Evening Star Newspaper, June 16, 1935, Page 59

UNCLE SAM HAS FIRST RADIO-IZED CAVALRY UNIT . Army Horsemen, No Matter How Many Miles From Base, | May Receive Orders From Commander, and the Latter Is Enabled to Keep in Direct Communication With His Troopers. | One Horse, a Rider With Lance and Headphoncs, and an Outfir Is Really Up to Date: By James Nevin Miller. ALLOPING briskly along with well-drilled precision, one of Uncle Sam’s crack Cavalry regiments performs a series of training maneuvers at the Army Cavalry School at Fort Riley, Kans. Every horseman rides his steed as “if to the manor born,” while each animal achieves the slightest eques- trian move with a grace and gusto which is a rare delight to watch. But now a strange sight is seen— riding along with the rest of the mounted troops—too many to be counted by the casual observer—are a number of horsemen carrying queer- | looking equipment of a sort hitherto | unknown. Each rider bears in his hand a long pole resembling a lance, | each wears headphones, and attached | to his saddle is some sort of mechan- dcal equipment. Suddenly one of these modern-day lancers wheels about, comes to a com- Dlete stop, removes g section of the equipment from his horse, places it on the ground and within three min- utes’ time is able to communicate by radio with headquarters 50 miles away! Were you on hand to view this novel sight you'd naturally inquire as to the why of it all. And you would be told by the commanding officer that here is something en- tirely new in up-to-date Army tactics, & “radio-ized Cavalry” in a real sense. NCLE SAM'S revolutionary system ' of “radio horsemen,” developed enly within the past few months, marks the first time in history that our Cavalry can get minute-by-minute instructions from commanding offi- cers while actually on the march. ‘The importance of all this scarcely ean be overestimated. In war-time, let us say, a Cavalry unit is march- ing along in enemy territory and sud- denly lcarns some valuable informa- tion concerning the location of bridges, armaments or supplies that will be of paramount importance to our main forces in planning a new objective. In 2 twinkling the information can be forwarded to headquarters, involv- ing the consumption of only a few minutes’ time. Yes, headquarters, based on the new knowledge, can now issue direct orders to the Cavalry that will further our Army’s objective in a speedy and efficient way. Long years of painstaking research and experimentation are behind the hew system. The one-horse radio set is the final chronological stage in the horse-carrying radio system, begun several years ago, which started with the bulky three-horse radio set; next involved the two-horse set, and now requires the use of only one animal with extremely light equipment. The exact weight is a state secret Uncle Bam steadfastly refuses to divulge. But a rough estimate is around 65 pounds. The exact procedure to be followed is still in a pioneer stage of develop- ment. However, one important fact is pretty well agreed upon, and that is that & group of radio horsemen will perior officers for distances up to 100 iniles away. Just how many “radio riders” will be used in this cunnection is another day the exact procedure is still to be decided upon by commanding officers of America’s first line of defense. Nevertheless certain outstanding points are understood to be already agreed upon by the Army officials. One point in particular is that cer- tain of the radio sets will utilize the well-known voice method of transmis- sion and reception, while others will require the telegraph system. More specific details than these the Federal Cavalry executives are unwilling to reveal. Most of the research for the new equipment now being used by the radio riders was done in the Signal Corps School located at Fort Mon- mouth, N. J., some 30 miles outside New York City. Glance at the pictures accompany- | ing this article and you -can gain a visualization, far better than mere words can describe, of the vast differ~ ence in efficiency, size, bulkiness and weight between the poineer radio sets developed a couple of years ago for the radio Cavalry and those now util- ized The earliest type of set, which in- cidentally is not pictured here, weighed close to 700 pounds. It was 50 heavy and cumbersome, in fact, that it required the services of three separate horses to transport its com- plete equipment. The next type of set, as one of our pictures shows, weighed far less— about 200 pounds all told—and it re- quired only one horse to carry it. However, it was necessary for two horsemen to lead the pack horse. This system was developed a trifle over a year ago. But it was still far too bulky for genuine efficiency. To- day’s set, weighing at a rough guess perhaps 65 pounds, requires the use of only a single horse and rider and, as mentioned earlier, can be set up on the ground in about three minutes. ET us now see what the Nation’s greatest authority on the subject, Gen. Guy V. Henry, U. 8. A, chief of Cavalry, has to say about the | Army's new Cavalry system: “It has often been said that time is the only thing irretrievably lost in war. This is borne out by the neces- sity for speed in all military opera- tions, as the more we beat the enemy in point of time the quicker the war will be over and the smaller the losses incurred. All wars may in reality be | considered for both sides as a race against time—in recruiting, in train- ing, in providing munitions and, final- ly, in a race to secure strategic points before the arrival of the enemy. Tliose we secure before the arrival of the enemy we must be prepared to de- fend, and those the enemy secures first we must be prepared to at- tack * ¢ ¢ “Since the days of Alexander the Great armies have consisted of two principal elements; a powerful, rela- tively slow element and a fast, lighter element. Today we find these ele- ments in the Infantry and the Cav- alry, which are the only ground