The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-09-17
BIT OF FRANCE
IS REPRODUCED

CAMP EUSTIS. Va, Sept 1.-THE
stage is set for the opening of the
Camp Eustis artillery training field
next month. where members OF the
United States coast artillery will be
trained under battle conditions in the
use of the heaviest type OF field guns
preparatory to going overseas to help
blast the way through the German
lineA
The heavy artillery training center
located here is the largest OF its kind
ever established in the United States,
the reservation covering 10000 acres,
with ranges up to thirteen miles.
To Train ArtIIIerymen.
The artillerymen's training will be
conducted by Maj. Gen. Frank W.
Coe. L. S. A. who recently returned
from the battlefields OF France, hav-
ing gone overseas with General
Pershing's expedition. The military
commander OF the camp Is Colonel
Frank X. Ferguson, who, after a tour
OF duty abroad commanding the first
American heavy artillery regiments
sent to France was called back TO the
United States to take charge Of the
camp here
Today Camp Eustis Is swarming
daily with khaki-clad soldiers Skin
mishing through the cotton woods,
ponderous tractors are hauling the
big guns into action while airplanes
hover overhead directing the fire.
But to date all the training has been
theoretical. Next month the real
work will commence and then am
munition dumps will be blown up,
abandoned farm houses reduced to
splinters, and enemy" batteries and
cave shelters gas shelled. The battle
ground, which is located on Mulberry
Island, fifteen miles up the James
river from Fortress Monroe, is in
reality a peninsula jutting out into
the James river.
Sector of Front Reproduced.
tie ground which will turn out thou
sands of practical artillerymen every
month for overseas duty, the con-
struction division OF the army has re-
produced here, under the direction OF
Colonel Ferguson, a replica Of a wide
sector on the western front Every
form OF target that exists in Europe
has been provided for the Camp Eus-
It's battle ground. A large number
OF farm houses have been left intact
in order that they may serve as tar
gets for registration work, while bat
terry emplacements have been con-
structed, not only for the use OF the
guns, but also for target purposes in
order that practice may be furnished
air observers in directing fire.
Firing will be going on continuous
" in connection with the elaborate
war game, and artillery duels will be /
carried out on the lines OF the real
in Europe. Heretofore prac-
tically all the firing OF artillery in !
this country has been with solid pro- |
jectiIes, but the firing at Eustis will
be with shells loaded with T. n. T.. |
in order that the artillerymen may |
study the destructive effects OF their |
sunnery.
Here hundreds o. officers, who are |
sent for field firing, and student o1i- |
GERS striving for commissions, will be |
asked to apply the knowledge gained |
n the military class rooms In survey
ng, mapping, and gunnery in actual |
ield problems. Training VII be |
given the men in handling the guns,
which Will range from the nigh /
powered six-inch seacoast gun, which
las a range Of fifteen miles, to the
giant sixteen-inch guns, which at an
elevation OF IS degrees can shoot
orty-five miles. The officers and en-
listed men also will receive practice
n the handling OF antiaircraft guns.
Communication In AR.
Communication with eirplanes will
70 taught the artillerymen. The
method at present employed for COM
from the ground is by
igns placed on the ground which
an be easily read by the airmen.
When the aviator wishes to talk to
hose below the wireless Is used
The targets at which the heavy ar
illery fires are OF kUch a nature as
o permit careful and accurate de-
OF location and range
4