The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-21
(By Lieut.. George 2. M

} |
II the boche refuses to sign, what
win 1t mean to the doughboy on the
Rhine?
At third army headquarters 1t may
mean merely the sending out OF a
code telephone message to the corps,
at Nieuwied and Cochem, and to the
corps merely getting the word to d.
vision commanders, through radio,
telephone and motorcycle messenger,
but to the others 1t will be some
thing far different.
Seizure OF the other bank of the
Rhine will not be so difficult, mill
tarily, for the main points of strate-
gic interest have been held by the
allies for months. In, the American
sector though hitler and more diff
ficult than either British or French,
advance for the first hundred kilo-
meters will not present many OUT
standing natural difficulties. Roads
are in good condition. horses and
wheeled material and trucks are
well kept up; for some days there
could be little thoroughly organized
| opposition by German armed forces
If they were to attempt 1t at all.
1t is difficult to believe too that
there would be much sniping or que
| rilla warfare on the part of the in
habitants of the newly occupied dis
tricts. They have been signing for
the last six months for the flesh
| pots of the occupied region. They
saw we'll the food that the latter
were getting-and the thriving trade
in iron crosses and other "souven-
irs" they were carrying on, and
many were the wishers and impor-
tuners for occupation, and more par
ticularly, American occupation. The
quietude politically of the occupied
section formed another cause for the
secret wish of the inland to be "oc-
cupied" by the Americans. The
contrast of Karlsruhe and Cologne
Munich and Mainz was thoroughly
commented upon by the German
press.
What the doughboy sees is not the
military difficulty in the resumption
of hostility, but the weary tramping,
up hill and down hill, kilometer after
kilometer, night after night; the
fifty pounds Of pack getting heavier
every hour; the shoes getting thin
ner and thinner each new night
march; corn willie and hard tack
becoming more and more monoto-
nous as steady diet. And to the
artilleryman, with his beloved "soix-
ante quinze," it means-night march
ing, also, but much more of 1t. At
comes harness and hitch; after
a while, when it is thoroughly dark,
the column can take the road; of
course, 1t is raining, and the second
caisson has to plunge into the ditch,
tying up the column until some ex-
ira bitches can jerk it out, all the
spare cannoniers putting their
shoulders to the wheel and cursing
manfully the mud, the war and the
driver Of the wheel team.
Soon the column will become in
extricably mixed with trucks, mule
drawn machine gun CARTS. caissons,
guns and wagon supply trains. Now
still another means of locomotion
will add to the kaleidoscope nature
Of the advance; the tractor drawn |
155 nm. howitzer batteries. Until |
the armistice none of the best fight
ing divisions were equipped with |
tractors for their howitzer regiment |
but after a couple of months of /,
peace" all received them, and the |
forward march now would reveal /.
these snorting behemoths Juggling /
manfully and successfully at their !
sawed off Ihows' and getting them |
there. They handle mud as easily as |
does the horse, don't require hay
(Which simple fact was responsible !
for the death of thousands of horses
with the A. E. F.) and cover the /
ground at a good pace. The in !
creased mobility OF evolution of the !
1855 should have marked effect |
on the march tactics of the army, |
to say nothing of the tactical en-
ployment of the guns.
We can see the endless columns |
crossing the bridge OF boats at Cob I
LEM; the "Tommies" with their I
shining harness and FURNISHED brass
buttons striding across the wonder I
full Wilhelm bridge at Cologne, and