Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-03-19
TROOPS WILL Be
RUSHED TO FRANCE.
Orders Issued to Speed Move
ment of Selected Soldiers.
7 GENERALS IN ARMY SHAKEUP
Maj. Gen. March Declares Pershine
Demands That onIy Commanders
Physically Fit Be Sent
Across

Washington, March 13.-New orders
have gone forth to speed the sending
of troops to France
In consequence the drafted men are
to be dispatched to Europe as fast as
ships are available.
Seven Generals Relieved.
Sweeping changes in the command
ing personnel of the American army
We're foreshadowed when seven gem
eral officers were relieved OF field
commands and assigned to home duty.
The shakeup is a result of the de-
mand of General Pershing that only
commanders physically fit be sent
abroad
The officers affected are:
Maj. Gen. Thomas II. Barry. relieved
from command Eighty-sixth division,
Camp Grant, ILL.,, and assigned to COM
mand central department, Chicago, re-
lieving Maj. Gen. w. II. Carter re-
tired
Maj. Gen. Edward HI. Plummer, to
brigadier general; relieved from COM
man Eighty-eighth DIVISION Camp
Dodge, la.
Maj. Gen, Richard w. Blatchford,
to brigadier general, commanding de-
partment of Panama.
Maj. Gen. Edwin st. ]. Greble, to
brigadier general, and relieved of
command Thirty-sixth division, Camp
Bowie, Tex
Maj. Gen. Charles C. Morton. re-
lieved from command Twenty-ninth
division, Camp Mcclellan, Ala.
Maj. Gen. William H. Sage, to briga-
der general, relieved of command
Thirty eighth division, Camp Shelby,
Miss.
Maj. Gen. William A. Mann, to briga-
dier general, commanding Eastern de-
partment, New York.
The reductions in grade were made
because al except Barry and Morton
were holding their higher grades only
for the period OF the war on assign
nent to the National army.
All general officers abroad, includ-
ing Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood, it was
indicated, also must pass a rigid
physical test.
National army commands were the
first affected, because of orders to
rush the draft divisions to France.
Allies Appeal for Troops.
The orders to speed up are reported
to have resulted from fresh appeals
of the allies for more American forces
to help withstand the expected Ger
man offensives.
France, particularly, is said to have
renewed her urgings.
'"The whole movement across" said
General March, lis being speeded as
rapidly as possible"
simultaneously with the shakeup
and orders to speed up transportation
came cheering news that all records
in preparations are to be smashed.
From the shipping board and diplo-
matte sources came assurances the
transportation situation is rapidly
clearing.
Food, clothing, shells and guns are
beginning to pile up in prodigous
amounts.
In the next year $5O0,0O00O0 is to
be spent by the war department erect
ing huge depots for the rapidly ac-
cumulating material. Six of these are
to be erected along the Atlantic coast.
Thirty depots are planned west of the
Alleghenies.
All records in training men have
been broken. The draft army, after
six months, is as well trained as it
can be on this side of the Atlantic.
1t was indicated at the war depart
ment the selects were ready for the
final training in France.
Indicative of its tremendous prep
arations the war department told
congress of it's purpose to ask $685.
100000 more in the huge military
budget of 761,O00,O00 passed by the
senate yesterday.