Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-24
OUR INDIAN TROOPS
FINE FOR PATROLS
Get Over Ground Without Making
Particle of Noise; the Work
Pcrilous.

With the American Army in Lorraine,
July I5-"A quiet sector" said an officer
of an American division holding position
30 designated, appears TO be part of
the front where nothing but scouting,
patroIling, shelling and gassing are going
on, with little bombing and flame
throwing to vary the monotony."
In "quiet' sector tho American sol
dier gets his first experience OF war
Some Of the relatively small things IN
this war look so big TO the new man that
no is inclined TO take them for bigger
ones" said an American general, and II
is important for both the new soldier
and tho young officer to get familiar with
the little frightfulnesses the Germans sond
over so as to get the proDer proportion
between them and real attacks"
Patrols are large contributors 10 the
war diary of the division In this sector
and the American soldier is particularly
apt at it. IL is no secret for the Germans
that he is always at IL and that he rs ven
tirresome enough TO push into their
lines and into the villages back Of them.
The Germans find their wire cut in most
unexpected places, even live wire in some
cases A patrol caught at this dangerous
work found itself in the range of machine
guns and bad to roll back under the wire
and across No Mans Land with bullets
whistlIng over their heads Another
patrol pushing into a German commanding
post and finding it vacant dragged an
officer trunk back over the shell holes
10 their own trenches
The patrol is expected to do nothing
more than bring IN information. The
orders are TO avoid contact with the enemv,
but patrols often meet and occasionally
are obliged to fight.
One man of an American patrol, separat-
cd from his comrades and captured by the
enemy. had gained some interesting in
formation that he determined To take back
if he could His rifle had been taken from
him but he had managed to conceal a
couple of grenades. Slyly removing the
cap from one of them as he was being led
across No Man Land he struck 1T against
the other, let 1t drop, then sprinted back
to safety.
The American Indian troops are render
ing great service in this work, getting
over the ground between the lipes without
seeming to touch thing that produces
noise, and bringing back most usefu
information.
Men in observation posts and captive
balloons furnish detailed information oi
everything bfltF set RbiiiR bu bdth VI btt'
enemv's lines From their reports the
war diary registers a daily count Of tbs
number Of trains and the number Of cars
in each train seen on the lines Of communi
cation A count is also kept OF columns
Of smoke with the hours and minutes
when they are observed.
Working parties are counted and ths
| direction Of their movements noted, some
times leading TO the discovery or new
emplacements for heavy artillery. An
aerial photograph showed recently wher'
a battery found in this way had been com
| pIetely destroyed by our fre.
The men out scouting or on patrol, II
the listening posts or observation balloon
quickly sharp th. ir faculties of observa
| ton, get better grasp OF the signIhcanc
| of little things and their relations 70 bll
ones. Their sense of proportion develop:
and they are no longer TO be misled as K
the scope of the enemy's harassing opera
| tiops.