Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1916-06-14
MOTOR TRUCK
IS BIC FACTOR
IN GREAT WAR
Republican A. p. Leased wireI

WITH THE BULGARIAN ARMY,
MACEDONIAN FRONT. June 10
The motor truck has revolutionized .
transportation for the Bulgarian army.
An officer in charge of the supply de-
partment of one of the units stationed !
here submitted figures which he said ,
prove that each motor truck used by |
his army has been doing the work of !
500 oxen and $50 wagons each day
In the past the Bulgarian army has !
depended entirely upon the OK wagon |
for the transport of its food supplies |
and ammunition In the early stages
of the campaign against Serbia no other
means were at the disposal of the
army. The few horse drawn vehicles
had to be used as combattrains, so that
all the work of bringing up supplies,
had to be left to the OK wagon, a rick
ETY. home made farm affair drawn
either by two oxen or two water buff
faloes. With railroads few and far
between in Bulgaria and Serbia this
made campaigning very difficult. Not
only was the supply system itself slow,
cumbersome and unreliable. but it also
prevented the troops from advancing
as rapidly as they might have done
had it been possible to get food and
ammunition to the front more rapidly.
The opening of a through route of
communication between the Central
Empires and Bulgaria changed all this.
The first motor trucks reached Bulgaria
over the Danube. Later more came
over the reestablished Belgrade Nish
4 lie ly-Ix-
thing of the past. as the Associated
Press correspondent was himself able
to ascertain. The conveyance is still
used to carry frontward such light
supplies as straw and hay, or materials
when delivery is not urgent, and bread
is brought into the trenches by the OK
wagn; but outside of this the vehicle
has been supplanted entirely by the
motor truck
The OK wagon is in charge of
driver generally a man Of advanced
years 1t carries an average load of
300 Kilograms and moves at a speed of
about two and a half miles an hour
for eight hours each day.
The motor truck carries a crew Of
two. is able to transport 5000 Kilograms
at an average speed of 3 miles an hour,
and runs IS hours day if necessary.
This means that each motor truck re-
places. at a 16-hour run, $50 OK wagons,
$50 animals, and about 200 men. Con-
sdering that the motor truck with a
capacity of more than 5000 kilograms
is by no means rare at the Mace
, DOMAIN front, and taking into considera
|, ton the length of the various lines of
supply. the average for each truck is
the officer stated, $50 wagons, 500 ami
mails and about 900 men.
These figures indicate that only
! about 100 motor trucks were necessary
|. to permit the Bulgarian general staff tC
restore to the farms the $4,000 oxen
which were "furloughed" some time
ago. The change also liberated from
military service, or made available fol
other branches, more than 10000 mer
who had been drivers.
Rapid progress has been made il
training Bulgarian soldiers as motor
truck drivers and assistants. Gener-
ally the men are taught by serving a:
assistants to the German drivers. Aler
young men with some previous expert
ence with machinery are preferred, bu
there seems to be no trouoie even wher
! young farmers are the apprentices
l This to large degree is attributed t.
] the fact that the German motor trucl
is built for army purposes. is excep
l tionally well made throughout, and il
, easy to operate. An additional advan
tage, it is pointed out. is that the motto
: truck has decreased the size of trans
} port columns, making them less sus
ceptible to attack by hostile aircraft
J and that it cannot be stampeded.