Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-07-08

New York, july 0.-The larseS
neacetine concentration of Ameri.
can troops in history will be mobil-
ized in the area about Plattsburg
New York, next month for the Firs
Army ManeuverS, it was announced
today by Major General Hugh a
Drum. Commanding the Second
Corps Area.
More than $4,000 officers and men
of the Regular Army, National
Guard and Organized Reserves will
participate in the maneuvers from
August 13 to 9th under General
Drums direction.
For the first time since the Ameri-
can Civil War a field army will be
concentrated for action on the Ameri-
can continent under the immediate
command of a single officer
The climax of the maneuvers will
come when this field army, con-
siSting. principally of four National
Guard Divisions from the New
England States, New York and New
Jersey advances in battle array
against a somewhat smaller force of
the regular army armed and equip
ped with the latest devices of mod
ern, high-speel warfare.
General Drum himself will COM
mand the field army which will be
composed of two corps made up of
two divisions each. The first corps.
commanded by Major General Morris
B. Payne, of the Connecticut Ma
tional Guard, will consist of the 26th
Massachusetts and New Hamp-
shire) and the 43rd (Maine, Yer
mont. Rhode Island, Connecticut)
National Guard divisions.
The second corps will be COM
manded by Major General William
N. Haskell, of the New York Ma
tional Guard. In it will be the 9th
(N W and the 44th (N. j., N. W
National Guarl Divisions. All Ma
tional Guard troops will be COM
manded by their own officers.
Confronting these two corps on
the field of mock battle will be a
defending force led by Major Gen
eral James A. Woodruff, U. S. A.,
now commanding general, first corps
area, with headquarters at Boston.
The defending forces will consist
principally of the First Division,
regular army, drawn chiefly from
military posts in New York state,
the 18th Infantry Brigade, Regular
Army, from New England, and the
Seventh Cavalry Brigade, the 1arg-
est completely mechanical unit in
the United States Army.
The work of the mechanical
Cavalry Brigade Will be watched
with especial interest. There are no
horses in the organization, and the
rugged nature Of the country in the
maneuver area will test severely the
effectiveness of mechanical troops
operating under the most adverse
conditions.
The spread of mechanization in
European armies has been an out
standing military development since
the World War, but there are many
staunch partisans of the horse who
maintain that the absence of the
man on horseback is likely to prove
fatal to the army which tries to
ignore his essential usefulness. AS
the mechanized Cavalry Brigade
from the Regular Army attempts to
run rings around the 101st Cavalry
(horse) from the New York Ma
tional Guard, the experts will have
every opportunity to gather ma
terial to support their pet arguments
on the merits of machine warfare.
ization will gear the guard troops to
the pace of modern high-speed war
fare, Air Corps units will seek to
drive the action even faster.
The Regular Army will send an
Observation Squadron and a photo-
graphic section from Mitchell Field,
~ Y, and each of the four National
Guard Divisions will bring its own
Observation Squadron and photo
graphic section. A sixth observation
squadron will operate with the
Mechanized Cavalry Brigade from
Fort Knox.
Whatever may be- the effectiveness
of machine-age aasahsportation on
the combat ZQne,. it will be a great
NOllVeilleIkCe W INo troops III ScIIlIlS
them to the maneuver area. In fact,
all forms of transportation, by land,
water, air, and marching, will be
used to take the soldiers and their
supplies and equipment toward
Plattsburg.
The 114th Infantry, National
Guard, for example will proceed
from dozen cities and towns in
New Jersey using 26, Coaches. and
II baggage cars, to reach its camp
site at South Junction, New York.
The 157th Field Artillery from
Camden, Atlantic City and Vineland,
N. j., will march, towing its 14-ton'
rubber tired Howitzers behind the
newest type of motor truck, many
OF them only recently purchased by
the government with funds appro-
priated since the army expansion
program began.
The 26th,. 9th and 43rdi Divisions
Will converge on Plattsburg from
New England States and New York
by both rail and motors.
Aviation units. of course, have
their own 1inoc of travail 4hrr01l oh the