Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1920-01-09
AMERICAN HORSES
MAKE BAD SHOWING
GREAT WAR FOUND US POORLY
PREPARED IN ARTILLERY
ANIMALS.
QUALITY OF BLOOD COUNTS
French Army Furnished the Thorough
breds that Enabled Our Guns to
Stop Ludendorf's Drive Toward
Paris and Victory.

Stop Ludendorf's Drive Toward
Paris and Victory.
If, after seventy-five years of ex-
haustive and convincing experimental
tion, work that had cost the great
military powers of Continental Europe
Austria, Hungary, the Ger.
man Empire, France and Italy--in the
aggregate Il matter Of $40O,0O0,0O0 or
$500, 100000, additional proof of the
superlative value OF thoroughbred
blood In the, military horse and the
comparative worthlessness Of cold
blood that proof was supplied by
the experience of the Second Division
of the American Expeditlonary Force
in the summer of 1918. The Second
Division was the division in which the
famous Marine Corps was brigaded
The Second was one of the hes,
equipped of the American grand units
as regards horsefiesh. The cream OF
the remOunt service was In its artiller,
and transport departments.
In June, 1918 The Second Division
c~<se<<sesr.ryw -svsss;ys>-s~.st-sf.tiit
western front near Verdun to the
western angle Of the great Marine sa
lient the German offensive Of Marcel
to June had created in the French line
FOch had sensed the impending Lu
dendorf thrust that was TO win Paris
and n victorious peace, and he wa.
assembling all his available soldiers
to meet Il. The carrying out of thi'
order by the Second Division involved
a march of less than 100 miles, 81 t.
be exact. Yet so per cent of the cold
blOoded horses Of the artillery brigad,
succumbed to the rigors Of this more
date march without having come unde
gunfire. Upward of half the horses
that dropped out of line were so com
pletely done up fhey were unfit to b.
sent to base stations for recuperatlOI
with the ultimate object of returnin!
to service.
The French divisions that accom-
panied the American divisions on thi
march lost no more than five per cen
of their horses But the French artil
lery, cavalry and transport horse
were half and three-Quarter bred,
the produce Of n system of breedin
that had been Instituted by I'm,
SIGHTED povernmeAt sixty or seyent
wears before theeontbreak of the greg
war
second nfvision sufyers.
Because OF Tia collapse Of its hors
equipment afd4rtib, N pyigade Of n
Second Division did rot reach its OF
1870, H.. 60 tarn,,nat. -, th
S $3.50 , uo va" - ~ Gann,on arn,
fo'. ~, "p IN cc,ohar had herr,
nv Sana,a n,,.;s,o,, fonah, ti,o ar
dar ,.ithnu. ortiIiory nretao,;nn an
smfforad nmt,.onaonsiy IN consaononc.
Sea art,,,nr, hrioaSa aohod tha ,nn
90 oont,int i,to In tho second dow an
w., nnakiot 20 tie nor, In tha sor;n
~ ootians ,hot oon,Iatoir deranaa
y, n,inudo,.ss, a''aht,toms ,,ion 20 oonnras
IN ,,,t tha erect Carp'ar arm, an th
Safans,va only hocausa Americon ~
mount officers were able TO re.eoui
il from the surplus horse supply of tn
French army with half and three
quarter breds. The French were i
position to furnish these indispensa
BILE animals because up to the begin
ming of March the war had been
war of position rather than war q
movement and no hard demand Ia
been made on the artillery and cavalr
horse reserves of the French army.
When the great war came to Its ur
expected finish the United States ha
under arms, at home and abroad
= I'M (Nh snl6iaFG whir