The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-06-14
HAD DEVICE TO j
warn OF SHELLS
Listening instrument Operated
With Uncanny Accuracy.
GREAT WORK OF ENGINEERS


III German Gun Positions In SINGLE
0ay-corps Also Produced Most
Powerful SearchIiaht In Use.
The war story of the engineer CORDS
at home and in France is told officially
for the first time in chapters Of the
war departments brief history of
American war efforts, made public in
advance sheets. Many of the record
ed accomplishments Of the engineers
have been published before as isolated
Incidents, but this is the first COM
plete and connected story which gives
any idea Of the extraordinary scope
OF the duties modern warfare laid
upon engineering troops.
Probably the best illustration Of this
es far as the troops in France are con.
cerned is the technical organization of
the units of the engineers which
reached the other side. There were
seven regiments and two battalions of
railway construction engineers, five
battal1Ons for maintenance Of way;
two battaliOns for maintenance of rail
way equipment; four regiments and
one battalion to operate the main
American railways in France; three
regiments to operate light railways
and their repair shops; two regiments
to operate the regular railway repair
shops; two regiments and six separate
battalions on general construction
work two regiments for storing and
transporting engineer supplies; for
estry regiment; light railway con-
struction regiment; road building
regiment; water supply regiment;
a mining regiment; quarrying regi-
ment; technical regiment for sur
veyfng and sound ranging; three sur
vey and printing battalions; two rail
way transportation battalions; an elec-
lyrical and mechanical regiment; sew
erol separate companies to operate
cranes; a camouflage service; five in.
land waterway companies to operate
canal boats and the like; five pontoOn
trains and a pontoon park; a railway
transportation and stores battalion
and searchlight regiment.
And Then There Were the Sappers.
These special units. all composed of
men trained in civil life in the United
States for the work they did in France,
were in addition to the fighting en-.
CHEERS with each division, the sappers,
who formed about eight per cent Of
all Of the combatant troops in France.
One section Of the report is devoted
to the development of American rail.
ways in France and to the production
Of railway equipment in the United
States to meet the call from the front.
There were shipped to France 1903
locomotives before the armistice was
signed, Of which 908 were in service
at that time. In addition, 1898
freight cars were shipped abroad, both
engines and cars having been pro-
duced specially for service In France.
@hese were employed upon the 937
--miles of standard guage track laid in
France by the engineers with equip
tnent shipped from this country, and
the rolling stock was in addition to
great quantities Of light railway equip
ment for front line work that was also
sent abroad.
Hospital trains were obtained in
England, 10 Of them with total of
BOA cars having been completed by
December, 1913. with % additional
trains under construction. They cost
more than $4,000 per car, but it is es-
tmated that to have produced them in
the United States and shipped them
would have cost $4,000 per car.
The report lays stress on the fact
that great progress was made during
the war in the development Of road
building. railway, and other engineer
Ing equipment which will be of value
commercially In heace time The mo-
torized machine Stops alone. it Is
stated, are practicanv certain to
bring about in this county, the use of
moving shops of this character n aprt-
cultural communities as farming IA.
= ahinery increases.
1.-THE day has come" tile report
says, "when the travelling machine
shop will be familiar sight upon
our rural highways
Among the motorized shops created
we're the photolithograpEtc press
trucks, which we're able to produce
maps from original sketches within IL
hours as compared with four days
required by similar French and Brit
ish units.
A special chapter is devoted to ls
tening instruments developed during
the war to locate hidden guns. I'm
proving upon allied designs, the en-
gineer corps produced machines fol
this purpose which operated with "un'
canny accuracy" one Of them having
spotted III German gun positions II
single day. Subsequently these were
followed by instruments of ever
greater power, and at the close OF thu
war. there were II complete c1sHts
each covering a five-mi!e stretch Of
front, at work on the American lines.
Similar development of instruments
for locating hostile airplanes Wer'
carried out until it was possible II
determine the location of raider a
night within an angle of three de
grees. The American types produces
lib &C,