Evening star., 1920-02-01

tire length OF the immense oreak
water that protects the inner harbor
of Brest from the force of the sea
was well under way. The plan was
that all the deStrOyers based on brest
should be able TO run alongside the
breakwater. simultaneously, and take
on water and oil, with the least pos
sible trouble and delay.
A four-inch line from the Penfeld
river and a famous spring at Camp
Pontanezen provided the water sup
ply in the month of May. but they
were far from sufficien, to meet the
rapidly growing requirements Wen
sets and gas engines were seized II,
cargo or wherever else they couid
he found. Notwithstanding the en-
phatic assurances OF French geolo-
gists and engineers that there is no
water under Finistere. and that ~
is solid granite ali the way down,
Gen. Harries started the engines anu.
drilling through nifty feet OF erahise'
kept on through other formation not
so hard and at 260 feet struck tne
purest of water, each well supplying
300. 900 gallons a day. which was the
solution of what had been real
problem. Before these wells were
operating it had been necessary 10
haul water in barrels TO supply the
Pontanezen. which covered an I'M
mense area. Elaborating the Pen
field supply and building a dam 24o
feet long and 43 feet high. Gen,
Harries provided the Penfeld resero
voir. with a capacity OF 2?.ooo,ouo
gallons of water daily-this In adoi-
ton to the needs of our forces.
AS early as June requisftfon was
submitted for structures to house
at least 10000 troops at Pontanezen:
the camp which was the subject OF
some adverse criticism by writers not
in position to know the facts, because
of its after-the- armistice operation
The engine was reversed by the be-
ginning of December and BreSt
changed from a port of debarkation
TO port of embarkation- For deoar-
kation it had been thoroughly or
ganized and was at least partly equip
ped. 1t would have been fully
eouipped had it been possible to have
afforded the necessary personnel ano
the desirable material. Instead OF
barra cks for 10000 men there was
suitable shelter for but $4,000 soldiers
and this could only come slowly More
was mot to he had. That which did
speed Structures of corrugated iron
were erected at as high a rate as
eighty per day. Notwithstanding the
fact that lumber for uprights and
roofs could only be secured with great
difficulty. When Gen. Harries left
BreSt, nedQ6O, as IL pToHeu, loi Dci I'M
Pontanezen was fully equipped camp
of metal structures to house 10000
men, with tentage for 10000 addition
al, and with entirely adequate mess
arrangements.
Could Not Get Workers.
1t should be borne in mind that the
great handicap. prior to November IL
1918, was the utter impossibility OF
the necessary men and ma
terial with which to do the needed
things at the base ports in France.
TIE writer's experience included a
study of conditions at Bordeaux and
mate knowledge of the status of things
at Brest. Everybody and everything
were being rushed to the front. Gen.
Haries utilized every scrap of ap-
parent waste material-old boxes
used nails and ship "dunnage" gen.
as not even to ask for anything that
might be needed at the front There
were no stone crushers for roads in
the camp. hut substitutes of a kind
were found.
The children of Israel in captivity
complained sorely becayse the Egyp-
tians required them to make bricks
without straw. Had the organization
at Brest been called upon to make
brick under such historic conditions
il would have developed a dozen SUBJ
stitutes for straw and would have de-
liyered good brick. The fighting spirit
was as fine as any in the front lines.
There were no helpful miracles, but
at tunes ii seemed as though men
reached into thin air and dragged
therefrom material which would
serve. The brainiest and only ere
ative legerdemain i have ever seen,'
was Gen. Harries' comment.
u. T1Nk l. Il
by no means the least item in the
summer construction program-was
the base of another notable project
well under way when the armistice
brought things to a halt. The par
tally worked-Out plan was to make
a triangular extension to the jetty
by constructing long wharf line
granite breakwater which is the con-
spicuous feature of Brests water
front This novel but perfectly prac-
ticable scheme would have provided
ample dock space for the u. S. s
Levia than and for thirteen other OF
the largest transports, all at one time
This wharfage was to be conSiderab bl y
equipped and would have on it ample
railroad trackage which would con-
meet with the Jetty de rEst by tresue
This would have permitted troops tC
literally step from the transports tc
railroad Trains, cargo Woulu nave
been transferred from ships holds tC
freig ght cars The saving in time ant
labor over the operation of lighters
would have been very great; Tor the
lighter method involved the loading
Of the lighters from the ships tofteI
from one to three miles out in th'
harbor) from lighters to docks, from
docks to trucks and from trucks tc
trains.
German Prisoner Labor Used.
German prisoner labor was mos
used in this project. Incidentally y
about the only labor the Germans die
not perform willingly was that o.
coaling the Leyiathan-which to then
was never anything other than tbs
Vaderland, of whose size and quality
and speed they were SO proud.
Piers No and No. S. taken ovel
by the American military authorities
were practically rebuilt by Gen. Har.
ries Many warehouses were con
structed and all possible addition
were made to others. 1t was quit
the ordinary thing TO have anywher'
from 60. 600 to 125.000 tons of freigh
and supplies of all kinds in rear o
the piers. in the railroad yards o
, the Port du Commerce, up the ramps
leading to the town-in fact, in al
places where storage room could b,
found. Considerably more thai
,0ee 900 feet of lumber was original
ily needed for shelter. but the de
mands in the intermediate and BATH
zones properly subordinated all otbe
demands, so Brest got along as bes
II could with five or six thousan,
! feet nov and as much more q weel
| or two later. and so on until afte
| the signing of the armistice. Mean
while no scrap of anything that coul,
possibly be turned to account wa
| wasted.
| The working force at Brest. in addi
! tion to a greatly insufficient repre-
\ sentation of steyedore and labo
| companies, was made up largely o
men of classes II, G and D--those who
| as &. result of wounds. injuries. acci
1 dents, illness or physical defects, ha