Evening star., 1941-09-20
Stopping the Tanks

After five days of intensive fighting
in the Louisiana war games, it seems
possible to draw some rather clear
cut lessons from the results achieved.
One is that the function of horse
cavalry in modern warfare-at least
on swampy, wooded terrain such as
that over which the maneuvers are
being staged-is by no means ex-
hauSted. Another is that in territory
where tanks cannot maneuver eX-
tenSively except by keeping to eStab-
lished roads, the engineers and even
the infantry must play vital roles in
successful defense operations.
Some news dispatches emanating
from the headquarters of Lieutenant
General Ben Lear'S second, or Red"
; Army give the distinct impression
that the utter failure of Thursdays
large-scale attack by the armored
units of the Red Army-the first of
the maneuvers-was attributable to
the aerial superiority of the Blues.
That is decidedly erroneous.
The Blues enjoyed superiority in
the air, it is true, although their
margin was not great-4O0 planes to
300 for the Reds. And this advan-
tage was exploited to the fullest eX-
tent with dive bomberS blasting
mechanical concentrations and har-
assing communication lines while
observation planes kept Blue head
quarters we'll informed of the enemy's
movements. But, in final analysis, the
planes neither stopped the attack
nor drove back the attackers. That
was the work of the infantry, the
engineers and the cavalry.
General Lear had made careful
preparations for his attack, and it
was well executed But it soon
begged down in the face of bridges
blown out by Blue engineers, 81 and
IS millimeter guns rushed to Stra-
tegic positions behind the Blue lines
by anti-tank units to kill off tanks
that succeeded in breaking through,
and by the efficient work of riflemen
and machine gunners who melted
away into the woods to let the tanks
60 roaring by and then reformed
their lines in time to prevent any
Red infantry units from jamming
through the breach made by the
armored vehicles
1t was at this stage Of the battle
that the Blues brought the First
Cavalry Division, which had been
stationed far out on the left flank,
into play. This outfit, preponder-
antly horse mounted and horse
drawn, proved capable of crossing
terrain that had defied the best
efforts of the tanks, and succeeded
in getting in behind the Red lines
and capturing most of the reserves
of gasoline for the attacking ar
mored units. This forced a Red
withdrawal to the northeast to new
sources of gasoline, and this with
draWal was quickly turned into a
desperate but unsuccessful effort to
stem a well co-ordinated drive by a
Blue infantry division upon the i'm
portant town of NatchitocheS, head
quarters of General Lear, who was
compelled to make a hasty with
drawal to avoid capture.
This initial Blue success by no
means detracts from the great
present-day Importance of planes
and tanks. The latter, had they
been operating under morevfavorable
geographical conditions, undoubtedly
would have given a much better &C
count of themselves. But the tri-
umph for the Blues does serve to
emphasize the Importance of not
overlooking the older service arms in
planning for the future, and it is a
safe assumption that this fact has
not been lost upon the Armys high
command.