The Oakes times., 1917-08-02
MOVING AB|C ARMY
Transporting Troops In Time Of
War Is a Gigantic Task.
A WORK OF INFINITE DETAIL.

- I'll -
What Il Would Mean In Railway Cars
Of Various Kinds and In Supplies and
Equipment to Carry Million and a
Half Men Across the Country.
Before body of troops is entrained
the time and place Of every move are
mapped out. including the date and
place Of entrainipg. destination, time
Of arrival, route, assembly point. time
Of troops leaving assembly point, route
Of assembly point to train. time of ar
rival at station. time Of boarding train,
time Of departure Of train. rate of trav
ell over each section of route. time.
place anG duration Of stops; time and
place of feeding troops and animals
and schedule showing the assign
mcnt Of troops and equipage to each
car. Aside from this are countless de.
tails connected with procuring sup.
plies. the disposal Of troops and their
care.
All these preliminary arrangements
must be made by an officer of the quar-.
termaster corps The first thing to be
done is to procure lists with weight
Of all property to be shipped. obtain
this material and make out the bill of
fading. This. with the number of men
and officers, constitutes a basis on
which he estimates the number and
kind Of cars needed. He then engages
the cars and provides loading facilities.
such as material for blocking and lash
ing. and constructs necessary ramps.
or runways. for entraining animals or
wagons.
Next. on the arrival of the cars. he
inspects them from thousand major
and minor angles. All cars must be
clean. Passenger cars must be fully
supplied with water and ice. sufficient
ly lighted and heated and all other
appurtenances in proper condition.
Stock cars come in for special atten-
tiOn.
Then the number of men or kind and
quantity of supplies allotted to each
car is marked OIL the side or steps. to-
gether with the name of the Organiza-
ton. In loading men three are as
signed to each section in tourist sleep
ers or three to each two seats in day
coach.
Another important point is to keep
the troops of each unit with all equip
ment together This is important In
case Of sudden attack. Imagine the
fate of unit of troops suddenly de-
trained at the firing line without equip.
ment!
A possible element of delay lies in
the timing of the arrival of troops at
the station. There must be no time
lost by cars waiting for the troops.
The facilities for loading animals and
wagons at each station OH each route
should lie part of the quartermaster
corps records. Quick and noiseless
loading and unloading of animals with
out confusion are an art in themselves.
Dispositions Of individual animals must
be studied. Gentle animals should he
placed opposite doors and therefore
loaded last.
The time of loading and unloading
has been carefully tabulated and
should not exceed the following: In
fantry, one hour; cavalry and light ar
tillery, one and one-half hours; heavy
artillery and engineers with bridge
train, two hours. All movements, load
ing, entraining, detraining, feeding and
watering and exercising men and
horses. are made in military fashion.
With each train kitchen cars are pro-
vided. Otherwise baggage cars are fit
ted up by troops or arrangements made
for procuring meals, or at least liquid
coffee, ut stations en- route. Feeding of
men and animals is in itself no small
matter.
Say the war department was called
upon to transport twenty field armies
of $1,000 men each, or 1.6. 600 men.
In moving such military force the
railroads must carry. besides the / ,64O,-
600 men. 100000 mounts and draft an.
imals. 10000 vehicles and 1890 big
guns.
To accomplish this the quartermas-
ter corps must have available at the
right points 42.300 passenger coaches.
100 baggage cars. 21.1OO box cars.
37.0SO stock cars and $500 fiat cars.
making total of 124.5SO cars. or 1890
trains with as many engines.
Here is the governments minimum
estimate Of the gross weight of mate
rials needed each month by this force
Of 100000 men: Rations. 25O.63O. AGO
pounds: ammunition. 7.O4G. 100 pounds;
forage. 23.147.G00 pounds; general
quartermasters' supplies. 33.794, ,44O
pounds; clothing and equipage. 22.G8O.-
$40 pounds: ordinance supplies other
than ammunition. 1,G22.74O pounds;
engineers supplies. l2.2OS,32O pounds:
signal supplies, 9. .O43.2 .2GO pounds; med
; ical supplies. 597.16O pounds: candy
and tobacco. 319.GsO pounds. making a
total of 961 .Os9. 100 or nearly 100000
600 pounds. The transportation Of this
enormous weight would require fifty
fve trains Of thirty cars each day az
long as the force was in the field