Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-04-01
Jungle Fighters Troin
On Impossible Terrain

On Impossible ] erruln
Atomic Age Weapons Nuke
Little Difference to These els
By THOMAS q. HENRY
PANAMA. They fight mimic wars isa
the total darkness Of tropical nights
in BOBBY land-mined dense
jungle.
Through fiesh-tearing thorns and
strangling vines they slash their way
step by step with machetes.
They live in the jungle and OF the
jungle, eating what it gives them and
sleeping under whatever shelter it pro-
vides them. They learn the ways Of
jungle reptiles-the deadly fer-de-lance
and the aggressive busnmaster- and Of
the more fearsome jungle insects.
They are developing new techniques
OF jungle lighting rewriting the whole
book as Mai. Robert G. Abarr. COM
manding officer of the Army'S jungle
warfare training center In the Canal
Zone, describes the operation. This Is
the kind Of war the basic requirements
for which have not changed much
through the centuries Hydrogen bombs,
airplanes, tanks and all the other ad-
vaIlces In the art and practice Of war
never will make much difference In
these dark depths where war, If it
comes. will always be man to man,
bayonet to bayonet.
knowledge Increasing
But knowledge Of the Jungle and Of
ways to live in the jungle is increasing.
This training center located at old
Camp Sherman on the Atlantic side
Of the Canal Zone is part Of the Carib.
bean Army Command of Mai. Gen.
Lionel c. McGarr, much-decorated
fighter in both Europe and the Pacific
during the last war. Close to his heart
is the ambition that In case of another
major war, which almost certainly
would cover almost every sort Of ter
rain known in the world, the United
States Army win have nucleus Of
trained, hardened, competent jungle
fighters.
For 500 years troops have unanswered
In jungles Their experiences have been
recorded and form background from
which Mai. Abarr and his officers now
are moving forward. They have abb
sorbed a great deal from the experience
Of Marines In the South Pacific, of
British and Australians in Malaga,
even from what Is known of Japanese
tactics All this is being co-ordinated
with the most recent developments.
The mimic warfare, which to soldiers
recently initiated lii it doesn't seem
far from the toughest kind Of real
war, is being waged over historic
ground. In about the center Of the
area is three-century- old Fort San Lo-
renzo. It's ruins now given over to black
bats and green snakes, which was the
chief Spanish stronghold on the At
lantic coast and supposedly impreg-
nable until 1t was captured by the Brit
ish buccaneer, Sir Henry Morgan.
BOBBY Traps
Morgan was an experienced Jungle
fighter as well as the terror Of tht
Spanish Main, but the Spaniards didn't
know about lots Of things which are
now part Of the paraphernalia Of war.
For example, there are BOBBY traps and
land mines These the 33d Infantry
soldiers and the men sent to be trained
under their guidance must contend with
all the time and they are about as
realistic as possible outside actual war.
The BOBBY traps. for example, contain
giant firecrackers. They will not kill
anybody. but when soldier sets one
OF by tripping over camouf1aged wire
he knows something has hit him.
The soldiers must learn to initiate
the sounds of the jungle for purposes
OF close communication-such as the
cracking Of twig. the fall of q COCO
nut, the song of a tree frog.
They are taught to find their way
through unmapped territory in COM
plete darkness. Most of the training of
land mine demolition teams, for ex-
ample. IS carried out while the men are
blindfolded. One Of the most frequent
maneuvers is the platoon night raid.
The men always move in single file.
ANY tactics based on squad, platoon
or company front are essentially inn
possible. The soldiers in the file may be
yards apart yet each man must keep in
some sort of communication with the
man ahead of him. A major danger in
jungle fighting is the infiltration of a
f1le, especially at night, by enemy
soldiers.
Radio of Little Use
Many of the advantages possessed BY
soldiers lighting in the open are lost.
Radio communication, for example. is
cut down about so per cent due to the
roughness Of the country, the dense
foliage and the continual dampness.
Such device as the walkie-talkie
would be almost useless much of the
time. Any kind of sound doesn't travel
Tar. Streams with high, undiscovered
banks are frequent. A file OF soldiers
is likely to get piled up at such a
stream, and present an easy target for
the enemy. The men must learn to
take advantage Of jungle growth, espe-
cially vines. to pull themselves up these
banks In the darkness without con-
fusion. They must move with the
silence Of jungle animals.
Questions and Answers