Evening star., 1940-05-05
Il Soldiers Bail Out
As -Four Planes Are
Damaged in Games
Three Pursuit Ships
And Transport Figure
In Accidents
~ the Associated Press.


McCOMB, Miss, May IA series
Of landing accidents in the Sd Army S
huge maneuvers today damaged
three pursuit planes and so badly
wrecked the undercarriage of q
transport that IL soldiers had to
parachute to safety before it pan
caked to earth.
No one was injured and it was
believed all four ships would be re-
paired in time to take part in the
war games which began today and
which will move into high gear
Through Western Louisiana next
week.
The accidents occurred as the
enips, sn route from Selfridge Field,
Mich. sought . landing at the Nc
Comb Airport, which has been
turned into the air base Of the
Blue" forces in the maneuvers.
Pilot Pancakes Plane.
Ii. J. M. Joplin brought the C-33,
the transport whose base is at San
Antonio, Tex. to rest in a field at
Georgetown, Miss, 60 miles north Of
McComb, where the wheels and pro-
peller were wrecked when the ship
overshot the field and struck an en-
bankment.
Joplin's co-pilot, lieutenant;
snree sergeants, five corporals, pri-
vate and two crew members bailed
out over Georgetown.
The damaged pursuit planes were
all T-35s.
One piloted by It, Harry B. Riley
damaged wing tip in a collision
with truck. The others, flown by
Its. r. L. Matthews and P. B.
Blanchard, ran off the field and into
rough ground, damaging their land
ing gear.
Maj. w. r. Taylor, executive ON
Ger with 40 ships that landed during
the day, blamed the C-33's accident
on "a heavy load and a short field"
10000 Men Begin Moving.
The streamlined Sd Army's 10000
Regulars begin moving tomorrow
for a $1,000, ,000-a- day test of the
Nations defense against lightning
tactics now being used on the
battleflelds of Europe. ="
The War Department has de-
scribed the maneuvers. costing about
$28,000,00O and spreading in full
force from May IL through May IS
across Western Louisiana and East
ern Texas, as the high point in
Regular Army training"
No foreign military attaches have
been invited to witness this greatest
peacetime war show in United
States history.
The lessons learned from the
highly modified German Army's
blitzkrieg in Poland and even the
motorized italian columns In Ethi-
opia will be tested against an
American background of cut-over
pine land. valley and rivers which
Army men have termed probably
the most ideal terrain in the Nation
for the problem at hand.
Regular Army units from 80
States have been pulled into these
games" which will pit the Blue"
4th Corps. operating in Louisiana,
against the invading Red" 9th
Corps moving in from Texas across
the Sabine River.
Civilians to Warn Of Planes.
Probably the largest civilian corps
ever organized to take part in
American war games has been
turned into an aircraft warning
system in Florida, Alabama. Mis-
sissippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
American Legionnaires will be the
backbone Of this civilian group
reporting on the movements of
RED" or invading army airplanes.
The quartermasters for months
have been preparing to supply 1T
freight carloads Of food and 100
carloads of gasoline for the troops
whose first units start moving at
dawn tomorrow toward Louisiana's
make-believe battlefield
Both Army corps will have reach
ed full strength by May II, when
they take up positions.
The clash will take place at top
speed. For, from the conflicts
the strategists have found that the
shutting of men and supplies by
trucks permits a streamlined, 'tri-
angular" division to march IS miles
a day for long periods against IS
miles for the World War type OF
square" division.
The new, more highly mobile
Triangular" division needs less
man power-about 1000 against
$4,000 or more in the old type-and
has three infantry regiments in
stead of four with redisposition Of
artillery and supporting units.
The division-there are two or
more to a corps-contains practi-
cany all of the various arms, is
large enough to have effective strik-
Ing force and small. enough to be
easily maneuvered and directed.
Equipped with improved weapons, it
has fire power equivalent to that
OF the old-time divisions despite
numerical inferiority.
Animals Are Not Used.
All animal transportation Of sup
plies has been eliminated. This
strips the division to fighting
force which can be entrucked and
moved 5O TO 100 miles IN night as
compared with the old rate of
march of - to Is miles.
A new type of cavalry fights from
machines like tanks, armored or
combat cars and scout cars.
Armed with rifles, machine guns,
S7-mm. guns and even 75-mm. can
non. such a force has a wide radius
OF action, with considerable striking
power.
While the use of motors had
already been thoroughly tried-as
have the new weapons and type of
equipment-the testing 50 far has
been comparatively by units. The
maneuvers this month will bring
these units together on the grand
scale.
Gen. George c. Marshall, chief of
81