Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-08-28

| Nkttl. Ihey threw hand g'renadeA
fired trench mortars and had a gener-
al Fourth of July ce ebra:ion.
Once we had "a maneuver of his
| kline before 90 Pershing The
company officers were lined up and
! atterward were asked their opinion as
to how the men had conducted them
! selves. The first one to answer was
game little fellow named Wortley
| from Los Ange es, who was afterward
| killed. He said that he thought
! everything went off very well and he
| didn't think he had anything to criti-
| CHE, The next lieutenant said that he
| thought that a few men of his com
| pany had got little mixed up. This
| was cheerful point of view for him
TO have, for. as a matter of fact, two
| thirds of his company had gone
astray, His company had been select
ed to deliver a flank attack over the
| top, but when this took place it con-
sisted of one lieutenant and two pri-
Yates. The mistake, however, was
never noticed. Indeed, the genera S
and such like who come to maneuvers
can rarely criticize the efforts of the
company and field officers as they
are not conversant with the handling
or small units Their presence at
maneuVers is largely a question of
morale, | remember during an eXer-
! else higher officer a very fine man
to whom | afterward became devoted,
turned to me and said, Have a trench
raid?"
When sir?' | asked.
Immediately"
NOW, any junior officer knows that
a trench raid cannot be staged the
way you can fire a rocket. II has to
be thought out in every detail and
all concerned have to be familiarized
with all phases of the plan in so far
| as it is possible | got two very good
heutenants and, hastily outlining the
situation, told them to go ahead. They
made their plans in fire minutes. !
Sot some hand grenades for them and
they gave lively imitation. The
trenches they raided did not exist, but
simply We're marked by tape on the
ground. They did very well consider
ing the circumstances, but the higher
officer remarked to the assembled Of
ficers on its completion that he didn't
Know anything about RAIDS, but this
one did not appeal to him. 1t took all
concerned quite a while to get over
their feeling about the criticism.
During this period we heard of
Bangler torpedoes, These torpedoes
are long sections of tin tubing loaded !
with high explosive and are used for
tearing up the enemy wire in order |
that the raiding party might get
through into the trenches. Nothing |
of the kind was to be had from our !
people, but we obtained permission .
to send some one to try to get one
from the various French ammunition |
dumps nearby. Lieutenant Ridgley, |
by adjutant, went. He turned up
after a hectic day with some long
sections of stovepipe and number of
little tin cans. He explained that he
had been unable to get the torpedoes,
but that he had got some stovepipe
and some very deadly explosive and
perhaps we could make one.
The next day we set out to follow
this plan and two afternoons later
completed our experiment, and gave
an exhibition before the assembled
officers of the brigade. The raiding
party were picked men. whom l con-
sidered among the best in the battal-
ion. They all crawled out through the
assumed mo Mans Land" holding
on to one another's heels and endeav-
oring to look just as businesslike as
possible. Their faces were blackened
and they carried trench knives and
hand grenades. The party which was
to set off the torepdo poked it under
the wire, lighted, and was to leap up
and dash through the gap in the wire
to the trenches where the enemy were
supposed to be. On account of the
workmanship only part of
the charge went off, and | never shall
forget my horror when | saw the
party of my picked men galloping gal
lantly through the gap over this
unexploded charge. | had
visions of having to reorganize the
battalion the next day. Fortunately
the charge did not go off and all
worked out well.
Later We started good deal of
work at night, realizing how difficult
it was for men to find their way and
how necessary it was for them to get
used to working in the dark. This
training the men enjoyed. 1t was all
in the nature of competition. Re
patrols would be started
out to see how near they could APP
proach to the dummy trenches with
out detection. In the dummy trenches
other groups with flares, etc, would
keep a strict watch. Combat patrols
would go out two at time. each
looking for the other. | recall one
night when two patrols ran into one
another suddenly. One of the priyates
was so overcome with zeal when he
saw the supposed enemy that he made
as pretty lung point with his bayo-
net as | have ever seen and stabbed
both cheeks of the man OPP
posite him.
During the entire time we were in
France we trained much along the
lines indicated in the previous para
graphs, with the exception that as we
became veterans We naturally became
more conversant with the correct
of instruction. Also for
trained troops on leaving the line 1t
is my opinion that two points should
be stressed above the rest-one is
closed order drill and the other rifle
practice. In the First battalion we
were particularly fortunate in this
period in having with us Capt. Amel
Frey and Leutenants !H:-.al and Gill
Ian, all three of whom had served as
N. c. O.'s in the regular army. They
understood close-order work. the
service rifle and the handling of men,
and to them large part of the train
ing was ascribable.
(To Be Continued TGmorrow,l