Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1917-10-18

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Dodge, Ia, Oct. 17.--When the boys
from Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and
North Dakota in the Eighty-ei eighth
Division of the National army board
their transports for ''ever there y
next spring, perhaps, they will form
a complete little army in themselves.
They will be capable of holding
only one and one-half miles of that
great battle front that curves its way
across Flanders and France for $50
miles. But they will do a complete
Job of holding-from the sappers who
tunnell under the first line trenches,
to the hospitals that will care for
their wounded.
1t is now possible to describe the
organization of the Eighty-eighth
division under the Pershing PLAN
with few omissions. The war de-
partment has some special features
in the organization that it isn't tell
ing anybody about. They are to be
May Day presents for Fritz. Amer
ican brains haven't been too busy in
preparing for war to forget to, invent
a few of what enemies of old have
called "Yankee tricks" Just for in
stance, there's new gas mask that
is going to protect the men of the
u. S. A., from the deadly chlorine
and the more deadly mustard" gas
that the Prussian war lords scien-
lists have concocted. And if all goes
we'll, Fritz won't know anything
about it's Yankee wrinkles until he
takes it from The American soldier
the German general talked about
when he offered a reward for the first
khaki clad lad killed or captured,
There will be about 10000 Of the
selectives from the four states in the
Eighty eighth. About 13,200 of them
will be infantrymen, the backbone of
the division, divided into two brigades
of two regiments each, each regiment
to have from $500 to $500 men. Each
regiment is divided into twelve COM
panies of fighting men with auxiliary
companies 10 take care OF supplies
and regimental management, and a
medical detachment. Each brigade
will have machine gun battalion of
about 900 machine gunners.
With the infantrymen and the
trench mortar batteries, the machine
gun battalions will form the first line
of offense and defense. They will be
in the trenches. Just back of these
fighters will be two regiments of field
artillery. Each regiment will consist
of six batteries and each battery will
pump shrapnel and light barrage
shells from four three inch guns.
There are "a guns to the regiment
and 48 to the division. Back of these
two regiments will be regiment of
heavy artillery with 24-inch guns to
do their bit in caring for Fritz. There
will be 1S1 men in each battery or
total Of 1885 in the three regiments.
There will also be 181 men in the
trench mortar battery.
Then there will be a regiment Of
1,7OO engineers who will build trench
es, lay out roads, erect bridges and
map the country. There will be a
signal battalion of 225 men who will
build and maintain the divisions ner-
vous system. They will establish and
operate various signal systems to tell
the American gunners where to shoot
and when.
The government is trying to keep
secret the exact organization Of
trains There will be four of them,
ammunition, sanitary, supply and en-
gineer trains and will be made up Of
from 5000 to 1000 men. There will
be base hospital and sanitary stats
of about 500 men.
And Just fourteen such armies as