Guerre di meraviglie

BY RADIO, field telephone, and messenger, reports of the battle were beginning to come through to the command post of the “Blue” army. “Air observation reports enemy air base at Paso Robles. Have dispatched bombing squadrons.” “132nd Infantry finds area vicinity Jolon crossroads con- taminated by gas.” “Truck convoy destroyed by land mines at Road Junction 723.” “Antitank companies knocked out 20 enemy medium tanks at Stony Creek.” Thirty thousand “Blue” defenders were pushing back nearly as many “Reds” who were part of an invading force that had theoretically captured Los Angeles and was now advancing north. The war game was raging all over the 700 square miles of hills and valleys that make up Hunter Liggett Military Reservation in central California. Like similar war games that were conducted in other parts of the east and west last summer the play was in deadly earnest. So much so that it has been rumored that occasionally the troops disregarded the rule books and umpires and fought hand to hand for an objective. With modern motorized equipment the speed of action in the games was at the tempo of recent European battles. Groups moved so fast that the main engagement broke down into scores of isolated fights. Each headquarters had difficulty keeping track of gains and losses. Newspaper correspondents who accompanied the armies were under strict though voluntary military censorship to prevent information to the enemy from appearing in the dispatches. There were no halts to feed hungry men nor any armistices to give them a good night’s sleep, as in past maneuvers. Realism was the keynote in all the games because Uncle Sam’s mushrooming army must be seasoned as soon as possible. Troops and trucks moved after dark, the drivers going as fast as they dared with blacked-out headlights over the narrow mountain roads. Now and then a supply train that dared air attack in the daytime was ruled out of action by the umpires, if the bombers really found it, and it was up to the supply officer to find some other way to feed his men. Isolated outposts had to be fed with supplies dropped by parachute. Even if it was a mock fight, it was real enough to the supply officers. Two hundred fifty tons of supplies a day had to be distributed to the men, some groups of whom were so well camouflaged against detection by aircraft that their own side had trouble finding them. War games used to be simply exhibitions and each step of a game was planned before it started. Under the rules used this year there is no such control and the commanders may use their own judgment in placing their forces and planning their attacks, just as they would in actual war. One resourceful commander accordingly detached six armored cars from scout duty and sent them on a wide detour around the enemy’s flank, where they attacked from the rear with machine guns blazing blank ammunition, The scout cars theoretically blew up supply centers and ammunition depots, disrupting communications, and causing much havoc. Close co-ordination between all types of forces was one of the objectives in the games. In one campaign an army used its mobile radio loops to triangulate the positions of the enemy’s radio centers and sent this information to its air officer, who then attacked with light bombardment planes. A war game is played according to complicated rules that are based on the conditions of actual battle. Neutral field umpires who wear white arm bands assess casualties according to tables based on past experience. For instance, infantry loses one percent of its strength every hour the men are in range of opposing infantry. Infantry attacked by aircraft loses up to 10 percent of its strength, depending on how well the men are hidden. When two forces meet, the umpires decide which one must fall back by adding up the fire power of each side, counting a rifle as 1, an automatic rifle as 3, a machine gun 2510, and modifying these figures according to the range. Prisoners are marched to the rear and must be fed and guarded, though they are released next day to get the benefit of more training. One of the reasons for a war game is to get the men accustomed to the din and racket of a real fight. They may fire a quarter of a million rounds of blank ammunition in a couple of days although the crews of the big field guns merely display “firing” flags instead of shooting off blank shells. The factories these days are too busy turning out live shells to supply the artillery with blanks. To make up for this, the commotion of battle is simulated with klaxon horns, smoke puff charges, smoke pots, tear gas, and suspended metal bars that are struck by hammers to imitate artillery fire. Whenever possible, bombs are actually dropped if an attack plane strafes a column of trucks, although the “bombs” are nothing more than paper bags of confetti. Mustard gas is simulated by exploding gallon cans of a sticky, smelly molasses compound that splatters over the ground and trees. Such a gassed area may not be entered until a decontamination squad is brought up and time is taken to spread neutralizing chemicals. Buried mines that blow up trucks are really small wooden boxes holding bottles of liquid smoke that is released when the truck wheels crush them. The engineers of a retreating force scatter booby trap antipersonnel mines among the trees and in the underbrush, that blow up harmlessly but convincingly when soldiers trip the hidden wires. The trip wire is attached to a wooden plug held between the jaws of a snap clothespin and when the plug is pulled out the jaws snap together, completing an electric circuit that fires the mine. All such devices help keep the troops on guard against actual contingencies and also notify the umpires what is happening. Although the army is still far from being motorized to the extent that it is going to be, 7,500 motor vehicles were used at the Hunter Liggett war game alone, a truck-troop ratio many times higher than existed in the first World War. But horses will always be used extensively for cavalry and for some artillery movements because trucks are useless in some sorts of terrain and under some weather conditions. The new motorized equipment ranges all the way from motorcycles and the small quarter-ton “jeeps” to the “six by six” six-wheel-drive personnel carriers and the big tractors that tow large field guns. The low-slung “jeeps” are almost comical in appearance and action yet they have turned out to be one of the surprises of the rearmament program. They are useful in a dozen ways, from stringing phone wire across country to carrying light guns and sharpshooters up to the tops of steep hills. One convoy of “jeeps” that ran into a road block during one of the war games refused to be captured. The drivers took off up over a hill, dodging trees with their agile four-wheel-drive blitz buggies, and escaping before an umpire had a chance to flag them down. Aside from the actual training the troops receive, the army is emphasizing its war games today because it wants to find out what are the best ways for using heavy tanks, for example: what the best defense against such tanks is, and what in turn can be done to make the tanks proof against such defenses. The army wants to know all the answers, and to learn them it is trying out all the weapons and strategies used in Europe, as well as a few tricks of our own.