| Show WAR WEAPONS NO LONGER USEFUL col theodore roosevelt killed a spaniard with his revolver in the charge near san juan hill on july this is apparently patently ly the he only case in which that weapon was used with effect by either side in the whole campaign nearly all the officers in both armies or rather three armies to include the ried swords or machetes yet there does not seem to have been a single wound inflicted with one of these theae thirdly all the infantry carried bayonets but it is believed not a hurt made with one of these was dressed in any ican or spanish these three arms were carried by the thousand they cost a grat deal of money with the ammunition of the revolver they involved the transportation transport atio atlo of thousands of pounds of weight and nowadays especially in a tropical region the object Is to burden the soldier with as little baggage as possible to the mind of a santiago correspondent of the new york tribune the question asks itself why are they borne certainly the primary object of all three Is to wound and to kill if in an entire campaign in which several thousand men were injured more or lesii leas severely the revolver sword and bayonet did virtually no execution whatever ought they continue part of the military equipment in actual warfare As for the revolver there are not lacking officers who think that on the whole it is almost as much of an in oum berance beTance as a use it is well enough in a military post and carries a certain weight of authority just as the sword does perhaps er haps no man except of high rank would want to go into the country entirely unarmed he might be sent on some duty at night or encounter a stray soldier of at the other lother side in the daytime the emer emergency kency would probably never arise but the feeling of security given by a good big pistol would be worth all the trouble of carrying it in the fighting around santiago officers were conspicuous in leading their men in charges but as one efthem of them expressed it if a commissioned soldier had time to fire a weapon he was neglecting his duty of observing and commanding mandi ing his men the charge in which colonel roosevelt took part was wa ex egx in the way in which the men of the diff di merent lerent regiments were mixed up and in the nearness of a few of the spaniards anything like hand to hand conflicts is extremely unlikely in a battle in which both sides use modern modept rifles rifle their rainge ts is measured in miles from yards down their accuracy curacy in the hands of skilled marksmen is frightful they can be almed aimed and fired six or eight timea a minute the zone of fire alre is so large that victory is virtually decided before the revolver could be used with accuracy in the charges a at KI caney 14 san juan the fighting continued until the oxides two tw sides were close together although many spaniards had managed to escape in the thrilling charge up the hill on the rifle pits and stone fort of el caney the fire except from the hills beyond slackened when the final dash was begun the execution of the american weapons was so go awful that the spaniards feared to show even enough of their bodies to fire when the storming party reached the trenches and the fort the enemy surrendered por for some minutes it had been evident that further real resistance was useless an officer therefore found his revolver of little service even if the difficult task of keeping his men together did not require all his attention his functions were well defined and well understood military tacticians tactic ians have figured the need of a certain part of an army to direct the rest they are more useful in this capacity than they would be handling guns they can serve their cause beat by doing the work espe especially assigned to them any mixing up of their duties with those of the privates would be likely to result in neglecting the more important set therefore it ts is reasoned out an officer can be more effectively employed than in trying with his own hand to kill the enemy some exceptions are to be noted such as when troops are stationary and an officer borrows a rifle for EL a fancy shot these instances instance gi occurred around santiago but were of course mere diversions granting all this some men in authority think the carrying of the small arm is justified for one reason the possibility lity of having it to use on your own soldiers one deserter a shot in this campaign but the american soldier otherwise showed no inclination cli to shirk danger indeed most of the examples were of companies and regiments advancing more rapidly than the colonels and generals expected them to do colonel miles the brigade commander man deir wanted tb to charge on the el caney stone tort rort with his brigade but two or three com companies pinies of negroes of the twenty fifth infantry anticipated him still in studying the problems problem of war it must be taken into consideration that men sometimes refuse to advance or actually retreat in spite of all commands in a crisis it may be necessary to kill one or two to brace ap the rest here is where the revolver would be invaluable r on the almirante oquendo just before she was sunk outside of santiago harbor the sailors were so terror stricken that they refused to stand by the guns instead they huddled over to the lee side and eap evea tried overboard the officers shot some of them but the demoralization was too complete and the lives were needlessly sacrificed in such a final moment however some weapon Is necessary to enforce authority tho rity except the few troops of the second all the united states cavalry in cuba was dismounted it carried no sabers or revolvers the ni modern idea of the use of cavalry need not be considered here the carbine is not used when the trooper Is mounted in pursuit there the revolver would be efficacious old fash enned cavalry charges would be ana ebron latte against modern rifles there might be many months month of campaigning with few cavalrymen drawing their sabers or oi firing their yi in drills of course the sword it is a great card however beina mou ted the trooper need not can consider sider superfluous weight so much uch as his brother the infantryman i an aa for swords they have fewest de fender fc bome officers left their lp n tb fh united end and careld machete jk to out their way through under bruex some did not even have the substitute others left their good steel on shipboard or dr lost it in camp it was never missed much except that it will have to be replaced on the return home of course for appearance sake the sword Is indispensable on parade in times of peace there to Is a certain moral effect in grasping it and pointing at the enemy while leading a charge but some officers think that the example of personal bravery is in itself so ao inspiring to the men that a walking stick would do quite a well as a good blade A sword might come into play in instances of cowardice or demoralization but a revolver would be much better A suggestion of practical value is that thal a good pair of field glasses would admirably replace the side arm the long range of the krag and mau ser rifles made such glasses almost a necessity at 1000 yards it is not easy to distinguish a man mail who is crouched or lying down trying to hide himself the smokeless powder does not reveal where the rifleman Is advancing troops must show themselves from time to time and those on the defensive are likely to have an advantage in this with the naked eyes the soldier may search long before finding the source of the bullets that kill the men beside him having field glasses his officers could out the enemy and direct the fire As the range became less the need would decrease but accurate information about the number and position of the enemy the nature of his defenses and the point whence the heaviest fire comes is i always of great value 1 and the bayonet in actual conflict it too has little use under modern can editions dit ions rapid magaz magazine lne rifles settle the issue bebbere be abre the bayonet can be brought into play A charge with the weapon Is not an impossibility but the likelihood Is that if anargy an army cannot stop an onslaught with artillery and musketry it will flee or of surrender before it can be reached by a steel blade nd acknowledged before there is occasion to withstand an it attack with bayonets but the moral effect of the weapon is important even if it Is never drawn from its scabbard an army known by the enemy to be without bayonets would be at a great disadvantage anor instance at el caney the spaniards were aware that their foegen foemen had the th steel ready to affix to their guns guna and that an encounter at close quarters would mean the slaughter of m mst ast of them the Svan spaniards lards this very conviction led them to lease cease firing earlier than they otherwise have flode one and to surrender when the americans came u up P to where they were had the assailants been known to be without bayonets the resistance would have be been e n longer and more desperate this aspect of sentiment is an effective argument for the retention of t the he bavo net in addition the weapon has bas tant uses to the soldier it is in what the hairpin is to a wor woman nan the aea llean vv blade serves as an ing tool in an emergency 1 a hatchet a knife or a can opener with the butt end he grinda his coffee in his tin cup hf he would be lost without it |
