The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-06-14

were In sight In connection with these
sound-ranging devices is contained In
the following paragraph:
"When the fighting stopped our mil
itary scientists and others co-operat-
ing with them were working on the de-
velopment of a sound-ranging appara-
tus intended to give troops warning
Of shell fred by the enemy in their d.
rection. The preliminary experiments
found that at Al miles these mechan-
isms could detect the firing Of the gun
as long as 10 seconds before the shell
arrived, thus giving troops ample time
to get under cover. Such a develop
ment was possible because Of the far
greater speed with which earth vibra.
tons travel than those of sound in
the air.
Except for lack of time in the
brief seconds between the firing Of the
gun and the arrival of the shell 1t
would be quite possible with this pro-
posed apparatus to calculate almost
exactly where the shell would land.
The Most Powerful searehiiqht.
The corps produced also new form
Of searchlight more powerful than any
that had preceded it in any army, and
with which the Second Field army had
been partially equipped.
1T weighed" the report says, "one-
eighth as much as lights Of former
designs, cost only one-third as much,
was about one-fourth as large in bulk,
and threw a light ten per cent strong
er than any other portable protector
in existence"
The engineers were at work when
the fighting ended upon a mechanism
which would enable them to control
searchlights from distance.
The chapter devoted to the work of
the engineer corps in France draws a
vivid picture of the duties Of the COM
bat engineers who played their full
part in the fighting from the begin
ming to the end. It also tells in de-
tail of the building Of the railways, the
cutting down of French forests to con-
vert them into barracks for American
troops; of the miles Of highways built
and constantly rebuilt as shellf1re tore
them to pieces; of cement mills taken
over in France by American troops to
provide trench materials; Of the great
map-printing plant, where the en-
gineers' finally were able to produce
not only all maps needed for the
American army but even supplied the
French Seventh and Eighth army with
base maps for their fronts. In this
huge plant at La1gres In November
over 100000 photographic prints were
made and over a million sheets Of type
work done. There Is told also the
story of camoufage factory at
Dijon where material to blind enemy
airplanes' eyes and to confuse the en-
emy's pickets was turned out in vast
quantities.
"Utilizing and applying the new
| knowledge and scientific achievements
of recent years." the report says, in
concluding that portion devoted to the
| engineers, "drawing upon the fund of
experience acquired by the regular
army in its theoretical studies and past
wars, making available the vast
amount Of technical skill which has
assisted this nation to its present COM
mercial and industrial status, the en-
gineers of the United States army
worked and fought, planned and &C.
complished in France work which In
magnitude exceeds any similar I'M
dertaking recorded In American his
tory. From base ports to first waves
of an assault upon the enemy's posi-
lions, engineer troops have been con-
stantly in action, first to last, and
have carried on always with the high
ideals Of the professional and with
the motto of the corps OF engineers:
EssayQns' 1et us tryl, before them