The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1943-08-26

fourth longer than over HAT terrain.
. The birds try to avoid the updrafts
by following courses between the
. mountains instead of flying the usual
air line. Low flying thus enhances
danger from hawks which have the
} opportunity of diving on the pigeons
at their reputed speed of 120 miles
) an hour, Many pigeons and their
messages have been lost in these ma
= neuvers and it is believed that the
/, hawks got away with most of them.
Other Mountain Maneuvers
: The soldier therefore, releases not
one bird but several-all bearing the
same message.
. Cliff climbing dovetails with all
? other mountain maneuvers. At an
: other camp near Elkins there is a
, combat team of infantry and artillery,
, learning to operate as a family on
steep, wooded mountainsides. They
, are pelfecting themselves in one
; phase of mountain fighting, just as
the cliff men specialize in another.
; Most hardening exercise in the ma
neuvers perhaps is dragging field
guns up a forty-five degree slope
Block and tackle are hitched to the
: butt of stout tree or the gun and
carriage are taken apart and hauled
: up piece-meal, if the trees are too
| thick to get the whole gun through in
one piece.
| When an infantryman climbs such
= slope he needs both hands to hang
) onto bushes and trees. A special
) mountain pack board, holding gun
7 and all equipment, is strapped to his
; back His arms are thus free, and
when he needs his gun or other i'm
plement quickly he is able to throw
| off the pack with single backward
: arm gesture. Then, by pulling a single
| string, everything in the pack is re-
, leased.
The technique of firing artillery ac-
curately over mountains is another Of
! the special problems studied at this
> camp. In essence, it is mathematical
! study Of the pull Of gravity on shells
as they hurtle through the air. For
! example, if a gun is 1000 feet below
its target (Which is on the other side
; Of mountain), what would be the
= required elevation Of its muzzlp for
= accurate shooting? Student artillery
men are seeking here the answer to
this and many kindred questions.
Target Area of $1,000 Acres
To facilitate these studies the army
/ has leased for the duration Il target
= area $1,000 acres in area. known
locally as Huckleberry Plain. Guns as
large as 1O5 millimeters are fired into
it. from various angles and eleva-
tions.
Actual battle conditions are as
) summed by all soldiers in this area The
, X field ration is used extensively All
, supplies are brought into the various
camps (spread over a vast area at
night, with dimmed-out headlights,
e which are little help in threading the
! winding, tree-covered trails This is
mountain training for the quarter
} masters truck drivers. They admit it
= is tough going, the hairpin trails
. breaking frequently into rutS three
= feet deep or more. Nearly all these
} trails are bordered on one side by Il
: sheer drop Of hundreds Of feet, on
} the other by towering mOuntainside
$4,000 Every Two Months
C''oer theSe cohaltlohhS inc army
prepares large numbers OF It's COM
oat"hI ana service SoIolefS Iof
efficient operation IN extremely
rugged country According to the
present schedule approximately TO-
0Oo men can be trained every eight
weeks
The sudden influx of the military
IN the comparatively remote West
Virginia mountain country has had a
visible effect, In Elklns there is 10
O'Clock curfew for all girls of l6 or
under, and the military police are
directing traffic here and at certain
intersections of the surrounding high
way. About 10000 property owners
hereaboutS have signed papers per