFFAIR
EXPECTED
WASHINGTON, ID. {

OuuC AVs- DCNCE usser,bfS.
n "That is the nearest thing
to trench warfare you will
find I'm the plan of strategy
mapped ont by the general
staff for our soldiers to fol-
low i'm a possible war with
VI NleXico!"
IA veteran officer of the Span
|ieh- American conflict, now hold
Ing a confidential position In the
var department, made this state
sent today in an interview re-
yealing what the official scheme
~ warfare against the Mexicans,
- case of war, is to be
Sewer digging, street clean
.iug,, road building. These are
,xping to be the most important
n1aneuvers If there is one. And
I'll II out of your head that the
afmy-at least the officers-rel-
II the prospect.
~ Both the army and the
= officials in Washington real
y ize war with Mexico would
~ simply mean taking up the
4 white mans burden.
N ''Five years and 100000
men-those figures sum up
the nature of the job"
81 THE war will be one of ma
neuvers, not of munitions" the
Official explained. I'VE won't use
heavy artillery. In the first
Mace we haven't any. In the sec
ond place we couldn't transport it
over the Mexican sands and
mountains. In the third place We
would have no use for it.
N Very few of the lessons of the
war in Europe will help us. There
Eill be practically no trench war
Hare, so there will be no occasion
Or use of asphyxiating gas, peri
Dcopes nor steel helmets.
a Nor do / look for much use of
|the aeroplane. There will be few
batteries and no large bodies of
enemy troops to be located. AS
for bomb dropping, that is only
defective against highly organized
military columns, railroad sta
lions or concentration camps. The
Eaeroplane will be used chiefly to
barry messages.
'The whole strategy of
the campaign I'm "a nutshell is
this: Advance few miles,
capture village, disarm
the Inhabitants and take over
it's administration; police it,
y. clean it up, dig sewers, per-
feet the sanitation, then
move to the next village.
1.-THE cavalry probably would
play a less and less important
part in fighting. 1t has already
proved disappointment. Not
that 1t isn't of the highest gal
.lantry, but because there is no
forage for the horses, which
therefore became a great burden
ON the transport system, already
Suffering tremendous difficulties
because of the impossible nature
|of the country.
''Our soldiers will pass an
innocent looking peOn hoeing
q patch of corn. When they
are out of sight he will
scamper off. round up
neighboring command of ir-
regulars who will swoop
down on our men from the
rear, fight a bloody skirmish,
then take to their heels over
the hills.
what can our men do against
these unarmed poems? Gradually
lunearth the hidden rifles, arrest
the suspicious characters and so,
month by month, slowly push a
ban of sanitation and order over
northern Mexico.
while the successive groups
of villages and bandit groups are
being surrounded, subdued and
disarmed 1t will be the duty of
the navy to blockade the coast
and prevent new supplies of arms
reaching the Mexicans.
AT Vera Cruz, Mexico City and
similar towns considerable forces
Of armed regulars may be, bottled
up and here there win be some
thing like trench warfare, but the
United States will observe the
Hague convention and will not
lombard these cities unless 1t is
necessary to dislodge snipers and
machine gun squads"