New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-10-24

have Just returned from visit TO the por-
ton of the American army that IS now III
France, training under It's officers, win tne
help Of all expert advice that can be given by
tho French and the British, to get ready 70
take It's place at the front
There Is something very impressive about
the men as one sees them ut work. 1t IS sui
possible to trace in their ranks the different
origins Of the men, some Of whom are clearly
city bred and others who have no less OBJ
viously como from the land. They have not
yet been moulded to regimental type, and
the effect of their training will probably never
bring about the creation Of the type, because
every effort Is being made to develop to its
highest degree the intelligent initiative that
is so marked characteristic Of the American
people. The army is scattered over wide
area. The first saw of It was a group Of
half dozen companies who were paraded on
the hillside.
Their front faced a wooded valley, and the
men were having object lesson from some
war-worn French veterans, who were showing
them the exact tactics the French pursue in
I
French officers had delivered lecture TO
their American colleagues as to the proposed
operation, and, steadily and methodically,
working with all the precision Of highly or
ganized machinery, the French conducted
their attack, moving forward behind an imagi-
nary bsrrage fire, hating, and again moving
as the supposed barrage lifted, sending out
t-fA 30 A.
vance. Every detail Of the msneuvre, with
rockets to signal to the guns In the rear, and
with the smoke fires lit to mark the exact
point reached, was followed sttentively by the
Amer ican staff and by the men. Later 1t was
for the staff to discuss among themselves all
that they had seen and to decide how far
French methods seemed likely to suit the
American troops. For at present, as was
pointed gut to me, the American armies are
engaged in sitting every detail of British and
French experience with view OF assmilating
1t and adapting it to American requirements.
The Training Ground
From the standpoint of the men, the morn
ing's work was an easy one, and we left them
to visit the units that were in actual training.
A deep wooded valley had been allocated to a
group of units as their special training
ground. As we came near we could hear the
sound Of machine guns and OF rife fire. At
the head Of the valley was machine gun
unit, and when we reached II the men were
grouped around score of mules. The officer
in command told US that we had arrived just
in time to see the mule race. He was almost
apologize about it, but explained that he and
his brother officers took every opportunity Of
organizing incidents Of the sort SO as to vary
the monotony of persistent drill The mules
were ridden bare-backed, and the race con-
sisted in galloping the mules as far as pos
sibe in a straight line for couple of hun
bred yards to where the men had laid down
their hats, to pick them up and ride back to
the starting place. As the mules were only
broken to pack work there were a number Of
tumbles, but no casualties, despite the hard
ness of the ground. Each discounted rider
was jeered at loudly by his comrades.
The rest" lasted for about ten minutes or
quarter Of an hour, and then, at whistle,
the men fell in and resumed training, show
ing the same keenness in handling their guns
as they had in the mule race. Every detail of
the work of bringing the guns into action, of
retiring from action, of mounting and dis
mounting the guns, carried through with
the smartness and precision of a gymnasium
crew, and the maneuvres ended with prac-
tice fire at natural detectives on the other