The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-03-01
oyer THE TOP AND
'LIAISON" DISAPPEAR
Will Not Be Included in U. S. Army
Text Observation-Disclosures of
Work Will Be Attempted.

Washington, d. c., March l.-Such
phrases as 'oyer the top and "liaison,"
which were a common part OF the par
lance of war literature and converse
ton, are doomed to disappear from
American phraseology and will not be
included in the army text books OF the
future The new field service regula-
tions Of the United States army and
the manuals of the various arms OF the
service, now being prepared by the gen
eral staff, will differ in but minor de-
tails from the regulations in force be-
fore the world war, and will show prac-
tically no traces of the passing vogue
of foreign methods.
The formulation of strictly Amer
lean doctrine of tactics, and the estab-
lishment of system of uniform in
struction in all military schools is the
aim of the training section OF the gen
eral staff, according to high officers
here. So-called trench warfare" was
only passing episode in military his
tory. in the view of the officers, while
the fundamental principles Of war are
the same as those employed by Napo-
leon at Jena and by Grant at Gettys-
burg.
This policy was stated to students of
the present class at the army service
schools at Fort Leayenworth, Kan, by
Brig. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, director OF
the line school, who was chief OF staff
of the first army overseas.
"0ur experiences in the European
war have been sufficient and the results
so creditable," General Drum said,
that we have little or no need to Dor
row tactical doctrines from foreign
country" General Drum said that
such Technology as "open," position,
stabilized" and trench warfare
would not be recognized or employed,
as the same tactical principles apply
to all of those so-called classes of war
fare,
Just as General Pershing insisted on
training the American expeditionary
forces for open" warfare, SO at the
service schools, General Drum said,
"the incubation Of an offensive spirit,
which must be the primary object OF
the course, is best obtained by the
study Of open warfare offensive sltua-
tions"
At the same time, it is the plan OF
the general staff to make due allow
ance for new weapons developed in re-
cent years, especially infantry weapons
such as the one-pounder guns, auto
matte rifles and machine guns. These
" eapons have made necessary the crea-
ton of several new units and slight
notifications Of old infantry forma-
tion.
Foreign words will be eliminated
from the Technology of the manuals.
For example, information will take
the place of '1iaison." 'Lisison Off
GERS" war product, will be known
hereafter as information officers"
The service schools viii compile their
own text books. General Drum said,
and German authorities studied before
the war will be discarded.
While the use of new weapons has
caused some changes in organization,
il must not be forgotten, officers en-
phasize, that infantry remains the
principal branch of the army and that
other services are auxiliary arms. In
this connection it was recalled that
General Pershing, in a letter to the
chief of the air service commenting
upon the functions of airplanes, said
that IAN air force by itself cannot OBJ
tain decision against forces on the
ground
IAN air force" the general added,
acting Independently, can of its own
account, neither win war at the pres
ent time, nor, so far as we can tell, at
any time in the future"