Evening star., 1945-06-24
Teaching Chinese Our Ways of Warfare

the grounds would reveal many acttH.
ties. Here might be a battery Of stu
dents dismantling q 75-mm. howitzer
and packing 1t on mules. There Is an
other battery Stimulating a field prob
lem in firing the 105-mm. motorized
howitzer On nearby hillside 4 class
lays telephone wire, sets up q mobile
switchboard. On far hillside the how
itzers are blazing away. In this building
students learn to forge horseshoes and
to shoe a horse; in that building stu
dents watch actual field situations
worked out on a movie screen. hos
pital, stated by Medical Corpsmen
headed by an American Army doctor
handles all sorts Of cases from a bruised
toe to relapsing fever.
Fire Practice
1t is at the infantry training school
where the CTC gets in its best ncks In
teaching modern methods Of warfare.
The staccato bark Of machine guns and
the sharp crack Of rifle fire have become
50 commonplace that farm folks work.
ing the rice paddles near the ranges no
longer lift their heads in alarm. SUBJ
jects dealt with specifically include
weapons, tactics, individual and unit
tactics, heavy weapons, special subjects
such as communications, first aid, sani-
tation, engineering. These manuals are
all translated for use in the school.
Chinese Army men are being taught
by their American allies to maintain
and repair ordnance equipment as part
of the comprehensive training given at
CTC. college trained youths with me-
chanical aptitude and skilled mechanics,
both from the Army and the civilian
occupations, are reporting to the Ord
nance Training School in ever-increas-
ing numbers. Once trained, they are
assigned to the fighting units and 60
into the field to service equipment which
is issued as fast as 1t comes over the
Hump" by plane or rolls in over the
recently opened Stilwell road. A great
many Of the semi-skiled trainees were
dislocated from their jobs in cities when
they fell back before Japs moving into
the coastal areas.
Few Modern Highways
China has none of the broad, modern
trunk highways which made it possible
for the Allies to send tanks and heavy
artillery speeding after the demoralized
Germans in the rout which brought the
European phase Of the war to its sue
cessful conclusion. China is q land Of
trackless mountains and sprawling rice
paddles, over which it is physical
impossibility to move heavy equipment
such as was employed in Europe.
Facing this condition, the United
States Army men at the center have
stressed the most practical artillery
weapon for such terrain, the ~ mortar.
While known as heavy" mortar, it Is
infinitely lighter than the big guns
which were used by the United States
forces on other fronts. 1t affords an
element of firepower with all the devas-
tdIAllS Si1SSe VI oAlSC al VAAiOly
but is cheap light and adaptable to
Chinas mountainous areas.
The az Mortar, Chemical" oficial
name of the weapon, is designed to fire
smoke shells to cover an infantry ad.
vance. It Is still so used when the situa-
ton requires. Its employment in China's
battle sectors, where topography is un-
suited for heavy artillery, will be pri-
marily to support the infantry, firing
high explosive projectiles. It requires
six mules to pack a 75-mm. howitzer.
The AZ mortar can be dismantled in q
jiffy and carried over narrow mountain
trails by five men, none Of them heavily
burdened
The Heavy Mortar Training Unit Is
based at remote site in Szechuan
Province where facilities for housing
large Chinese units were already avail
able. HMTC of CTC was activated
February and the first class was
opened on April e. 1t has an eight
week course in cadre training for COM
pany officers and specialists, and q
three-month unit training program
AHlS SdlIlc pldll ID CdlIlcO Out Ill tklo
Field Artillery School.
: Gen. Middleton is we'll qualified for
: his post. A graduate of West Points
, class Of 1918, he served in the Army OF
+ Occupation in Germany after the World
i, War. He is graduate, also, Of the
! Army Infantry School and of the Com
mand and General Staff School at Fort
Leavenworth. He served at headquar-
ters of the Army Ground Forces here
:, before going to China on Sept. 23. 1943
!. Gen. Middleton was awarded the
Legion of Merit for service as deputy
chief of staff under Brig. Gen. Frank
Dorm Of the Y-Force Operations Staii
which worked with the Chinese Expe-
dictionary Force In the Salween cam.
t paign.
= Mrs. Middleton and the twin boys
! years old, live at IS Hesketh street b
1 Chevy Chase.