New-York tribune., 1918-01-12

men, or course, he loses the propcr
elevation as we'll as tiring his arm.
ne seems to be promising with tbs
oayonet and he learns to shoot quickly
Snhke the German. however, his ef.
',,c'ency decreases in mass. The Cana
ten Canadians could easily beat ten
.l,ermans, but that when it came to ten
t.housand on side the German genius
ior team work came into play and
Just about neutralized the individual
superiority of the Canadian.
The American has little aptitude for
team work, and this factor has not been
ssufilciertly considered in training the
American army. Organization after or
ganization. from companies up to reri-
'nents and divisions. has been stripped
CT E It's ofhcers and been obliged to start
the process Of finding itself all over
again. rev captains remain with their
companies, and vast amount of work
winch otilcers put into teaching their
men has been wasted. At least one
company went into the trenches with
enree officers who had been with the
organization only week This put an
enormous burden upon the one veteran
onacer, a young first lieutenant acting
as captain. He himself had been in the
army only a year and half, but he
was capable man for all that, because
ne knew his men. He could not leave
the selection of patrols or anything
else OF that sort to his juniors, because
that was entirely matter of knowinS
the capabilities of the men.
Some Shifting Unnecessary
Some shifting has been necessary,
but it has not been reduced to the
proper minimum. There has not been
s. sufficient regard for the human ele-
nent. The marines, for instance, were
the best American soldiers in France.
The organization had distinct esprit.
It was eager to show what it could do,
but after months of training the ma
rine regiments were cut into small
units and sent into various parts of the
country to do duty as military police
If this was the plan for their future
from the beginning they should not
have been put through long training
for trench warfare.
Then consider the Rainbow Division.
1t was we'll organized division. 1t
had begun to set together at Camp
OF very little training before being
ready for the line. But the division is
not as ready as it was. 1t is still en-
gagged in pulling itself together, for
the General Staff raided the organiza-
tion and took almost all the staff Off
GERS of the division away for other
work. 1t is true, Of course, that CEN
tral headquarters needs staff officers,
but it would seem as if it should be
able to find them before they have be-
come fitted into divisional organiza-
tions. They are hard men to replace.
A reserve officer is not fitted for staff
work. The experienced man is neces
sary.
Owe Are Insane on Schools"
In building the foundation for
large army and in the process of ex
pansion it is necessary that some shift
ing about should be done, but the
movement of officers in some cases has
been erratic in the extreme. l know
major who came over on the staff OF
division. After some little time. in
which he had pretty we'll famillarized
himself with his work as assistant ad-
jutant, he was sent back to troops and
put in command Of q battalion. He
was here for several weeks and worked
| in perfecting his organization as II 1T
was to be his for a time, but one
black day there came an order for him
to leave the battalion and report at
certain city, where he should take
course in 8 school for staff officers.
This officer and others say that we
have gone absolutely insane on the
matter of schools, but this is probably
not so, although we have a complicated
and extensive system of military edu-
cation which is not yet we'll unified.
1t is we'll enough to have specialists,
but neither here nor at home does the
specialist get into his own line fast
enough. l have in mind an officer who
spent four years at West Point and
then four more with troops. He was
then put through three months
course in a bakery school and is now
running a field bakery in France.
Didn't Keep Up With War
For some reason or other our officers
did not keep up with the war until
America entered. Our military OBJ
little useful material for army study
Some sent back nothing. Then, too,
work on the Mexican border put mum
Der of officers out Of touch with what
was going on in the world. SO our
regular officers came over here at first
fearfully ignorant about all things
connected with the war. staff officer
remarked one night in all seriousness
to a correspondent from the British
soldiers go out into No Mans Land at
night? | didn't know that"
OF course that ignorance has since
been dispelled. Our officers at home
and abroad have studied and plugged
away and learned let. Many of them
have seen service in a quiet sector
of the front and others have seen big
actions as observers with the French
and British. But we are not half hum
Bile enough in our new found knowl,
edge In a programme for divisional
training recently issued from head
quarters find: "The general principles
governing combat remain unchanged in
their essence. This war has developed
special features which involve special
phases of training, but the fundamental
, ideas enunciated in OUT Drill Regula
,, tions, Small Arms Firing Manual
Field Service Regulations and other
, service manuals remain the guide fol
both officers and soldiers and constitute
the standard by which their efficienc.
is to be measured, except as modified
in detail by instructions from these
, headquarters"
4 Opinions of Young Officers
put the matter up to a number O.
the Younger officers in our army. an,
they assured me that in their opinion
war had changed in it's essence as vel
as it's features. They did not believe
that our service manuals still remainet
md cn1