Evening star., 1941-06-05
5000 Soldiers
GoThroughD
On Way War
800 Trucks Rumble
Into and Out of City
With Fort Dix Men
By CARTER BROOKE JONES.

burg road at the District line traffic
thinned to occasional cars and the
huge vans that move from city to
city by night. The night dragged
on, quiet, thick and drizzly.
Then, with furry, dozen motor
cycle policemen whirled to a stop
just in front of the Maryland border.
They diSmounted and waited, peer
ing down the black highway.
1t was 1910 am. today, and out
Of the murk approached two gray
vehicles shaped like station wagons.
Out of them tumbled uniformed
men-a major, a captain, enlisted
men with M P. on their armbands.
They're coming" the major an
nounced
Then the night flung into the
city's lights the first of a bristling
caravan @. =. Army trucks filled with
men and guns and equipment,
hurrying along without much noise,
earnest, ominouS.
1t was the Spearhead of the 44th
Division, en- route from Fort Dix,
N. j., to Caroline County, Va, for
maneuvers, and officers called it
the largest motorized troop move
ment the Eastern Seaboard has
seen since the last war.
A policeman jumped on his mo-
torcycle to escort the first unit
through the city.
Most of Capital Asleep.
Soon along an important segment
of the city-the truck route which
leads along Bladensburg road, New
York avenue, Third street, indie
pendence avenue and Fourteenth
street to the Highway Bridge-a
thin line of military vehicles moved
with unobstrusive efficiency, not too
close together, net too far apart.
While most of the Capital slept,
military police stood on strategic
corners and waved away civil traf-
f1c as sections of the division
slipped by.
1t was a parade without drums or
trumpets, without iuttering en-
signs, passing dark houses and
silent streets, symbol of the solemn
business that engages Americas
growing military might.
Nearly half of the divisions $4,000
men, high officers said. passed
through Washington. The rest
swerved around the city and crossed
the Potomac at Morgantown, Md.
The division, consisting of New
York and New Jersey troops, Ma
tional Guardsmen reinforced with
slectees, had paused at Fort George
@. Meade, Md, for "a hours. But
1t rained heavily there and not even
pup tents were feasible in the soggy
combat range to which the march,
ing 44th was assigned And so the
men rested, as best they could, in
their trucks or wherever they could
find shelter. They must have been
weary as they started for Virginia
shortly before midnight.
800 Vehicles Pass Through.
Some of them slept, sprawled gro
tesquely, as the trucks jolted into
the city. But most of them were
wide awake.
More than 800 vehicles rumbled
through the city between midnight
and 7:30 am. when the last cleared
the southern end of the Highway
Bridge
They came in units of 80 trucks
each, at l0-minute intervals, so
that they would not disrupt noe
turnal traffic.
There was no fuss about the big
movement, few tangles to unsnarl.
They were out of the city before
the early morning traffic rush began
The various types of conveyances
moved through town with a quiet
effectiveness that suggested train
ing far advanced. Now and then
some unit had to halt to allow
tagging vehicles to catch up, to
close its files, but there was sur
prisingly little delay or trouble
Canvas kept guns and equipment
dry through the wet night. Enor-
NOUS moving vans and passenger
cars were shooed to the left of the
military columns. Colossal trucks
carrying automobiles as parcels
dwarfed the largest of the Army
trucks, the prime-movers which car
rled soldiers, wheeling behind sup
ply trailers and artillery guns. But
the Army's trucks were stripped for
action, lean, >sinewy, grim.
Field Units in Caravan.
Machine guns and the smaller
anti aircraft and anti-tank weap-
ons bristled from some of them.
Whole regiments of infantry filed
by. Their transports might, in
the thick night, have been deliv-
cry trucks, except for the glimpse
you had of uniformed men nested
within. Then came artillery out
hts, their 155-mm. howitzers and
105-mm. field pieces pointed be-
hind them. Here and there was a
command car, filled with officers;
occasionally an ambulance.
Through Washington drove the
104th Engineers. the 69th Field
Artillery Brigade, the 387th Bri-
gade Combat Team, consisting of
the list and 174th Infantry Regi-
mentS, the 157th Field Artillery
and attached special troops.
A dark, drizzling dawn crept over
the route and still the motor units
came on. At last, as the final
groups began moving toward the
Highway Bridge, an M. P. officer
yawned and spoke loving of cof-
fee. He'd noticed place down the
road which was open. He'd stop in
and catch up with the caravan.
I'VE left Fort Dix" he recalled,
OF 8 o'clock Tuesday night"
Probably he hadn't slept much
since, it was suggested.
One hour" he replied.
But he didn't look tired. He was
too excited over the problems of the
march, for his M P. unit was
charged with keeping the column
moving on schedule. 1t wasn't as
easy as it looked.
Directing the whole operation was
Maj. Gen. Clifford r. Powell, COM
nanding the 44th Division