Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-06-08
MOTOR TRUCKS
GREATLY USED
BY bULGAR|ANS
Each Vehicle Does Work of
500 Oxen and $50 Wag-
ons; i20 Of Them Are Suf-
fcient

~
4 With the bulgarian Army, Mace
DOMAIN Front MAY i6.--rhe motor
truck has reVolutionzcd trausporta-
ton For the Eulaarian army Al Of
ficef Ia charge of the supply depart
ment OF one of the units stationed
here submitted figures which he said
instead proved that each motor truck
used 10y mis- army has been doing the
work Of SEQ oxen and $50 wagons
each day
in the past the Bulgarian army has
/ depended entirely upon the OK wagon
for The transport Of it's food supplies
and ammunition. I'm the early stages
Of the campaign against Serbia no
other means were at the disposal Of
the armX The few horsc-drawn We
hicies had 10 be used as combat
trains. so that all the work Of bring
| ing up supplies had to be left TO the
OK wagon, rickety homemade farm
affair drawn either by two oxen on
1.-TWO water buffaloes. With railroads
few and far between IN Bulgaria and
Serbia this made campaigning very
difficult. Not only was the supply
system slow. cumbersome and unre-
liable but il also prevented the
troops from advancing as rapidly as
they might have done had It been pos
sible To get food and ammunition 70
the front more rapidly.
Advent Of Trucks.
The opening of a through route of
communication between the central
empires and Bulgaria changed all this.
The first motor trucks reached Bull
garia over the Danube Later more
came over the re-estahlished Belgrade
Nish railroad. Today the OK wagon
lis nearly thing of the past, as the
Associated Press correspondent was
himself able To ascertain. The con-
veyance is still used to carry 'front.'
ward such light supplies as straw
and hay, or materials when delivery
is not urgent, and bread Is brought
into the trenches by the on wagon;
but outside Of this the vehicle has
been supplanted entirely by the motor
truck.
The OK wagon is in charge Of driv
err generally a man Of advanced
years. II carries an average load of
800 Kilograms and moves AT an aver
age speed OF about two and half
miles an hour for eight hours each
day
The motor truck carries crew of
two. is able to transport S,0ee kilo-
grams at an average speed OF fifteen
miles an hour, and runs sixteen hours
day IL necessary. This means that
each motor truck replaces, al six
teen hour run lS0 OK wagons $40 an
imals, and about zoo men Consider
ing that the motor truck with a capa-
city of more than 1000 Kilograms Is
by no means rare at the Macedonian
front, and taking into consideration
the length Of the various lines of sup
ply the average for each truck is.
the officer stated. $50 wagons. 500
animals and about 500 men.
only 100 Necessary.
These figures indicate that only
about l20 motor trucks were neces
sary to permit the bulgarian general /
staff to restore to the farms the CO. |
600 oxen when were "furloughed' !
some time ago The change also lib +,
Grated from military service, or made |
available for other branches, more |
than 30 600 men who had been driv- /
eTs
Rapid progress has been made IN /
training Bulgarian soldiers as motor |
truck drivers and assistants. fener- |
ally the men were taught by serving !
as assistants to the German drivers. /
Alert young men with some previous I
experience with machinery are pre-
ferred. but there seems to be no trou-
bic even when young farmers are the
apprentices. This to Il large degree I
is attributed to the fact that the Ger
man motor truck is built for army /
purposes, is exceptionally we'll made
throughout and easy 10 operate. An
advantage, it is pointed out, /
is that the motor truck has decreased
he size Of transport columns, making
them less susceptible to attack BY t
hostile aircraft, and that 1t cannot be I