Having overcome the various obstacles in the way, our soldiers at length come to the enemy represented by bundles of fagots holding dummy sticks with the ends protected to represent bayonets. Into these they charge with desperate ferocity and blood curdling yells. The English have been specially successful in the use of the bayonet during this war and we have a number of their officers at our camps, one of whom is seen here, to instruct our men.
In bad weather the Y.M.C.A. halls are cleared for action and transformed into gymnasiums. In favorable weather most of the sports give way to baseball, and some crack nines are made up in many of the regiments as they usually contain considerable professional talent. The regimental rivalry often runs high.
Saturday and usually Wednesday afternoons are vacation times, but seldom periods of rest, or athletic activities of all sorts reign supreme at these times. A sample of these contests — push ball, is seen here. There are also running, jumping, tugs of war, boxing, and other sports.
The call from our Allies was for men and still more men — Here they are. This is only a few of them in the front ranks but in imagination we can see not only thousands on thousands of them but millions on millions in a constant stream passing from our homes in the East and West and North and South to the training camps like an irresistible force and then by devious routes crossing the sea to fight our fight and save our land and every land from the crushing heel of tyranny, and emblazon around the world on land and sea as the creed of the World — Justice and Liberty to all men.
The whistle blows, and they are off, our gallant fighting men. God bless them — They are on the way with a shout and a laugh. That is the kind of morale which makes conquering armies.
The gas attacks, first used by the Germans with serious effect, have now largely lost their terrors for all our soldiers are supplied with gas masks and taught to adjust them quickly, an operation which can be accomplished in about six seconds in case of necessity. The first stage in the training with these masks is the practice in putting them on and replacing them in the case so that they will be immediately available the next time they are needed. Later, as in this view, a fas cloud is released, into which the men go with their masks adjusted. An offensive or nauseating, but not dangerous gas, is used in the first experiments. As the soldiers’ skills increase they make excursions into regions filled with dangerous gases, possibly a gas house, or a deep trench filled with deadly fumes in which he can be observed from above.
The instrument of war which has increased the destructive efficiency of the armies more than any other and which is largely responsible for driving the war underground into the trenches, is the machine gun. Of these there are two general types, the light ones the barrel of which is air cooled, weighing from 15 to 20 pounds, and the heavy ones cooled by a water jacket and weighing 35 pounds or more. The former can be fired from the hip and in some cases from the shoulder. The latter has to be operated from a tripod. This squad of machine guns of the lighter variety is ready to advance. Evidently they do not plan to shoot from the hip position as they have the little two legged rest set ready for supporting the muzzle of the gun.
When in action the gun is fired as shown here. It is not aimed at the same point while firing but is moved up or down or from side to side. If it were held in the one position it would shoot the same man ten or more times while he was falling down — a useless waste of good ammunition, when a sweeping series of shots would mow down the front rank of the advancing column. The guns are fired in bursts of 20 or 40 seconds between bursts for changing the cartridge belts can be fired before the gun becomes so hot that a stoppage for cooling is necessary.
An idea of the number of cavalry in training is obtained in this view at Camp McClellan taken when the horsemen were drawn up to witness the camp races.
Thus far we have been paying most of our attention to the infantry. We now turn to another branch of the army — the cavalry. On the Western Front the cavalry had little use at first but during the latter part of the war they had more. It is quite imperative to develop this, the most picturesque and inspiring branch of the service.