The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1919-07-09

Ing Achievements Of Corps at Home
and Abroad-one Device Spotted
III German Gun Positions In Single
pay-corps Also Produced Most
Powerful searchlioht In Use.
The war story Of the engineer corps
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
30 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
battalions 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; a for
estry regiment: a light railway con-
struction regiment; a road building
regiment; a water supply regiment;
= mining regiment; a quarrying regi-
ment; a technical regiment for sur
veying and sound ranging; three sur.
vey and printing battalions; two rail-
way transportation battalions an cleo
trical and mechanical regiment; sew
eral separate companies to operate
cranes; a camoufiage service; i've In
land waterway companies to operate
canal boats and the like five ~pontoon
trains and q pontoon park a railway
transportation and stores battalion
and q searchllght 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-
gineers 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 1908
locomotives before the armistice was
signed, Of which 9OS were in service
at that time. In addition, 1888
freight cars were shipped abroad. both
engines and cars having been pro-
duced specially for service In France.
These were employed upon the 037
miles Of standard guage track laid In
France by the engineers with equip
ment 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
tent abroad.
Hospital trains were obtained In
England, 10 Of them with a total Of
SO4 cars having been completed BY
December, 1913. with 20 additional
trains under construction. They cos
more than $4,000 per car. but 1t Is es
timated that to have produced them II
the United States and shipped then
would have cost $4,000 per car.
The report lays stress on the fac
that great progress was made durinI
the war In the development of roa'
building, railway, and other engineer
ing equipment which will be of valu
commercially In peace time. The me
tOrixed machine shops alone, 1t l
stated, are practically certain 7
bring about In this country the use o
moving shops Of this character In agrl
cultural communities as farming ma
chinery increases.
'aThe day has come" the repor
nays, "when the travelling machin
shop will be q familiar sight upol
our rural highways"
Among the motorized shops creates
were the photolithographic pres
trucks, which were able to produc
maps from original sketches within 4
hours, as compared with four day
required by similar French and Brit
ish units.
A special chapter is devoted to lii
tening instruments developed durin
the war to locate hidden guns. I'm
proving upon allied designs, the or
gineer corps produced machines 70
this purpose which operated with "ur
canny accuracy" m Of them havin
spotted III German gun positions
single day. subsequently these wer
followed by instruments OF eve
greater power, and at the close OF II
war there were IL complete outht
zach covering Z hve-mlle stretch
front, 1t work on the American lines.
Similar development Of instrument
Or locating hostile airplanes wei
eaIS1ed out until It was possible
6otefmine the location Of . raider
night within an angle Of three d
mnnoG. Yhn An0erlcnn typen produce