The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1917-10-31
GETiY0!UR man OR !.
HE'LL.'GET YOU
Lieut.. Richard Pueh, 351st United
States Infantry, Addresses Squad
of Selectives at Camp Dodge
SCHOOL OF sAYoNET STARTED

SCHOOL OF BAYONeT SIARTE IL
Soldiers Charge Over Trenches anc
Stab Gunny Sacks Filled with Pa
per, Representing the Enemy.
Division Headquarters, Camp Dodge
Oct. 29-(Special to the Review
Remember, men, get your man OF
he'll get you-kill him or he'll kill
you. There is is no draw or quarter
when you're face to face with bayo
nets"
Lieut.. Richard Pugh. 351st United
States infantry, was addressing squad
of selectives of the Eighty-eighth di-
vision lined up for their first lesson
in the grim business Of the sworded
rife.
He spoke quietly, seriously. His
seriousness reflected in the faces of
the men of the new army. 1t was
their first insight into the kind OF a
game they are gong to play when they
join the poilus of the tricolor in the
bitches of Flanders next spring. They
had read something about bayonet
fighting. But they were no long on
lockers as they stood there. Therir
eyes showed they were visualizing
themselves across the big pond, ad-
vancing with the dawn for the great
adventure. And the next time they
read in war dispatches that "The
French and English. attacking in con-
cert, carried the first and second lines
of the enemy's trenches over front of
a thousand yards" theylH know more
about what it cost to make possible
those fed words to the waiting world.
~ 1~, oo< ,kou tod s.k
Camp Dodge this week. Lieutenant
from a rigid training of weeks at a
bayonet school at Fort Sill. The men
he began to teach this week will be
the instructors of tomorrow.
Within a few days instructions in gre
nading will start under the divisions
chief grenadies, Col. William Mapes.
At the same time Capt. H. c. Woltman
will start the operation Of his "gas
chambers" to teach the soldiers to
combat Germany's fiendish chlorine
and mustard gases and to destroy their
fear of the stuff by subjecting them to
training OF the soldiers at Camp Dodge
has indicated nothing more than that
their business Is to be parading and
passing in review before high officers
and distinguished men.
Today they are learning what comes
at the end of the march.
The first lesson in bayonet fighting
is how to carry the gun. The soldiers
are taught that they will advance ION
guard" the point of their bayonets
on line with the throats of their adj
versaries. Next will come the charge
against a battery Of dummy Germans,
gunny sacks. filled with paper or wood
shavings or hard packed leaves. Spots
will be marked on the dummies to in
dicate the eneiny's throat, his abdom-
en-, his thighs and other vulnerable
points where the knife will slip home
without sticking In bone. Then there
will be placed in the sacks, pieces OF
thin board, the "bones" of the dummy.
II a soldiers jab is bit off direction,
it will pierce board and remain fast.
And in practice as in earnest, he will
learn to his rife to free the blade. He
off, not to shoot. He may hit a friend
instead of the enemy. The thing to do
is to catch his opponent under the
chin with the rifle butt.
They're building two sets of
trenches, opposing trenches just as
they stand on q battlefield, at Camp
Dodge. Soldiers will soon be charging
over the top in sham bayonet fight
yelling as they 60. There will be dunn
mics here and there in unexpected
places for them to bayonet.
1t may seem bit foolish to charge
over trenches and stab paper filled
sacks. There's reason and vital
one.
Yelling is part of the game. 1t is
only permitted in a bayOnet charge. |
The soldier is taught to be bloodthir-
sty. Its dirty business to jab knife
into living flesh. Yelling calls to a |
mans aboriginal instincts. That's
what he needs. And while he charges !
and yells, his instructors will run at
his side, deliberately working himself
into a rage and urging the soldier to
"Give him h-ll! Sink it into him |
deep Kill the dirty German!" The
instructor will be serious. deliberately |
bloodthirstiness will enter the brain |
ders or weak knees When/a German |
takes the place of the dummy.
Its the system the French and Eng |
lish bayonet instructors are following
in the training of Pershings men be-
hind the battle lines today. Its the
system that makes soldiers of the al
lied cause equal to the barbarous fight
ers OF the kaiser.
Tie English bayonet manual is be-
ing taught at Dodge. Its the develop
ment of the present war altogether.
The American manual taught the SOL
dier how to retreat. The Briton code
does not know the word. There is no
retreat now. It is drilled into the
brain of the soldier that it's either
kill or be killed. He mechanically fol-
lows what has been pounded into him
in days of drill, to 60 always forward.
The "gas chambers" which will give
the Dodge soldiers their first taste of
the stuff will soon be ready for work.
This is the system that Captain Volt
man expects to follow. % Il
The soldier will first be sent into
the chamber unmasked. Just q drop, j
so to speak, Of gas in various forms
will be liberated. One kind will af-