Evening star., 1942-12-27
'kill...Or
Be Killed.
BY Sigrid Arne,
Associated Press Stan Writer

~A 'oiA. DuG i u D6 Md0dCInd (Jdndnl
could see more than three men.
aMsCoinpany?" I asked. The lieutenant
sIIned. Wait We met the three men
1a2ey had all been New York artists.
hcW they're soldiers in Uncle Sans
Afmy-infantry, Intelligence Division
line eremys out there" said one He
pointed across small valley, and be-
yond a second range. Their guns can't
quite reach us. We're fixing to move up
tonight"
He sounded so realistic that uncon-
ciously looked for fox hole marked
MISS Arne." There was nothing but fiat
bills and brush.
Tneres company right around you,"
said the lieutenant grinning Can you
tell where they are?" 1t sounded like
trying to find the Brooklyn brothers, but
finally pointed to one brush clump
that looked suspicious. Three soldiers
rolled out, chuckling.
The lieutenant blew his whistle. Sud-
denly the whole hilltop was alive. Brush
dumps burst open all around me, and
soldiers rolled out into the high wind,
grinning
Individual Camoufase.
It's camounage. The sort that's being
taught to every manjack in this coun-
try's infantry. Not Just camouflage that
hides gasoline dump or an air field, but
camouflage that hides a single soldier
from the enemy Something he cooks
up himself when he's out in the field,
and told to move ahead.
And shortly our infantry will be "mov-
Ing ahead" They're q little disturbed
right now because the public only talks
Of "rangers.' marines, flyers. The boys
themselves are being reassured that the
Army high command still thinks that
when it really comes to taking enemy
acreage and holding it, the infantry Will
come into its own.
Training for KILLERS"
But it will be a tough job So the
Army is doing its level best to trans
form all the American gentlemen we
kissed good-by at the railroad station
into, well-killers. It's not pleasant
idea. But it should be reassurng.
There seems to be three sections of in
fantry training which will tie together
when they're out in no mans land,
wherever that will be. It's this camou-
fage. It's the use of the bayonet and
finally it's "handto-hand combat"
which just means how to kill an enemy
when you We got nothing but your bare
hands. It's all pretty amazing to a
civilian. I'll give you some of the high
lights
And I'll give them as l saw them at
Camp Atterbury, outside Columbus, Ind
It's a camp that grew up this year. It's
so huge it seems to break up into sep
arate villages It's a tremendously busy
place All that day l felt the earth
shaking under me, from the roll OF guns
on the firing range. Every hill was
crawling with different outfits working
out war problems.
Camoufage first. The men learn to
make themselves the color of their sur
roundingS. They tie brush or tree foliage
to their hats and onto their clothes.
They smear their faces and hands with
mud. Light surfaces the camoufeurs
say, reflect light even though it's only
lads face or hands. So the point is to
get dun-colored all over.
Digging Fox Holes.
The men learn to dig fox holes deep
enough to stand up in. They even learn
to dig them lying down. In case they're
In reach of enemy guns They have spe-
cial small picks and shovels for that job.
And they're so careful, as they do it,
that each fresh shovel of earth is quickly
covered with brush by another soldier.
Fresh earth can be seen from the air.
The fox hole is finally covered with
mat woven from grass or brush, or what
ever. The mat must look like the sur
rounding ground.
The fox holes are particularly impor-
tant to the Army intelligence officers
who must get ahead of the line, The
men learn to dig so many kinds of holes
that it's almost like a shoe sale-sizes
80 to available. Holes for one man,
two men, three men and a gun, and so
on.
But what about North African sands?
Well oat there, if the infantry has to
move in daylight the Army jeeps cover
them bv racing wildly back and forth
across the sands stirring up huge clouds.
Bayonet Drill.
The bayonet drill is something to see.
The men practice on "bayonet parade
grounds" Those are fields with rows OF
dummies. White posts with swinging
arms that represent the bayonet OF an
enemy soldier.
There's plenty of tricks. But the one
that tickled my fancy is called the yer
tical butt thrust" It's all one, swift
motion, It's as fancy a coordination of
feet and hands as buck and wing.
Let's take Joe. He's meeting Jap in
the field. They're both lunging with
their bayonets pointed at each other.
Joe comes in with his bayonet just
little lower than the Japs. The bayonets
cra-s like swords, and Joe gives slight
inward "umph' to his The Jap's
hayonet slides off, down Joe's gun, and
down his left arm That's called "the
parry" It's like swordSmans parry.
But then comes Joe's neat, quick trick.
He's too close to the Jap now to use his
bayonet, and the Jap is still lunglng
forward from the momentum OF his dash
at Joe. So Joe just gives big, upward
kick to the butt of his gun, putting the
strength into his right arm. The butt
swings I'D, connects with the Japs chin.
And we hope sends his little broken neck
to his forefathers. See 1t? Joe's rihe