The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-09-19
BIG SUPPLY DEPOT
ON FRENCH FRONT
Vast Assembling Plant Of Goods For
the American Army

Gievres, Central France, Aug. "a
Today a forest, tomorrow a building,
the next day a workshop.
This is the way the astonishcd
French people describe how the Am
orleans have suddenly constructed a
huge establishment here, turning
what was a pine forest into ware
houses and then turning these into
vast and busy centers for the huge
mass of army supplies on the way to
the front.
Gievres Is a sort of halfway point,
midway between the coast and the fir
ing line, and is the central supply de-
pot of the intermediate zone. Here
things are stored and arranged as
they come pell-mell from the ocean
ports. in vast miscellaneous masses
just out of the holds of steamers, food
guns, clothing, barbed wire, medicine
carrier pigeons, refrigerated beef,
rolling Kitchens, and ell the conglom-
GRAFTON of supplies needed by a mil
lion men. Everything must be in or
der before 1t goes forward to the ad-
vance zone, where the lighting is 60
ing on, and this is where the order
is brought out of the seeming chaos
in the tidal wave of army goods
sweeping in from America.
The Gievres depot has been laid in
an elongated diamond shape. and com-
pared to a baseball diamond, it is
seven miles from the home plate to
second base, and W. miles across
from first to third base. Within this
enormous diamond are eighty huge
warehouses and scores of other build
ings, some of them of unprecedented
magnitude. One Of these is a refrig-
erating plant rivalling those in the
Chicago meat district. When we went
into it today it had over 10,000,0 900
pounds of frozen beef-enough to feed
1000, 900 men twenty days.
A Vast Depot
This is only one detail of the vast
depot of the intermediate zone with
it's miles of buildings and yards stack
ed with soldiers foot, soldiers cloth
ing. ammunition and ordnance stores
lof all kinds, medical supplies, soldiers
| I.lu.~.oc f~ns~hDI Bu thu Annnriann
Library association. and all the Y. M.
C. A. supplies sent to its countless
branches, for everything for the army
is conferred here before it goes for
ward to the men.
The yards are on the same vast
scale as the warehouses, with stocks
of coal half a mile long and eighty
feet high-a comforting assurance for
the warmth OF the troops ext win
ter-and miles of baled hay for artil-
lery horses. Shovels and wheelbar-
rows were piled up like mountain
haystacks. The well-boring machin-
cry filling one park made IL look like
a Pennsylvania oil region. Another
park had camoufage material. An
other had stacks of building papey
for sheathing barracks.
Pontoons and bridges and all the
material for crossing rivers will come
along in due time, for it was pointed
out that this will be needed to "cross
the Rhine
Along one side of the depot 500 cars
were bringing in this huge stock OF
war material just as it came from the
ships, and on the other side 500 cars
were taking it away to the advance
zone after 1t has passed through the
processes of arrangement-each train
a standard train with a fixed space for
each article of the soldiers food ra-
ton. each article of clothing, or
dnance, and all the requirements
along the fighting front which have to
be kept up day after day with un-
failing regularity.
One whole depot was devoted TO the
new devices for gas attacks, defensive
and offensive, with great stocks OF
gas masks, and the gas itself. and
, quantities of phosphorus and disin-
~fectants to sprinkle trenches and
camps after the deadly mustard gas
has been in the air.
Medical Supplies
/, Medical supplies require ten entire
buildings for cots. liters, mattresses
N oxygen tanks and the great stocks O
) hospital and medical supplies.
The signal service has two larg'
buildings and much open storage witt
huge stocks Of telegraph and tele
phone wire for the army communica
ton system which spreads all owe
France.
The warehouses for Mood, ciothinl
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