Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1916-05-11
DUTIES OF MODERN
GENERAL MANY
THERE'S NO LIMIT TO THE MUM.
Der OF THINGS eREsENT.DAY
LEADER MUST KNOW
He Needs knowledge Of Surgery, Tao
tics and Engineers Work

When the man in the street talks OF
general commanding an army, he
generally sums him up as a Jolly
pod soldier" and fancies he has said
all that need be said about the dis
tinguished officer
As matter of dry fact, he has said
nothing at all about the general
What the man in the street means by
Jolly good soldier; means very little
to the general, for to be a good soldier
j. e., to lead armed men, is about the
last thing necessary to a modern COM
mander.
He has to be, of course, an expert
in military methods in strategy, which
means the art of handling forces at
distance from the enemy, and tao
tics, which means the art of handling
that force when in actual touch with
the enemy, and he must know mill
tary routine from A to u. But that
is only the cap of his knowledge.
For instance he must know quite
a lot about the comparative values
of food, not only because he must
keep his army we'll fed, but because
lie has to carry with him the mini
mum quantity to keep his moving army
in state of efficiency. He has TO
know how many horses can pull how
many wagons of this food, and how
many miles they can pull them. He
has even to compute how much forage
those horses will require, and what
will he their daily rate of progress.
In the same way he is a carriage eX-
pert, who knows that it is not how
much ammunition his army can fire
off, but how much ammunition it can
carry that counts in the actual battle,
and he must know which will be the
easiest ammunition to carry, and the
special circumstances of its carriage.
Thus, if he is to assault Notifications,
he will not carry shrapnel, which is
Of great use against advancing in
fantry, but avails little against con-
crete bastions; and if he is to face
only attacking army divisions, he will
not trouble himself much with high
explosive shell. which is used mainly
against Notifications.
He must also know about the en-
employs, recognizing which regiment
can stand the hard grind of heavy
marching, which will remain stub
born under the most terrible bom-
bardmsnt and Which can be used with
electric dash at the decisive moment
Of a charge.
He must know how 10 handle his
| nrtillarNT like n nnlV
| death dealing, defense shattering In
strument, but also in its effect as
means of destroying the nerve of the
men opposing him. A terrific and
well handled bombardment at the
right moment may do more to win
| he fight for him than a whole days
| shelling.
All this is knowledge bearing i'm
mediately on battles. He must pos
sess an immense amount of varied
knowledge that will enable him 10
take his army it the pinch of its eff
ficiency into battle,
To this end he has TO know some
thing about surveying, engineering,
bridge building, road making, rail-
road laying, telegraphy, Notifications,
mining, the manufacture and applica-
tion of high power explosive, trench
turning, sanitation, camp, town and
barrack planning, plumbing, cooking,
| camp range making, store keeping,
ballooning, aeroplaning. rough medi-
cine, first aid, rough surgery, veter-
mary, farriery, smith work, lathe
turning, small arm making field gun
repairing and host of other crafts
and industries. He has experts to help
Lin, naturally, but he must know
something of these things if he is TO
Guide and take advantage of experts.
And when he has fought his battles,
and defeated his foe, he must be an
| expert in both military and interna-
| lional law, and he must be a good dis
ciplinarian and good diplomat, TOO,
! for he has not only 10 restrain his
| own soldiery, but he has to see that
| he and his country are not overreach-
| cd by the diplomatic skill of their ad-
| versary
And above all, he has to be human
| individual, and not highly skilled
| machine, so as TO overcome the human
element in the composition of his Ell
emy, no less than the humane in vic
tory.-London Answers.