Show RAGTIME E ARMY IN EAST AFRICA clothing of smuts forces torn to shreds in jungle fighting BUT MEN ARE VERY FIT many members of destroyed german cruiser Koenigsberg ts crew killed or camtu captured red armored cart cars the joy of the army cape town because of the diversity of its units britons from tile the homeland south african british boers east indians and south african natives Geri general eral smuts expedition in german east africa Is known popularly arly as the ragtime army the ragged army aou would id be nil an even more appropriate designation for mostly it Is made up of men whose clothing Is in tatters this Is riot not due to the wear and tear incidental to a rapid trek of upward of a thousand miles fighting a good part of the way which many of the regiments have hare to their credit so much as to the tact fact that to get at the enemy the men frequently have to break by main force through jungles of thick which tear their clothing to shreds and scratch their bodies bodies from head to foot so that on emerging they generally present the me appearance of being horribly wounded when not a bullet has touched them little things like that with marches lasting from two in the morning at which time the columns when practicable set out until six in the evening without a drink ot of water on tile way and often to go into action against machine gun fire before resting in no wise affect the spirit of the troops there Is splendid rivalry am among b the white and colored regiments in endurance as well os as in fighting A man feels keenly disgraced it if his strength falls fails him and he Is compelled to fall out so it if he Is stricken with fever lie he keeps right on with his comrades and tries to joke and sweat it out of his system the result Is that the ragged army Is 13 made up of men who literally are us aa hard as nalls nails lean angile powerful fellows clear of eye and all skin and muscle armored cars their joy the joy of the army Is the armored cars the value of these machines manned by naval crews cannot be estimated ti they have saved hundreds of men from being killed and thousands from being wounded they can locate the machine guns without loss when ordinary methods would be as futile as they would be costly in it a country which offers such extraordinary facilities fur concealment an illustration in point Is furnished in accounts of the operations of one of general yaji Pey enters columns recently engaged in driving ii le dr germans baans out of the territory north of the Mali marienge enge swamps where they are now kranley kra kran aled led the pursuit took the column into a mountain pass most admirably adapted for the purpose of a trap As was surmised the germans had not failed to take advantage of the opportunity to make a stand the road led through a gap up into a narrow nek in a horseshoe of high wooded hills from which every inch of the space was commanded the armored cars one at a time went on toward the nek while the infantry deployed to right and left of the hills and began the ascent nothing happened for awhile not a sign of the enemy was in evidence and the cars came to a halt in open ground immediately they were showered with machine gun bullets from all directions they had accomplished their purpose of drawing the fire but while the lend lead pattered on the cars it was impossible to discover whence it came finally the leading car went on and turned into an abandoned native camp still followed by the deadly stream of lead the sharp eyed observer at last noticed a peculiar movement of leaves on a ridge the guns were turned on the spot and in a jiffy an enemy machine gun company was put out of business the combined guns of the car then peppered the ridges systematically and by nightfall tile the infantry was in possession of the northern slopes during the night the enemy retreated southward and when this was WAR discovered the cars and mounted scouts went after them the scouts happened unexpectedly upon a n party of mounted germans in a clearing rode into them at full speed and pulled them off their horses airplanes and motorcycles in addition to the armored cars most of the columns are outfitted with airplanes and a cyclist corps which also have rendered invaluable service the indian mountain batteries alich are worked with incredible speed and accuracy by their crews are the admiration mi of the army little by little the entire complement of the german cruiser koenigs berg destroyed by admiral kinghall king hall in the river on july 11 1015 Is 18 being killed hilled or captured many have been taken in the northern operations and reports from general northey whose columns are closing in from the tha south show that in the advance on and capture of Malan gall a petty officer and four sailors were taken to gether with a 42 inch field howitzer that had bad been worked by gunners from tile tha koenigsberg |