Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-18
No Wonder Germany Quit
NUMBER FORTY-SIX

Our Infantry Drill Regulations
state that: the duties of infantry
are many and difficult All infantry
must be fit to cope with all copdi-
tons that may arise. Modern war
requires but one kind of infantry
good infantry. And that is the secret
and fundamental cause for the Ger
man signature on a certain famous
document on November 18th last"
said Major Frank c. Mahin, of the
Army Recruiting Station, 325 Market
street, Harrisburg" Note that little
clause, fit to cope with all condi-
tions.' The various armies had diff
ferent ideas as to what qualifications
were necessary to fulfill that clause.
Let me illustrate the difference. The
first British troops sent to France
were all regulars, trained along the
same lines as our American regu-
lars. In both services great stress,
particular stress, had always been
placed on target practice. Accord
ing to the official German reports
of the First Battle of Ypres in Oc-
tober and November 1914. the thing
that broke up their attacks, that de-
feated them and caused the ultimate
defeat of the Central Powers through
the loss of that battle, was the
masses of British machine guns.
That is to laugh, for the British were
following the American policy and
had only two machine guns per
thousand plen. How, pray tell. can
you get masses of machine guns,
when you only have two per thou
sand men? 1t can't be done! What
the Boche thought were machine
guns were highly trained infantry
fit to cope with all conditions In
fantry carefully trained in target
practice so that they could shoot
rife with great speed and with
great accuracy. 1t was rife fire that
won the first battle of Ypres. Now
the French and German system did
not believe in extensive target prac-
tice for infantry and as the British
were being pushed to the limit in
training men for service in France,
they allowed themselves to neglect
the lessons of that battle, and also
somewhat overawed by the efficiency
of the German military machine,
they too, neglected target practice.
The result was the development of
the grenade, the machine gun and
the automatic rife, with which
weapons the Boche as we'll as the
Allies attempted to overcome the
handicap imposed by poor shooting
infantry. For three years there was
virtual stalemate on the west front,
war of artillery and automatic
arms.
Our pioneers in France reported
early in the autumn of 1917 that
they believed the Allied training was
in error through their neglect OF
target practice for infantry, so we
kept up our old and we'll proven
system of training. In June 1918,
efn tho r1Sh for Pa iris.
why? because they were fit to cope
with all conditions as they could
do all that the French or British
could do and beyond that they could
shoot we'll. Then in July our boys
stopped the Hun on the Marne,
stopped him, as the British did at
Ypres, with rife fire. On July 1S
we attacked, and we were still at
tacking on November IL. The stale
mate had been broken, a war of
movement had developed and where
the lighting was hardest, at the
points that We're most vital, the
| Yanks were attacking and winning
| because we had never lost sight of
that paragraph in Drill Regulations.
lust after the st. Mihiel an old
French General asked me how my
brigade had broken up the heavy
Boche counter attack OF September
l13. 1 explained the methods the
Boche used in their attack and that
at the time we were entirely with
out artillery support as our batteries
were stuck in the mud in No Mans
Land. told him how our infantry
lay and waited, like our forefathers
at Bunker Hill, till We could see the
whites of their eyes, and then we
gave them He'll with our rifles. Again
it was the rife, handled by men who
the day. The old general shook
his head. and finally said: we French
could not have done it. our men are
not trained to shoot, and I thought