OCR Text |
Show hf DOT SOLDIERS TO BUTTLE FOR - GREAT VICTORY w Hand-to-hand Character of Modern Trench Warfare --. Is Illustrated in Tables. THEORIES OF WISE ' " MEN OVERTHROWN Equipment of American Troops Arranged to Meet New Expert Calcu-J"" Calcu-J"" lations. j WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 The hand-to-hand character of modern trench warfare war-fare is sharply illustrated by detailed tables of organization for- American overseas infantry units made public today to-day by the war department. - Only a few years ago the wise men -- of all armies predicted that because of high power, long range artillery and rifles and automatic and machine guns, troops would never come to actual grips. The complete reorganization of the whole infantry service outlined in the new tables, however, is based on the proven fact that the battle will be decided by the foot soldiers, fighting breast to breast with bombs, bayonets and .knives. Included- in the equipment of American Ameri-can regiments which enter the trenches . are " trench knives," one of the most up-to-date developments of European battlefields. In addition, each infantry division will have 416 machine guns. Less than two years ago the American army had not more than 1200 of these weapons for its entire active and re-serve re-serve stock. Americans Prepared. American troops will enter the trenches equipped and organized in a way that no other army engaged in the t 4-1 war has been able to provide. Every lesson learned by he allies has been ft alopted promptly and the overseas units "will be supplied with every weapon Jfc found useful. The tables published, today fix an infantry in-fantry platoon as the operating unit. It will be composed of fifty-eight enlisted men under a lieutenant. In each platoon pla-toon there will be a section of twenty-i twenty-i two bombers and rifle grenadiers, two sections of twenty-four riflemen all of them trained marksmen, and the only survival of the old infantryman and one section of eleven auto-riflemen, who will handle the light machine guns or tho automatic shoulder rifles that may be developed. This means that there will bo four light machine guns on the lino for everv sixtv men, backed by tho regimental regi-mental unci divisional machine gun battalions bat-talions and companies armed with the heavv, water-cooled weapons that arc the real first line of defense in trench warfare. Use Trench Knives. The uso of trench knives supplants the old rifle and bayonet for forty men in each company of 200. These terrible weapons are long, keen knives with heavv metal hilts, worn strapped to the left arm and are made for uso in trench raids bv men who cannot be encumbered encum-bered with rifles and bayonets because of their special duties. Each compauy of an infantry regiment regi-ment will have four of these typical platoons and each regiment will have 103 officers and 3(352 men, one section of the headquarters company being armed with three one-pounder guns. Each regimental machine gun company will carry twelve heavy guns and four reserve weapons. The headquarters company will be the largest unit in the regiment, having seven officers and 294 men. In addition addi-tion to the one-pounder section there will be a signal platoon with a special trench telephone detachment, a sappers' and bombers' section and a platoon of pioneers for ' regimental engineering work. The strength of the tactical unit, the infantry division, has undergone a change.' having been increased from 19,-000, 19,-000, the old typical European division, to 27,152 men of all axms. Its structure remains the same. |