Evening star., 1941-01-22
Modern Infontrymen
Ride to Work
But the Dirty Work Still
Falls to the Lot of
The Douehboy
By Charles w. Gilmore.

Time and progress may change his
weapons and his mode of travel, but
1000 years from now wars still will be
won by the doughboy on the ground"
That prediction, made by most mill
tary strategists in the United States
Army, is substantiated by the stream
lined motorized 4th Infantry Division
at Fort Benning. Time and progress
have given those 1000 doughboys the
semi-automatic rifle and the fast Army
truck, but the dirty work is still there
to be done.
The division is organized for three
things: To keep up with the advance of
tanks, to hold areas taken by the tanks
and to release the armored vanguard for
other missions.
Unless infantry outfits like the 4th
Division can get grip on captured terri
tory, a sudden counterattack by the
enemy could sweep away the progress
made by parachute battalions and ar
mored regiments.
Lightning war is usually a combina-
ton of parachute troops breaking up
communications behind the lines, ar
mored divisions smashing through or
fanking the lines, and the same old in
fantry coming up fast to hang on.
But the same old infantry today rides
almost to the front lines, dismounts
when automobile progress is impossible
and goes the few remaining miles on
foot 1t is far cry from the forced
marches through the muddy roads of
France.
The 4th Division is one of six So
called "streamlined" divisions This
modernization was accomplished by re-
moving one regiment of infantry and
certain other troops from the old
square division. The result is the
swift, compact triangle" division.
BY triangle, strategists mean that the
4th Division consists of three infantry
regiments, each of which is supported
by its own field artillery battalion. The
infantry and the artillery, under sin
gle command, form a combat team"
Such teams are said to be complete fight
Ing units.
Although the streamlined infantry di-
old square organization, it maintains the
same firing power. And officers say it
moves with infinitely" greater speed.
During the World War infantry marched
from l to miles per hour. The mo-
torized 4th can average 20 miles per
hour, or 200 miles per day!
Completely equipped. the division has
G00 yahic1eS in clnSad G
gle column, would occupy $50 miles of
road space. This factor is giving tao
ticians a headache, because presumably
the front end of the division could be in
a fight with the rear guard more than
100 miles away.
Since July l all units have been en-
gagged in basic training. testing marches
with three and four trucks abreast in
an effort to discover tactics and tech
nique for such force. The 4th is the
only completely motorized infantry di-
vision, so all of this experimental work
has fallen on the shoulders of It's staff
headed by Maj. Gen. Lloyd R. Freden-
dali.
In battle conditions motorized in
fantry division would follow the armored
regiments into battle Marching in
trucks. the infantry would come up fast
to follow the tanks through a hole in
the enemy line or to seize anti-tank
salients erected by the enemy. In other
words, the dirty work belongs to the in
fantry.
Because it rides up fast and then dis
mounts near the field of action, the
modern infantry division resembles the
old-time cavalry in many respects. AL
though its work is basically that of the
old-time doughboy, its movement is more
that of the mounted infantry of Civil
War days.
The triangular organization enables
each combat team to go into action as
unit under one command. The in
fantry regiments are supported by their
own artillery battalions with no lost
motion that weakened the bulky World
War divisions.
Military historians recall that the
square DIVISION consisting of four in
fantry regiments and separate artillery,
was first used by Alexander the Great
The recent modernization is the first
time in military history that infantry
has digressed from that pattern.
But change became necessary when
parachutes and armored divisions be-
came the spearhead of attack Some
new arrangement was needed whereby
infantry could move up quickly and, if
necessary, lead the tanks through diff
cult salients. The streamlined, motorized
4th Division was the answer.
So today at Fort Benning there are
1000 happy doughboys who ride back
and forth to work each day.
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