New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-24
From The London Morning Post

side Of the valley, the line OF bullets showing
the gkill that the men had already ATTAINED,
As baseball is the national game OF the onited
States, IL has often been suggested that the
Americans will be particularly proficient III
grenade throwing, and there is no question
that It Is q part Of the work in which they are
keenly interested. The baseball, however, Is
thrown with q bent arm, and experience mas
shown that to throw the grenade with bent
arm tires q man far too rapidly, 80 that the
American Is more or less in a position oil
having TO relearn how TO throw.
Grenade Throwing
A considerable amount of practice is done
with live grenades, but at the time OF our
visit the squad were practising with dummy
grenades and making excellent shooting at
their detectives. Much Of the work through
out the valley is interchangeable, and the gen.
cral theory on which training is proceeding Is
that, so far as possible. each man should do
little of the whole Of the work daily, because
i. has been found that otherwise work when
it has been done is apt to be forgotten.
In the squad next to that throwing grenades
we saw our first evidence of the effort that is
being made to instil into the mind Of the indi-
vidual soldier that his mission in Europe IL
10 XIII GeFHldUS. ne uidchiiC Bun P'"NN'N~
and the grenade throwing gave me in many
ways the impression of the old volunteer sys-
tenn in England in days when men trained for
the possible contingency of war, but IN the
special trench exercises one realized, and the
men realized, that the training was re-
hearsal Of the work they ere shortly to be
called upon to perform.
A portion of the valley Is lined with
~ an
were preparing to carry these trenches with
the bayonet. At the word Of command they
leaped from their own trench and charged
across at their objective, jumping in and out
Of the trenches on the way, bayoneting saw
agely dummy figures Of Germans that lay In
the trenches, and shouting as each bayonet-
thrust was driven home. Our mornings visit
finished at the range where men were prac-
Using individual fire. The shooting was good
and accurate, and in this work, as through
out, one could not but be struck by the keen
ness and intensity Of purpose that was ap-
parent Another notable point, again, was the
amount of individual initiative left to the
men. When a man knows what TO do, orders
for the most part are not given, and the men
carry out their work silently, in much the
same way as work is done silently in such a
highly organized unit as salvage vessel.
British Instructors
Il Is common knowledge that a certain num-
Der of British instructors have been lent TO
the American force by the British army, and
in the afternoon we visited a squad of young
officers who were being trained by British
drill sergeants. The British sergeants have
made themselves immensely popular with the
Americans, have been very cordially welcomed
by them, and speak with the warmest admira-
ton Of the splendid material they have the
privilege of handling. When one considers
the short period that their training has lasted
one is amazed at the physical fitness of the
men. The officers are learning lessons that
they will have to impart to the men under
them, and it was in this section Of the VAL
ley, perhaps, that one noticed most markedly
how thoroughly the training is directed to
promoting individuality and to emphasizing In
the case Of each man that his primary object
is to kill Germans without being himself
killed by them.
Much of the drill consists of playing organ
lied games to promote physical fitness on the
one hand and on the other hand to reduce the
reaction period to the minimum. In each
brigade the individual is penalized for the
slightest inattenton and for any slackness,
and all the time the British sergeants were
there speeding the squad up in every possible
way The most realistic Of the games, per-
haps, was when the men stood round in a ring
with a sergeant in the middle, they with their
backs to him. Each man had rife and fixed
bayonet, and Unexpectedly the sergeant would