South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-11-03
j. 8. ARMY HAS
VAST SUPPLIES
Great Warehouses Unable to
: Hold All Arriving Supplies
and Salvage.
REGULATING

AMERICAN REGULATING
BASE, ADVANCE ZONE. France
+ Correspondence 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 90 maintain the Am
eTican army mark this Gist ibuting
center as one Of the points where
one obtains an adequate idea OF the
tremendous push America Is putting
into the war.
This vast accumulation of sup
piles Is necessary 10 Keep trainloads
of food. clothing. ammunition
trucks. wagons. wherlbarrows, med
zeal stores and the whole range Of
the army wants, moving forward in
g huge daily traffic with unvarying
precision so that no division. no mat
ter what it's losses in material, need
suffer
Each warehouse is a hive of in
uustry. with the supplies moving out
from one side 20 the front, and
from the other side as the steady
streams OF supplies low in from the
base ports so that the full quota al
ways be maintained here.
At one time machine guns were
being tested before going forward TO
the front This was in the machine
gun section Of the ordnance park.
with vast array of these deadly
snechanical devices. Squads of sol
diers were making the final tests,
and the rattle Of gums sounded like
an early morning skiTmisl on the
fring line.
Almost as noisy as the machine
guns. were the machines for baling
hay which stretched i'm long batter
ies like threshing machines devOur-
ing the stacks Of loose hay and
turning it out in compact bundles
Tor 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 everything else the sup
ply Of balloons must be finally reg
ulated here. depending on the num-
Der lost or destroyed along the front,
and the varying activities Of the
different sectors.
Near by 1900 German prisoners
were at work piling fuel wood. It
was a hot autumn day aand the air
was heavy and gray with the dust
OF the immense traffic going on. But
the prisoners did not seem TO mind
the creature discomforts. but bent
10 their work with a viii. while
American 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
vast debris OF the battIehelds is
sterilizing and delOusing As the
vast debris OF the battledelds is
gathered up-brOken cannon and
guns. ammunition, harness. tentage.
etc.-it comes back here in huge
masses TO be assembled and for
warded TO the biz salvage station at
Tours.
The sterihzing system also radiates
from here, and while the actual
work is done at the front. yet the
regulating is all carried on here,
with stacks OF clOthlns underclOth-
ing. shoes. etc. moving forward con-
stantly 20 meet the requirements of
ahis systematic cleansing.
Gas attacks have developed the