Mules Carry Guns Where Tanks Can't Go
Contenuto
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Titolo
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Mules Carry Guns Where Tanks Can't Go
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Article Title and/or Image Caption
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Mules Carry Guns Where Tanks Can't Go
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extracted text
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Tanks have plenty of speed and fire power when the going is good, but they don't have the legs and feet which they would need to work their way into mountainous or jungle country, where every tree and rock is a potential tank trap. So the Army is busily building up pack-artillery outfits to carry its guns into otherwise inaccessible spots.
Mules have been found to be the best animals for this work. They are used for hauling guns, ammunition, and supplies, and also as riding animals. Only a few horses are used; some for mounts for officers, the others as bell mares. The latter animals, each wearing a bell with an individual tone, are assigned to groups of mules. Through training the mules learn to recognize the tone of the bell of their group, and they follow the bell mare, which is led.
Training mules and men for pack-artillery work takes months of hard work, because both must be ietter-perfect in their jobs. Mules must learn to stand still when being loaded and to follow the bell mare. Men must be taught the intricacies of loading a mule properly so the load won't chafe or fall off. (Some mules know when a load is not properly adjusted, and won't move until it is fixed.) The men must learn how to unload, assemble, and fire the 75-mm. howitzer, which is the pack artillery’s principal weapon, so they can do it blindfolded, on top of a rock pile, or in the middle of a swamp.
In the end the Army has in its pack artillery a good old-fashioned team of men and mules, with modern war equipment, that can do the job in the most difficult situations. (CONTINUED)
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Lingua
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eng
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Data di rilascio
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1941-11
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pagine
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112-113
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Diritti
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Public Domain (Google digitized)
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Archived by
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Sami Akbiyik
