Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-11-01
GREAT DISTRIBUTING
BASE FOR SUPPLIES
Clothing Of Gas Attack Victims or.
ten Has to BE Wholly
Destroyed.
MANY MILES or WAREHOUSES;
Soldiers Test Machine Guns Before
They Are Sent to F'ront-BaIIoons
Are Also Carefully Prepared for
Use.


AMERiCAN REGULATING BASE.
ADVANCE ZONE. FRANCE october 81:
w warehouses; stretching over several
square miles. balcd hay by the acre
piled thirty feet in height and other
vast quantities OF supplies needed to
MAJ tan, the the American Army. mark
points where one obtains an adequate
!dea Of the tremendous push America
Is putting into the war.
This vast accumulation OF supplies is
necessary to keep tra;nioadS OF food
clothing, ammunition trucks. wagons.
whcclbarrows. medical stores and the
whoIc range OF the army wants, NOV
ing forward in a huge daily ira fife with
uhEaryihS precision so that no division
no matter what its losses in material
need suffer.
Each warehouse is hive of industry.
with the suppl IS moving out from ono
SIDE TO the front. and moving in from
the other side the steady stream of
supplies now in from the American base
is maintained here.
AT one point machine guns were be-
ing tested before going forward 10 the
section Of the ordnance park. with a
vast array Of these deadly mechanical
devices. So lads Of soldiers were max
ing the iinal tests. and the rattle OF
guns sounded like AN early morning
skirmish on the firing line.
Almost a. noisy as the machine guns
stretched in long batteries like thresh-
ing machines. devouring the stacks Of
pact bundles for the artillery and cav
Farther on the balloon sheds were
turning out the big gas bags for use
on observation along the front. These
are assembled and packed and some
OF the parts ar" made, here. Like
must be final IS regulated here. de-
pending on the number lost or de-
s str along me front, and the vary
Nearby $500 German prisoners were
at work piling fuel wood, 1t was a hot
autumn and day f, and the air was heavy
ira ffic going on. But the prisoners
did not seem to mind the creature dis
a Will. while American guards with
rifles ready stood at the summit of the
huge piles of wood TO see there was
Another 200 German prisoners had
arrived the night before. so soon there
vii! be $500 OF these workers handling
This is the headquarters also for
the salvage carried on at the front,
and for the extensive system of s;eril-
izinE and delousng. AS the vast de-
bris OF the battle fclds is gathered up
broken cannon and guns, ammuni-
Lon h harn IS 'entage: ete,it comes
semblcd and forwarded to the big
salvage station at Tours
from here. and while the actual work
is done at the front. yet the regulating
is all carried on here. with stacks of
uLderclothinE. shoes. ETC.
moving forward constantly TO meet the
requirements OF this systematic cleans
ing.
Gas attacks have developed the
greatest need for thorough cleansing
for often after one of these attacks
every stitch OF clothing of the gas
patients has to be destroyed. and all
the blankets and equipment which have
the faintest trace of the deadly fumes
and this in turn calls FOR complete
re-outfit of clothing nd equipment of
all those exposed to the gas.