The Penn's Grove record., 1917-12-21
WHAT ONE MILLION
IN BATTLE MEANS
ABOUT THREE MILLION OTHERS
IN RESERVE AND WORKING
BEHIND THE LINES.
NOT ALL CAN BE FIGHTING
Problem of Raising the Vast Number
of American Soldiers Wanted is
ECONOMIC as Well as Military, Say
Army Men.
BY EDWARD B. CLARK.

WaShington.-The question concern
ing the time when a million troops
can be expected at the front apparent
ly has been misunderstood. Army men
interpret it as meaning. "When will
the United States have a million men
on the fighting line?' Military au-
thority therefore holds today that it is
just as well that the American people
should know definitely what "a mil
lion men at the front" means.
One learns readily enough from com
petent sources that a million troops
on the fighting line means a million
troops under fire; that it means TAX
ing ver q large section of the French
front, and that the million on the line
must have another million as sup
ports in various capacities back of the
line, and yet another million or so on
this side of the ocean water line" as
a reservoir from which man material
quickly may be drawn to fill up the
breaches made in the walls of Il
hood on the other side.
1t is probable that next summer the
AAAlN q HRolilC may " llldb my
have Il round million of troops in
France with three-quarters of them
properly trained for quick and instant
fighting work somewhere between the
french and the British troops, or it
may be on Il line fanked right and
left by the troops of the French re-
public.
Not a Million Fighting.
While this million of men for the
most part will be trained for the fight
ing, little more than one-third of the
number a be sent into service on
the lines actually embattled. Troops
are needed in France for other pur-
poses than for actual fighting. An
army must have lis force of nOncOm-
batantS, or ut any rate temporary nom
combatants, to make it possible that
the combatants can do the fighting.
Moreover, troops must be relieved
from the fighting and their places
must be taken by the men temporarily
at the rear. 1t is shift and shift, with
other troops looking after the matter
of supplies and forwarding on the dot
of time the things necessary TO sus-
tain the fighting bodies and fighting
spirits of the men engaged.
So it is that the million American
troops in France, as army men inter-
pref 1t for the country, means only a
comparatively small force. actually in
he fighting line at any one time. Of
f>%, a, nv tho f6TcfS now on
gagged, III other words, the 100000
AMERICANS n5wfh France, some armies
Of the past look like EoFBorals' guards,
but when a comparison is made with
the armies Of France and Great Brit
ain stretching their khaki and hori-
zon blue from Ostend to the Vosges,
the insignificance of the present Amer
lean forces will become apparent.
1t is understood that the general
staff desires that this country shall
have at least 5000, 900 men under arms
and thoroughly trained for the fight
ing. 1t is believed, however, that the
officers of the staff infinitely would
prefer that the number should be
made 5000, 900. If the numerical
strength of the forces agreed upon
shall split the difference between 81
100000 and 100000 it seems prob
able, according to the army calcula-
lions, that 100000 Americans can be
engaged actively in front line battle
with knowledge that their supports
are adequate and that there will be
40 danger whatsoever that supplies
of the imperatively necessary ammuni-
ton and food will at any hour of peril
be lacking.
Must Have Large Reserves.
Now of course this does not mean
that there will be 100000 men in
France, nor perhaps anything like that
number, but it means that from the
army viewpoint such a number must
be raised and kept ready for any
emergency of war. England has troops
at home in large numbers. She needs
them, so army men say, and they fur
Their say that criticism of England's
course in keeping a considerable force
in the homeland has been justified
from the military standpoint.
1t has been insisted from the first
that the more men America raises and
the more money it spends today, the
more quickly the wal will be brought
to a close and the less money it will
be necessary to spend tomorrow. The
problem is not only a military one, but
an economic one, and army opinion
runs that the people when once they
understand the matter will be content
to confront present large expenditures
If satisfied that it means the saving of
nf1ch larger expenditures in the fu-
ture.