The Washington herald., 1917-10-15
HOW BRITAIN
TRAINS TROOPS
Bayonet Charges on Dunn.
my Boches Amuses New
TONNES"
By JOHN L. BALDERs1oN.

Oct lit Is only In the great pase
training camps that the important
change this summer has brought In
the tactics of war can be studied
at close range. Here may be seen
the new rife. bayonet and gas
methods; an observer who wished 20
observe these things at the actual
front would more likely than not Do
blown to pieces or choked to death.
After inspecting the largest OF these
camps. lunched with the ofncer
who commands all the British camps IN
France, and has passed several mil
lions OF men from them to the ngne-
ing lines. He was not anxious Tor
the close contact which he maintains
in experiments and new devices with
the French training camps to De
duplicated in the case of the Amer
| lean army. :,
you have sent officers up here, and
he told me, anxious to learn. almost
too difident about themselves and
their own men. No doubt we, and the
French, have much to teach them.
But we all know the extraordinary
inventive genius Of the American
mind, and we expect great things
from your men, when they are ac-
tually facing the enemy, In the way
Of new devices to annoy the Hun, and
improvements on those we nave
worked out in three years Of war, ana
now place at your disposal
Systems Similar.
I gathered that my host did not an
ticipate that the American army oy
adopting the French system OF tram
would lose the benefit of those things
m which the British excel. I'VE nave
exchanged so much with the French
he said. that our systems. allowing
for differences in tradition and tenn
permanent, are not dissimilar."
An officer showed me his charges
going through a mimic attack on Ger
man positions and firing rife volleys
instead of hurting bombs or going in
with the bayonet. I'm these attacks,
when the enemy trench was reached.
reliance used to be placed too much
on the bayonet and bomb. Now we
have realized that when the enemy
runs away and you run after him. he
is likely to get away, because he starts
first, and you probably have to clear
some obstacles while he has fairly
clear field. Accordingly we teach the
men not to rush wildly along with the
sole idea of bayonetting the Boche,
but to stop and pump some bullets
after him. The bayonet goes only as
fast as the man; the bullet can catch
the swiftest German"
Spread out before US was a mimic
battlefield. There were trenches. par
tally destroyed, with imitation shell
holes, and real wire entanglements.
scattered about as though left by the
guns. A few tree stumps. festooned
with wire, were part of the hazard.
At a given signal, from a trench a
hundred yards away rose a line OF
cheering Scotch Highlanders. They
advanced In line, diving into trenches
and shell holes. climbing out again.
sticking their bayonets into dummies
representing men without getting out
Of their strides.
osders Given.
Now and then, Unexpectedly, the
officer would call out an order, which
a sergeant bawled loudly enough for
all the men to hear. Enemy counter
attacking. take covert" for instance.
At the order. every man dropped
into the nearest trench or shell-hole
and commenced firing blank rounds
from his rife. Soon the order to ad-
vance was given. The wired wood
was passed. With the help Of wire
nippers, and in the final trench on
the course the Scotch lads were kept
several minutes firing their rifles at
dummy Germans hung up a few hun
bred feet before them.
I'VE do that" the officer explain
ed. ito restrain their natural desire
80 ,h pnrhn Uhan thew
him running" Then he called out,
Pursue the enemyi" and the killed
soldiers with bowls of delight climb
a tangle of wire, transhxing the dunn
mics with their bayonets.
One interesting feature Of the bay
onet course shows better than coll
umns of rhetoric how the morale Of
fighting, deteriorated. When / saw
this camp. a year ago, bayonet fight
ing was taught on the assumption
that the enemy was going to stand
up and fight Now find this instruc-
ton curtailed. and much emphasis
laid upon the art Of bayoneting the
enemy when he bolts from trench
and tries to escape. The recruit is
taught to leap into a trench from
behind and, by landing on the fire
step and making a lunge as he drops,
catch a departing German.
Disarming Tricks.
Disarming tricks are also taught.
They are a form of Jiu 1itsu. One
of the instructors, who could have
given points to q Jap, told a raw re-
cruit to try to stick him with a
bayonet, and each time with bare
hands he sent the armed soldier
lsprawling.
If the class OF recruits now being
received into the British army is to
be judged by the camp I saw, there
has been surprisingly little falling
of in the physique OF the men now
being called up from these saw a
year ago. The army now makes a
trained soldier out of a civilian in
from three to four months He is
trained eight or ten weeks in Eng
land, and his course at the training
school in France polishes him OF.
Before he goes to the line, he Is put
through the routine of trench war
70 eha,,t hfs hon, r