Evening star., 1918-01-10
MAPS ARE VITAL
IN ARMY DRIVES
American Officers Will Learn
New Science of Making
Them in Trenches. j
ACCURACY SAVES LIVES
BY HERBERT COREY.

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
THE FIELD. December IL. - Editor
Charles Humbert Of Paris. who Is at .
the moment bitterly insisting that Boio
Pasha never did fool him. made a great
name for himself in the early days of
the war by the slogan he printed day :
after day in LIE Journal. His constant .
cry was:
More cannon! More munItions-'
II he had cared to be completely log I.
ical he would have added third to this
pair of needs. He should have called
quite as loudly and earnestly for:
More maps"
Equipped with an accurate map.
gun is an instrument of precision. I,
Without a map the battery chief is !,
blind and the big gun is but a heavy
and useless article Of furniture. It Is
the modern map. worked out to q pitch I;
Of perfection never dreamed Of before. |
which has given their value to the !
great guns of today. One might argue !
that they have made war an exact /
science. Without them war would still /
be a hugger-mugger game OF killing at :
close quarters.
Information of Value.
No department of the wonderfully
complete British organization is being
examined with more alert interest by
the American officers who are visiting
the British front than the map-making .
section. The information they are Sc
curing will be of enormous value to I
them in their task of hurriedly expand 1
ing an entirely unprepared small army
into a thoroughly prepared great army. /
Such part of the story of British maps /
as may be told will enlighten the civil :
liam as to the infinite detail into which !
war preparation is carried nowadays.
I've are trying to get this battery
today" said an officer. showing me
map. The battery was marked In the
corner of one of the squares into which I
the map was divided. I'VE only locat-
ed 1t yesterday" q
That statement demands amplinca- I
tion. The map he held had been print !
ed the night before and hurried to /
this particular sector of the front by /
special messenger. Each morning many
copies of many different maps are thus
printed and sent out. There is one
great map for the front as a whole. !,
on which yesterdays changes are
shown in detail. There is a map for
each of the armies operating in the
British sector. There are submaps.
each sector Of each army.
Each officer in a responsible position IL |.
furnished each morning with map
brought up to date-up to the close OF
photographing light the day before
of the area in which he is interested.
How do you do 1t ?" I asked. !
How Maps Are Made.
Quite simply 1t appeared on examina-
tion. 1t did not appear to me as
simple operation. when the
infinite number OF things to be done by
the infinite number of people involved I
are considered. To the officers engaged
Ik h.
lem of organization Once the machine
is running smoothly ali goes well.
Each man has his part to do and does 4
it. The speed required is that. Of . :
downtown daily getting out an extra
on a Wall street smash.
Map making rests on the airy foun.
dation of the flying squadron. Each
day, rain or shine. the British observ-
ing planes go over the German lines.
That they may do so whole organi"
cation of offense and defense is re-
quired. Fighting planes go with the
also fight when it is required. The
enemy seeks to repel observers by
means of fighting machines and anti
aircraft guns. To turn back the enemy
machines more fighting machines and
more anti-aircraft guns are required
That is an old story. 4
Spots Reek With Deviltry.
When the observers get the infor-
nation they want, either by the eye or q
the camera. they return to camp Their
are checked and teie-
phoned to Intelligence" If Grey have
taken photographs the plates are de-
checked. By and by the experts know
Just what changes the past twenty
four hours have produced on the enemy
front. Here battery se;c,orh mas snot Peen en
the photograph shows where another
has been hidden. I have examined some
Of these spots under a glass and found
them innocent es & OF al evil g,,n aeo,,,rx o un1
Somewhere back of the line "1ntellf-
gence" has a map-making plant the
Jays harvest of indications Is sent In.
by telephone or otherwise. ana IN .he
divided crosswise in the familiar map
and each subdivision Is SUB
divided. Each pin point OF area is ac-
for TO move pm pom. int, rep
ength either way means fauity pat
.ery work next day. So this must nor
happen. The maps are printed from
stones. and the changes are made on
hem rapidly. Then they go to the
presses. The altered maps must be
IN the firing line by dawn.
And the Barrage Maps.
Even that does not Ftartle me lfkei
the barrage maps" said an American3
officer.
Now and then-when the fight is wel1t
,yer-one may get a glimpse of these
,arrage maps. Every one. in these dayA4
when each family has its own war ex-
bert. knows what barrage fs. 1t IS
,ecessary in order that the barrag0V
hall be wholly effective for the men to
follow 1t very closely. They keep their}
noses in it," as the men say. The tueaI&
distance is ten yards from the edge OF
he area covered by the fragments OF
he bursting shells. To follow par.3
age so closely means an occasionally
.asualty, of course, but 1t also meane3
he boche cannot put up a head wltnint
he area being swept by that oeaolyl
1room.
To the outsider that simply means
hat the gun muzzles are lifted slign1y4
1t each discharge, in order that tne{
,ext point of shell impact shall be pre-
.isely the distance beyond the iase7
,oint which men can walk in the timo4
Lllotted Actually the problem Is moret
Here the men must ciimn
! steep hill. There they descend Al
lope. At this point they are held up oy1
, marsh and over here by q creek, ana
N the right they may walk fast across4
eyel ground. The speed OF the walking
nen varies on the different parts OF ths1E
inc in accordance with the nature or
he terrain.
Hence the map which is put before1
he commanding officer of each bat
ery. On the background OF, the map
ba Rritisb trenches and the enemy