The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-11-06
HAULING WAR SUPPLIES.
HOW the Needs of the American Army
is Kept Supplied From Great Dis
ributing Centres.

American Regulating Base, Ad.
vance Zone, France, Sept. 25 (Corre-
! spondence Of The Associated Press
| Warehouses stretching over several
square miles, baled hay by the acre
piled thirty feet in height and other
vast quantities of supplies needed to
maintain the American army mark
this distributing center as one of the
points where one obtains an. adequate
idea of the tremendous push Amer
Iica is putting into the war.
This vast accumulation of supplies
is necessary to keep trainloads of
food, clothing, ammunition trucks,
wagons, wheelbarrows, medical stores
and the whole range OF the army
wants, moving forward in a huge
daily traffic with unvarying precision
so that no division, no matter what
it's losses in material, need suffer.
Each warehouse is a hive of indus
try, with the supplies moving out from
one side to the front, and moving in
from the other side as the steady
streams of supplies flow in from the
American base ports so that the full
quota may always be maintained heSe.
At one point machine guns were be-
ing tested before going forward to
the front. This was in the machine
gun section of the ordnance park,
with a vast array of these deadly
mechanical devices. Squads of SOL
diers were making the final tests, and
the rattle OF guns sounded like an
early morning skirmish on the firing
line.
Almost as noisy as the machine
guns, were the machines for baling
hay which stretched in long, batter
les like threshing machines, devour;7
ing the stacks Of loose hay and turn
ing it out in compact bundles for the
artillery and cavalry horses.
Farther on the balloon sheds were
turning out the big gasbags for use
on observation along the front. These
are assembled and packed, and some
of the parts are made Here. Like ev-
erything else the supply of balloons
must be finally regulated here, de-
pending on the number lost. or de-
stroyed along the 'front.' and the vary
ing activities of the different sectors.
Near by 1900 German prisoners
were work piling fuel wood. 1t was
a hot autumn day and the air was
heavy and gray with the dust Of the
immense traffic going on. But the
prisoners die not seem to mind the
creature discomforts, but bent to
their work with a will, while Ameri-
can guards with rifles ready stood at
the summit of the huge piles of wood
to see there was no stacking.
Another 700 German prisoners had
arrived the night before, so soon
there will be $500 Of these workers
handling picks and shovels instead OF
rifles.
This is the headquarters also for
the salvage carried on at the front,
and for the extensive system Of steril-
izing and delousing. AS the vast de-
bris ef the battlcfelds is gathered up
broken cannon and guns, ammunt-
ton, harness, tentage, etc-it comes
back here in! huge masses to be as
senbled an6s forwarded to the big
salvage station at. Tours.
The sterilizing system also radiates
from here, and while the actual wo.N
is done at the front, yet the regu:a--
ing is all carried on here, with stacks
Of clothing, underclothing, shoes, ETC.,
moving forward constantly to meet
the requirements Of this systematic
cleansing.
Gas attacks have developed the
greatest need for thorough cleansing
for often after one Of these attacks
every sti ch Of clothing OF the gas pa
tients 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 and
equipment of all those exposed to the
gas.