El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-26

first battalion OF the list in
fautry of which company A. COM
posed Of $50 ii Paso volunteers is the
leading company. has been selected by
Col o. C.. Guessaz. commanding the
list. as the shock" battalion Of the
regiment IT Pasoans who follow the
war news are probably familiar TO
some extent with the purpose for
which shock" troops are used.
shock battaliOns are employed al
most exclusively for offensive move
ments. theirs is the work Of caDtur-
ing. usually with the bay0net. such
enemy positions as offer desperate
and prolonged resistance during an
attack
When all other troops have failed to
carry an objective. the shock" bat
ialions are thrown into the assault
Frequently they are assigned TO lead
AN attack, being given some unusual
ly strong enemy position as their
goal The unwritten tradition of
these battaliOns is that they must
never retreat unless so ordered, and
must never fail to capture their OBJ
jective. no matter what the cost To
have been chosen for The highly I'm
pOrtanL work assigned to troops of
this class is considered q real honor.
!
The first battalion and Capt. Richard
J.. Burgess who commands company
a. are elated over IL. as are the other
company commanders Of the orEani-
cation.
To Guard the Rifle Range.
This battalion has been named to
2uard the rife range over which all
The infantrymen here viii have target
practice during the next six weeks.
No more important guard duty as
sieument has been made in the divls-
ION, and members OF the battalion
are justly proud that they were Sc
lected for IT, This will be of much
help in putting the battalion I'm trim
for its work as a shock unit. be-
cause the men VIII be within sound of
gunfire all day long for the next two
months IL is expected that they
viii become SO accustomed TO rifle
fire ut close ranEe-even though they
are not the targets nOw-that they
VIII act like veterans when they
come under actual fire for the first
time Somewhere in France"
FL Paso Company Best.
That the FL Paso company is the
best in the regiment and one of the
best company units in the whole
division Is the unbiased opinion Of
field and staff officers who are oh
serving the progress OF the troops in
training here More than once the
ii Pasoans have been held uD as
models FOR the rest OF the regiment
The other day when company a was
going on guard. Col Guessaz re-
marked that ne was always certain
guard duty would be well performed
i this company was doing it.
At brigade review one afternoon
recently. the line held by company
\ marching in company 'front.' with
nearly 200 men in ranks. was SO
straight that Mai HutchiuEs ex-
1HrnsaH D. d o
rrJu-s do better Four picked squads
from company a. drilled by Top
Se1gL Sn I'D recently gave an eZhi- .
ultlon drill at q night entertainment .
q rtended by 10000 soldiers. It was
he only drill Of the night and the
III Paso boys were literally praised
lr IS one OF the few companies in the
division that is fully equipped. in
most Of The other companies there
IRE NOT enough rifles for all the men.
pany A is as well supplied as any
0-he- in the division
These are only a Few of the things
that have given the new company A
which is a consolidation Of the old
4 and 3 companies Of FL Pas0-an
euviobie name in Camp Bowie. Con-
trary TO general expectations in both
companies before the consolidation. .
there was virtually no friction after
the companies combined. The boys OF
Doth units hit II OFF, together right
from the start, and today are cooper
atinE as II they had been together
from the time the recruiting began
About the only thing that came up
was friendly rivalry that acted as
"A spur for the company, rather than
q drag The men Of both units tried
to Guido each other in military eff
forts. and the result was beneficial
for the whole organization.
Burgess Popular Commander.
If there is a company commander
.n Camp Bowie more popular with
his men than Capt Burgess is with the
boys of company A. he has not Vet
been discovered Capt Burgess pop
llarily amounts almost TO affection;
some Of the boys have already come
-o regard him as substitute father
Proof Of that is ample: whenever any
1f them are broke" which is not in
.requently, they touch" the captain \
lr one Of the Ieutenants- E. Pasoaus
who knew Capt. Burgess I'm civil life
Fan readily understand this. The
-aptains door is always aiar for any
nan in his company; he encourages /
hem 10 come directly 10 him with
heir troubles. If they have com
llaints TO make-which is seldom
hey are invited TO make them TO him
lirect- Most Of his spare minutes.
which are few indeed these days. are
devoted 10 the welfare of his men.
He has the most loyal company In the
iiTisiOn as a reward.
some FL PasOans may not be aware