Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-01-04
BIG SOLDIER RUSH FOR HOME
WILL FOLLOW PEACE DECREE
System of Handling Commands on Way
Back From Battle Front Is on
Mammoth Scale.
BY JUNIUS b. WOOD.
CabIeEram to The Evening Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright. 1919.

BY JUNIUS II. WOOD.
CabIeEram to The Evening Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright. 1919.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY OF
OCCUPATION, January 3.-More than
a mere reversal of the great machinery
that brought two million men to France
is needed to start them back toward
home. While several thousand have
already made or begun that journey
the number is comparatively trifiing
compared to what it will be when the
peace negotiations shall permit the
final rush to start Every man before
he steps on the ship must be clean,
physically and morally, and paid up to
the date Of sailing; all of which is a
big job.
The men are handled in division
units of $1,000 men at a time, and al
ready the organization is sufficiently
advanced to describe the method of
work.
Division Areas Marked Out.
LIE Mans. 2l1 kiiometers U27 miles)
west of Paris. with direct railroad
communication with the base ports of
Brest, st. Nazaire and Bordeaux, is the
center Of the homegoing activity. LIE
Mans is known as the embarkation
center. Eleven areas have been marked
out on the maps within a radius of
fifty kilometers, each AGRA being ca
pable of billeting a division.
During the fighting LIE Mans served
as distribution center for conveles-
cents coming from the hospitals and
casuals collected before rejoining their
outfits at the front.
soaa Il s to tns p ssaa pnn
home, it is transported by train to the
LIE AIans area. where it may remain
several weeks before the date on
which 1t Is to / . sent home is fixed.
When this Is finally settled the en-
charge and few days later the troops
are transferred to base port camps of
Breet. which has capacity of 30,606
men, Bordeaux, $4,000, and st. Nazaire,
$4,000. Then they are loaded on ships
Orders to Divisions.
The s2d, 9th, 3oth. s7th and s1st
Divisions and the I'd Corps Headquar-
ters are already in the LIE Mans en-
barkatton camp area The 26th. 2Sth
and seth Divisions have been ordered
there, though it will be impossible for
these to sail before March. They will
go in that order. The s2d Division has
ton center and Is expected to start
any day. The a70th Regiment Of the
S3d Division was going through the
renovating process when / visited the
camp two days ago. With three other
infantry regiment. making the d.
vision 1t ought to be one Of ire drst
lighting units to reach America The
9th Division is due to be released to
the camp authorities January 10; the
3oth Division January 90. and the 37th
form the American I'd Army Corps.
The 9th and 30th fought continuous
Iy in the British lines and the 37th
and 91st in the later days with the
Beigians- These divisions arrived at
the embarkation camp last week.
assigned to its own area until the
day when it Is released to the author
tiles of the embarkation camp. Then
the division is split into halves and
dirty camp" city Of tents with a
capacity of $4,000 men. Each tent is
comfortably heated with it's own
stove
Put Through Machine.
The next day the men are put
through a machine which rids them of
and sent to clean camp Of barracks
with capacity of 10000 men, the
second half of the division taking the
first halls place in the dirty" camp.
Throughout the war. whenever the
American soldier was not fighting or
working, the sanitary authorities were
busy with him. putting him through
machinery designed to rid him COM
pletely of coolies, SO that there will
be very small change Of any of these
Each man Is furnished with new
clothing and other equipment. He
keeps his old rife. gas mask and steel
helmet. The latter is given to him as
souvenir after he is demobilized at
home.
Before they are permitted to enter
the clean camp the men pass a med
ical inspection to ascertain the condi-
ton Of their health. If they are
nes to rea nasp With ns
division. Similar Inspections are made
of the equipment.
Camp life ceases as soon as the men
reach the forwarding camps. The
company cooks go out of business and
permanent cooking establishments take
their place. Special trains, each con-
sisting of thirty-fiye cars, run back and
forth between the forwarding camp and
the base ports. Each train contains a
cook car with permanent cooks. and at
the port camps other cooks take their
place. Though the trains are made up
Of bog cars they are fitted up for serv-
ice in a way that seems paiatial com
pared with what the soldiers have been
accustomed to.
Task Is Gigantic.
The fact that there are 6,800,0 900 ra-
tions and 100000 uniforms in ware
houses around LIE Mans, which is the
daily reserve, gives some idea of the
gigantic task In hand. When a division
arrives from the front it leaves the
rolling kitchens, forage wagons and
combat cars. These articles are sent
to Monitor. near St Naxaire. where
they are sorted and sold. The division
finds the cooking equipment lsft by
the preceding division IN the hillstins
area = "
Gen Edward F. Clam. vhs COM