Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-22
Training Of Guards
To Emphasize Defects
Shown in Maneuvers
Four Essentials Listed:
Boners Committed at
War Comes Cited
Ry the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
Prescribed as a remedy for weak
neSses that showed up in the Armys
summer maneuvers, the training Of
the National Guardsmen who be-
gan entering Federal service this
week will emphasize four essen
tialS:
l. Physical toughening of the men.
2. Intensive basic training of in.
dividuals and units.
3. Discipline and teamwork
4. Practical military exercises, In
contrast to bookish theory.
Comments of seven high-ranking
generals who reviewed the August
maneuvers all emphasized and re-
emphasized weaknesses in those es-
sentials. Longer training was their
unanimous recommendation.
BOners Are Cited.
To illustrate the lack of disci-
pline and experience, they cited such
boners as these:
Blue Army headquarters in up
state New York received a tele-
phone call from a black Army
soldier telling the location of his
divisions trains. The soldier had
got the wrong number, and the
trains were captured.
A mile-long column of foot SOL
diers marched down a Wisconsin
road plainly visible from a nearby
peak, blissfully unaware that hos
tile units held the peak and would
have been in position, in actual
warfare, 10 blast them apart with
artillery.
One officer in Louisiana decided
that road on which he had been
ordered to work was undesirable
and simply selected another of his
own accord
Radio messages sent without be-
ing coded were intercepted and used
by the enemy"
Supplies Badly Handled.
Front-line troops sometimes went
without food because supplies were
badly handled.
In spite OF such occasional bung-
ling, 1t. Gen, John L. Dewitt Of the
4th Army said:
The American soldier is an
intelligent individual, a man who
uses his head and who has self-con-
fidence. self-reliance and initiative.
He needs only to be trained to be
told what to do and how to do it,
and to be furnished with the tools
to do it with. Properly armed prop
erly equipped and properly trained
and seasoned in the field, he is the
peer of any soldier in the world"
Apparently. the men in the ma
neuvers were healthy. In two
armies sickness averaged only 1.3
per cent, as compared to the normal
2.5 per cent in garrisons. But. said
Maj. Gen. Herbert j. Brees Of the
Bird Army, three weeks IS not suf-
flcient to condition any one for field
service"
Maj. Gen. Walter Kruger said
highly trained and hardened troops
should be able to march at least 20
miles day with a full pack.
Discipline Emphasized.
All Of the critiques emphasized
discipline and scored numerous in
stances where men failed to conceal
themselves, disclosed their positions
by too much activity, used wide open
roads for marching, cluttered high
ways and used motor vehicles with
out authority.
Because of catch phrases coming
from Europe, 1t. Gen. Hugh A.
Drum of the list Army said many
people appear to visualize battle
as consisting primarily of motoring
instead of fighting"
LAS one of Our famous generals
put it." he added. they do a lot of
'blitzipg' but little 'krieging'"
Gen. Drum especially emphasized
teamwork and coordination. Sew
eral other officers criticized a too
frequent use Of maps in place OF
an actual look at the battle terrain
and tendency TO "bookishness'
among some officers. And Gen.
Kruger said. knowledge of theory
is not enough; actual practice is i'm
peratively necessary"