Evening star., 1939-10-08
By JAMES FREE.

BY JAMES FREE.
In war games, umpires take the
place Of bullets.
It is their job to estimate the
damage that the combined weapons
of each opposing force would in
f1ict on the other if they were
meeting in real instead of make
believe battle. Needless to say, it's
. tough job.
Only highly respected officers are
sought as umpires. No troop COM
mander likes to have his military
skill judged by inferiors-in rank.
experience or ability. And war
game umpires must be physically
vigorous. They look over the bat
tleground before hostilities begin,
they cover all points of contact be-
tween the enemy" armies and they
hustle around both sides at these
contact points to determine which
has the strongest position, the most
and best-manned guns, the most
men, and which side has best pre-
pared itself for this particular clash
Of arms.
Consider Objectives.
But perhaps it would be simpler
to follow the activities of the UNI
pires from the start of a mock con-
fict.
First, they consider the tactical
objectives of the forces involved.
Since umpires' headquarters re-
ceives copies of all major troop
movement orders on both sides, this
Is easy. For example in Thurs
days war games at Fort Meade, Md,
the mechanical Blacks" were given
the objective of driving the Blues
away from Fort Meade. BY check
Ing the respective unit deployments,
the umpires saw that the principal
action would be a tank attack by
the BLACKS" on an elevated, en-
trenched Blue" position. Umpires
were not only placed on the vital
spot, but one rode in the leading
tank to keep a double check on all
proceedings.
Always when enemy" forces get
within so to 100 yards of each other,
they must halt to prevent possible
injury by tanks or blank" ammu-
milton wads. Commanding officers
are held responsible when soldiers
fail to do this. If tanks are used. op-
ponents are required to stand when
the tanks are about SO yards away,
In view of the poor visibility from
q tank operators seat, particularly
on rough terrain, this is an abso-
!utely necessary precaution.
Ruled Attack Failed.
To get back to Thursdays situa-
ton, the Blues" arose in their hill
top positions as the tanks roared
close, thus halting the advancing
machines. The umpires looked over
the concentration of anti-tank guns
at the spot, saw that the Blues
had anticipated the course of the
tank assault and prepared for it
adequately. So they ruled that the
tank stack was unsuccessful, Nc
calculation OF casualties was neces-
sary as that particular action ended
the scheduled maneuvers for the
day.
Formerly in war lnaneuvers, UNI
pires calculated casualties and had
officers OF the units under fire send
a certain portion of their men to
the rear, possibly to return later as
reinforcements. But it soon was
seen that this deprived the casual
ties OF valuable training and OBJ
servation. So the modern practice
Is to adjudge the effectiveness of
gunflre and accordingly halt force,
have 1t fall back to await help, or
continue its advance-depending on
what it likely would be able to do
thus weakened by the theoretical
casualty toll.
Umpires must see also that the
limitations of time and space are ad-
hered to. In this manner, a war
game belligerent force may be cred
ited with blocking a public road
with tank trap, providing the COM
mander notifies the umpires of his
intention long enough in advance
Tor available men to perform the
Imaginary task. Some tank traps
and trenches are actually dug. but
more often than not they are of the
theoretical variety.
Fires Marked by Flags.
Artillery fire concentration spots
IN war games are shown by marking
With special flags. Umpires check
gun sights, etc, for general accuracy
OF artillery fire and figure the prob
able resultant casualty rate or prop
erty damage.
All field mpires keep in communi-
cation with the chief umpire by
messenger, telephone, telegraph or
radio. The chief umpires headquar-
ters, following all activity on a large,
general map in position to consider
the combined strength of an ex-
tended attack.
Do the umpires sometimes make
mistakes? Certainly. But, as more
than one staff expert has explained
to grouching war game leaders, an
umpire's whims are not nearly so
capricious as the element of chance
that frequently changes the course
of real battles-the reinforcements
that came up five minutes too late,
the communication wire that was