Evening star., 1942-08-27

ksNl1lll11 - in the nearby
Henry MeLemers. Atlantic. The
peacetime subway, with all It's lights
turned on full blast, was hazardous
enough, but ride on the wartime
one, with it's lights at half mast,
combines the rigors and excitement
of trip to the moon in the day
coach compartment of rocket.
There is quite an argument raging
over the dimmed-out subways here
in New York. The intrepid riders
of these electrified moles are all for
having the lights dimmed when the
car occasionally emerges from its
tunnel and operates on the surface.
but they cannot understand the
danger of having the lights on
when the train is rumbling along
underground, They just don't be-
lieve that even the Germans can
gain much help from the glow OF q
50-watt bulb deeper underground
than the basement Of the Empire
State Building.
Rush-Hour Technique.
But to return to the training that
Ranger troops could get In riding
the subways. There isn't . great
deal of difference in the technique
used for getting aboard . subway
during the rush hours (the rush
hours being those hours between
midnight and midnight) and tho
technique involved in storming an
enemy beach. Both make the same
demand for sound bodies. the same
willingness to carry on no matter
what the obstacles, and the same
ability to hand 1t out as well as
take it.
OF course, no one uses live ammu-
milton in getting on a subway, but
there is also this to remember: In
q Commando raid man is accom-
panied and aided by his comrades,
but when you start to board q sub
wav you are on your own and sur
rounded by enemies. Sometimes as
many as 500 have their eyes on the
one vacant seat and In order to get
to it first will flirt with the laws
dealing with mayhem, manslaugh-
ter, assault and battery.
No Turning Back.
There is another similarity be-
tween Commando raids and board
ing subway. Once started, there
Is no turning back. A man might
just as well try to swim up Niagara
Falls as to attempt to reverse his
field in subway crowd. No mat
ter If he suddenly discovers that he
has lost his wallet, or Is being swept
| toward a train that goes to Brook
lyn when he wants to 60 to the
Bronx, he must 60 on. To try to
beat an escape would result in his
getting trampled and left on the
platform until a kindly guard (and
the $25, 1000 reward that was offered
in 1914 tor the discovery OF ons
has never been collected) gave him
| succor.
Once inside a subway, the novice
Ranger would be enabled to get in
invaluable practice In hand to -hand
fighting and graphing with the en-
emy at close quarters. This Is par
ticularly true Of the dimmed-out
subways, with their lights 30 low
that passengers cannot tell whose
feet they are standing on, or whose
elbows have taken riparian rights
on their ribs, or whose eyes are at
tacking their thumbs.
The Rangers would find the aver
age subway rider to be q foeman
worthy Of his steel. Years Of swing
ing and swaying and lurching has
taught him to be as light on his feet
as a cat. and he knows q thousand
and one tricks Of defense and attack.
Without seeming deliberate about II,
he can put q knee in your back, q
f1st IN your neck. slap you with a
newspaper, whack your shins and
generally give you physical beating
IN defense Of the 2 square inches
Of the car floor he has staked out for
his own.
/ About Effort
Getting of q subway is q job that
calls for the same all-out effort as
getting on. Not the smallest hazard
are the subway doors, electrically
controlled contrivances which will
close only when victim is stuck in
their path. They will snap at you
like a mean-tempered dog. opening
and shutting until a guard steps in
like referee in prize fight and
waves them away and shoves you out
into the clear. There is no record OF
a passenger ever having won de-
cision from one Of the doors. They
all retire as undefeated champions.
A few weeks of boarding and rid
ing the subways would give our
Rangers something that no other
Commando troops in the world would
have, because there are no other
subways in the world like ours. The
Russian, British, French and Ger
man subways are for children.
Distributed By McNaught Syndicate, IncJ