Evening star., 1918-08-25


CAMP EUSTIS. Va. August 23. 1918.
A MMUNITIoN dumps are being
~ blown up. railway stations
n and yards bombarded. enemy
batteries and cave shelters
kas-s shelled and farmhouses reduced
% kindling wood by high explosive
$fojectiles weighing upwards of half
q ton from ranges of six to thirteen
yniles to give practice to the heavy
artillerymen who are being trained here
TO blast q way for the American
Army to Berlin.
Three months ago this area. about
teA miles square-a low nat island
dotted here and there by fisher
Enans ark propped up on the river
bank and scattered farmhouses -
hardly knew there was war The
far-ofr rumble of guns at Fortress
Monroe were the only reminders.
Today 1t is swarming with new
sort Of soldier hitherto locally un-
known. Cannon. large and medium
caliber, poke their noses out of farm
yards. Khaki-clad figures are skir-
6onderous batteries drawn by huge
caterpillar tractors are dashing into
Action. while giant airships and bat
&le-planes hover overhead directing
their fre. Today 1t Is Imagination.
Next month II will be the real thing
for these coast artillerymen VINO were
suddenly Transformed by the exigen.
pieO Of q war waged at distance OF
S,oeo miles from their coast defenses
from q defensive to an offensive arm
Of the military service.
AZ
This Is Of all things a heavy gun
war. and the American coast artillery
batteries are on the firing line from
one end of the French front to the
other. The coast artillery is no home
guard organization. New companies
and battalions are being constantly
formed at the sixty odd coast defenses.
speedily outfitted. mobilized as heavy
Artillery and sent across.
This war game camp. which covers
A reservation of 10000 acres, Is one
Of the greatest projects the United
States Army has ever undertaken.
There has never been anything ike
It in the history Of the country. There
have been mimic warfare oattle-
grounds and trench warfare systems.
but there has never been one of such
MAGNITUDE as the firing center and
training camp at Eustis. The battle-
ground il located on Mulberry Island.
about fifteen miles up the river from
Fort Monroe. 1t is called an island,
put is really a peninsula 1u.tins rracn Gor Por
housing the artillery brigades that
6ccupy the camp have just been COM
pteted on the mainland at cost ap-
proximately $5.000.o00.
Camp Eustis was located where 1t
10 mot only to get the long range Tor
ttllery is now using in the held. but
tosenable air observers both at Lang
ley Field and at the ten-station bal
loon fleld, which adjoins the camp. to
get actual war experience. Langley
Field is only three minutes away by
For the balloon stations spaces 500
feet square have been cleared OF in
the forest, all connected by an elab-
orate concrete road system The pal
looms can be foated out over the
James and towed by tugs to sea to
enable them to report on firing at ex-
treme rangess Both the camp and the
balloon stations were built in record
time by the construction division OF
the Army.
The artillery brigades occupying
Camp Eustis will handle equipment
and guns and ammunition amounting
into the millions of dollars. They Will
be given a course of instruction COW
Aring about two months before being
sent overseas.
With Mai. Gen. Frank w. Coe. in
charge Of the heavy artillery program.
which Is expected to prove the ma
tion's trump card against the German
war machine, the transformation OF
our coast artillery into heavy artil-
1ery trained and ready for overseas
in the shortest practical time is as
eured. Gen. Coe Is a westerner. He
went overseas with the first compile
ment of troops and is seasoned vet
eran Of the battle front. He only re-
Gently returned to this country upon
being promoted to chief OF the coast
artillery. He was appointed to West
Point in 1888. from which he gradu-
ated In Jups, 1892.
4
The military commander Of thiS
coast artillery training center is Col.
Frank X. Ferguson, who was called
early in the war to take across and
command one Of the first American
heavy artillery regiments sent to the
French front. He is also West
Pointer. Following his tour Of duty
abroaa. he was called back to this
country to take charge of the coast
defenses Of the Chesapeake, the coast