Evening star., 1939-11-06
Armies Must Continue
To Take Prisoners
Despite 5ta|emate
ToIkotive Enemy Soldiers
Main Source of News
Of Foes Plans
BY COL. FREDERICK PALMER,
Notad G;litory Eynart

BY COL. FREDERICK PALMER,
Noted Military Expert.
Operations on the western front
appear very dull when the taking
of only two or three prisoners is
mentioned. But a single talkative
enemy soldier may be worth thou
sands of men to the side that cap
lures him.
There must be enough action in a
winter stalemate for both sides to
continue getting fresh prisoners. If
no prisoners can be picked up easily,
then the order will be to attack IN
sufficient force to assure some.
Otherwise, the battle order chief of
the intelligence section will receive
a sharp reminder that he is not on
the job.
For it is an error to suppose that
spies are the most valuable source
of information about the enemys
plans and dispositions. A trained
military spy with the enemy army
has to pass on his information in
cipher, in a way to prevent detec-
ton, to an agent in the rear, who in
turn passes it on to travelling agent,
who must get through neutral
Switzerland or Holland and Belgium.
Demand More and More Prisoners.
In the time it takes for the in
formation to reach its destination.
the enemy may have concentrated
a hundred thousand men at point
for a thrust in overcast weather
when reconnaissance planes were
unable to see them on the march or
in columns of motor buses at night
or crammed under cover in village
houses and cellars or in groves by
day.
Prisoners from the front line may
inform the battle order chief that
they know some unusual activity is
on foot. Then his urgent demand is
for more and still more prisoners to
keep him abreast of the enemy
movement and to learn where it Is
to strike, so it can be met with force
enough and promptly enough.
1t is not for the glamorous spy
risking firing squad if caught, but
up to the infantrymen, the fighting
mass of all armies, to deliver the
goods. and alive. A box barrage OF
shell blasts surrounds the space in
the enemy lines for the costly rush
of the kidnapers, who wait on nc
polite formalities as they seize and
| - ot y cly n tho lid
napers' own trenches.
The battle order chief seeks to
know where every enemy dlvislon'ls
its record, whether mediocre, reserve
or shock, and the character and
record of it's commander and OF
corps commanders, too. And the
chiefs main reliance is on his ex-
perts in questioning prisoners. They
are trained specialists, and Of
course, know the language of the
enemy.
Privates Are Won Over.
Experience teaches them to pass
by officers as too we'll indoctrinatec
in what should not be told and tot
canny to be inadvertently caught il
revealing it. So are some privates
but promising subjects are take1
in affable tow for private seances
Hungry, tired and usually demoral'
lied. they get food they like ano
smokes and drinks, and are VOL
over to a chatty mood.
The questioners have been plant
ed in parts of the enemy country II
peacetime. They know the pro
vincial dialects and local habits ant
celebrities in order to induce {
honey feeling in the prisoner
Sometimes, when all other arts fail
challenge to the prisoners pride
by belittling the strength Of th'
enemy as having fought himself ou
very gallantly will bring an outburs
of boastful communicativeneSs.
After the first two German drive
in the spring of 1918, the question
was where the next would come
Generalissimo Foch was sure
would be to the west. Maj. Samue
T. Hubbard, jr., an American Re