The Robesonian., 1918-07-08
DEMONSTRATION OF
TRENCH WARFARE
Seven Thousand Marines Trained For
Service Overseas Show How
1t Is Done.

Marines at Quantico, Va, 1000 of
them, trained and ready for overseas
service Thursday gave demonstration
OF trench warfare to members of Con-
gress, navy officers and representa-
tives of the allied military missions,
who were guests Of Secretary Daniels
and Major General Barnett of the
marine corps, at field day exercises at
the Quantico training camp.
A press dispatch gives the following
account:
4 scattering roll Of infantry fire
rose to & cTescendo as the visitors
reached the camp ranges. Picked de
tachnents Of snipers lay in conceal
ment almost under the fee+ Of Oh
gTlnnlng behind masks Of green pant
wearing wierdly camouflage suits
stood up to disclose themselves, then
merged into the background of he
underbrush and proved their ability
to travel yards without beina seen.
Trenches that struggled in sharp
salients acrosse the terrain sprouted
at their front the 25-foot band Of
barbed wire. But a snorting tractor,
camouflaged in green and trunding
ahead of it's field gun and caisson,
broke out of the woods cover and
bored its way through. 1t whirIed
around, twisted back and when it's
agile crew laid down a bridge Of
planks, crossed the trench lines them
selves.
Moving their guests a matter of
miles into the back country, the ma
rines showed a 250-yard section Of
enemy trench, front line, and support,
with concrete "pillbox" between. A
quarter of a mile across the mimic No
Mans Land was their own position.
It consisted of line Of machine gun
emplacements, rising tier on tier be-
hind each ether on a hill slope. First
came the Browning automatic rifle
men, ensc6nced behind line of sand
bags. Next above them, in two lines,
were score of black snouts marked
Lewis gun positions. Gunners laying
flat on the ground were ready at the
batteries. AS final touch of reality;
behind the crest Of the ridge in little
pits Of their own we're mounted half
dozen Vickers, Maxims and Lewis
guns of the heavy tripod type, ready
to lay down barrage.
Zero hour" came at so p. m. and
with it the enemy trench lines were
turned into sizable inferno of dane
ing earthclods. Three miles to the
rear four batteries of light artillery
opened fire simultaneously as the or
der woke to action the hillside full Of
machine guns.
The whine of the shells overhead
was almost lost in the wicked staccato
hammering of the machine weapons
but quick bursts and thunderous over
tones of sound marked the landing Of
the "heavies." The shrapnel shells
! bursting uncomfortably short of their
targets at times, revealed a white
smoke clot, cut by an instant flame
flash while the high explosive marked
it's arrival by the succession Of black
gas clouds, mixed with flying timber
and earth and a vicious and distinct
note above all the storm of sound. In
a matter of minutes the barrage rails
ed to the timber in the rear, playing
havoc with the trees, and leaving the
! wrecked enemy trench line.
/ Whirled back to the waterfront, the
guests saw an anti-aircraft gun, tilt
ed back on it's truck base, fire, eight
shells to burst in group in the all
first explosion had vanished. A pain
of the same, reared back from then
standards on the ground scored on 9
line of box kites tethered for practice
A new clamor was added when il
caterpillar tractors trundled out O.
their stalls and craWled around The
landscape. while two dragged behine
them eight-inch howitzers already
naintad for ccucea!nent opposite the
German lines.
A hundred picked men, stripped te
Jerseys, split into pairs for minute
or two of fierce attack on each cuhe7
with boxing gloves. Afterward the!
lunged in body from distance Oh L
| feet and threw each other to thu
ground regardless Of bruised and tor,
, flesh. Worked to fever heat by thu
> process, they threw themselves, ranl
after rank, across the bayonet court
!, shooting at intervals and prodding tn
dummies with an enthusiasm that lef
J, shattered steel and broken sights a
the ends of their guns.
: A final spectacle was drill by 5O
/, graduating members of the Quantic'
= officers training camp.
When the 1000 men gathered t.
= briefly that marines were writing
} new pages in history
5 ~ take off my hat to your enl1ste'
men," said the secretary, land knov
: that when you go, you go with tn
hope and blessing and faith OF Amer
ica."
5 To the thunderous response of tn
r ranked audience came Colonel Butler
| 4l,4 y071t