Evening star., 1942-10-29
Tanks End Battle
Ahead Of Schedule
In War Games
Blue Forces OverwheIm
Defending Reds in
.Touehening Up War
BY WALTER McCALLUM,
Star Stan Writer.


Star Stan Writer
HEADQUARTERS Sd ARMY,
SOMEWHERE IN LOUISIANA, Oct.
2s.-Johnny Doughboy slugged his
way in, but the tanks did the job
this time in the fanking operation
which brought to speedy end the
current field problem of 4th Corps
troops engaged in the toughening-
up process.
Sleepless for more than 30 hours
and without food for the same in
terval. tank and infantry outfits
with supporting units of the Blue
Army, outnumbering the defenders
by a 2la-to-1 ratio, came off with a
decision over the. opposing Red
force in 40 hours.
The problem, involving an aggres-
sive action by the Blue forces
against a covering force to drive it
across a wide swift river and pre-
vent arrival of Red supports, had
been assigned Sc hours for compile
ton.
Blue infantry and tank task
forces executed a tactically bril-
liant pincers movement against
strongly intrenched Red units, iso-
lated them, drove their patrols
across the stream and quickly
brought to an end the maneuver
with more than a day to spare
Elapsed time of the job was 40
hours and As minutes. The boys
may have been hungry and Ger
tainly they were tired so they made
1t quick, but it was the tanks which
did the job.
Exposed Flank Detected.
Maj. Gen. Omar N, Bradley, COM
manding the Reds, with Brig. Gen
Kenneth Buchanan in charge of his
infantry, deployed his units to
cover roads and paths from one di-
rection, leaving an exposed flank
Infantry patrols of the Blues, un-
der Brig. Gen. Roy Easley. quickly
discovered the open southern flank,
and by 3 pm. of the second day
Gen. EaSley and armored division
units under Brig. Gen. John B.
Thompson moved north and south,
cutting in behind the advance pa
trolls of the Reds and inclosing
them in a giant pincers as many
thousands of men worked their way
through the scanty cover and down
the roads of the maneuver area.
All through the second night pa
trolls of the invading Blues, behind
excellent intelligence reconnais-
sance work, filtered through the Red
defense, and by the morning of the
second day the Reds had begun
to scramble toward the bridgehead
they were supposed to defend.
Holding operations were shat
tered by the Blue armored units,
despite desperately fought actions
between tank destroyer units and
the numbering steel ships of the
land they are supposed to destroy.
Red Army engineer outfits, antici-
pating a concrete bridge over the
river might be destroyed, cutting
off their entire force, had thrown
a pontoon bridge across in less than
five hours.
They were right in their prepa-
rations, but so quickly was the mock
battle concluded that the umpires
called off the fight with capture
of the Red Army before the bridge
could be used. Nor could the Reds,
because of the speed of the Blue
advance, bring up covering forces
to secure another bridgehead few
miles north The whole thing,
spearheaded by the armored units,
was too fast.
Toughening Process.
This battle training of American
boys here in simulated battle con-
ditions is intended as final
toughening job before the men
leave for other areas, largely as
units trained to work as teams in
task forces In the words of 1t.
Gen, L. j. McNair, commanding
the United States Army Ground
Forces, the objectives include at
tainment of a state of discipline
which will insure success in battle.
But there are, as in every big
organization. some bugs which
must be Strengthened out. Dispersal
of equipment has not reached a
high state of perfection and moving
troops still walk along road edges.
Attack aviation would change all
that, but at the cost of many lives
in actual battle A field soldier
with full pack, cannot dive into
ditch in any number quickly enough
to dodge bullets from tree-scraping,
rrnilnd -strafinp nlaneS