troops whose tasks require them to close with the enemy. The principal difference between tkese two branches is their mobility on the field of battle, and this is the determining factor in their employment. Normally is used for tasks in which the time element is the critical factor. “Another task for which the Cavalry is particularly suited is that of pre- venting the enemy from gaining in- formation of our own forces. To do this the Cavalry unit is sent quickly to the front and spread out in small detachments to trap or drive back the enemy’s patrols seeking information of our forces. The speed with which it can transport its fire-power forward to desirable locations makes it particu- larly valuable in securing critical points, such as river crossings, mountain passes, bridges and holding them until the arrival of other troops. After the main forces close in on each other in combat the Cavalry is withdrawn for the commander to use either as a re- serve or to move around the flank and strike the enemy in the rear. “At the conclusion of a battle the commander, if successful, used his Cav- alry for pursuit to clinch the victory. | If, on the other hand, the tide has been against him, the ease with which the Cavalry can disengage from com- | bat makes it invaluable in covering OU remember I told you a little while back about the Ignora- mus Club, of which I am sec- retary, and how the idea of | the club is to get away from | all the fuss and worry of the world and not to know anything and not to care | anything about it. You remember |that I said we don't know where | Czechoslovakia is and we don’t care. If I have spelled it right, I apologize. I didn’t mean to. We like to get away from all that and play golf and go trout fishing and talk about back-lot gardening and whether to tie tomatoes up on a stick or let them run on the | ground. These are the real things in [life. You get a few members of our | club into a keen talk on tomatoes and you're hearing something. But, of course, we like in a way to keep posted and we like to do good. | And when the idea came up that if we | held a lunch it might help to disarm | Europe, the members were all for it. | The proposal was that Dean Elderberry | Foible, one of our senior members and | dean of the college here (palmistry, I think), should read a paper on dis- | armament and that would draw a good | attendance, especially if we had fresh | asparagus and lots of it. McSorley, when he announced that Dr. Foible would talk on disarmament, said he looked upon him as the finest | classical scholar in America. But the | dean very modestly said on rising that | he must take exception to that; he was sure there must be at least 50 classical scholars in America as good as him- self, or if 50 was an exaggeration, at | any rate, a dozen, or say 6, or if not | 6, at least 2 or three. He didn't know | them, but they might be there. Then | he put on his glasses and took out a manuscript and began to read. Dr. Foible began by reading that the problem of disarmament went back to the Greeks and Romans and was one of the chief causes of the Philiponesian War, and that even before the Greeks some of the greatest wars on the old Babylonians were due to disarmament. At that point McSorley rose and said he was sorry to interrupt the dean, but he didn't think that the club his withdrawal, The value in Cavalry then, lies in its ability to move rapidly from place to place over any kind of ground and deliver quickly & large | volume of fire * * *. From the Club Papers By Stephen Leacock wanted to go backward; he doubted whether any of the members knew where Babylon was, apart from those | who had traveled in Central America, and he said that the Greeks and | Romans seemed pretty far away, too. So Dean Elderberry Foible, who is always very polite and old-fashioned, said that perhaps it would be better if he were to drop right into the mod- ern world. And there was a murmur of pleasure and applause all around | the room. The members all sat up again and felt that they were going to get something. So the dean began reading again. “The modern world begins with the | Black Death, the expulsion of the | Moors and the disruption of feu- dalism.” There was a ripple of excitement at this, because they all thought he meant the Black Death was coming, was going to happen now, and they thought that the expulsion of the Moors was a good-natured hit at the Sydney Moores being put out of the Arcadia Apartments after the last child was born. But when they grad- ually caught on that all these things happened hundreds of years ago, the members just died on it again. So, of course, McSorley had to interrupt again and ask the dean to come right down to the world of today. Well, we gathered from the dean’s | talk that Europe is in a pretty ticklish | condition, just the same. It seems | to come and go. Last Tuesday things looked pretty good, and then on Wed- nesday, it appears, England held a “conversation” with Hitler, or with some one, and put things to the bad. However, it blew over till Fri- day, and then some one “asked a question” in the French Chamber— the word means “room apartment or bed room”—and things started again. The dean had just got to there when there was a big noise outside in the street, and the fire engines went past. The audience could hardly sit. And then some one put his head in at the door and called out: “Boys, it’s Macpherson’s flour and feed, and they say one of the stenog- raphers is caught in the upper office and she may get burnt up!” “I TIME of peace the Regulsr Army has one Cavalry division con- sisting of four regiments of horse cav- alry, together with a proper proportion of Artillery, Engineers, Signal troops and detachments of the supply branches stationed in Texas, and a brigade of two regiments of mechan- ized Cavalry in process of organization at Fort Knox, Ky. One of the regi- ments of the mechanized brigade being equipped as fast as appropria- tions will permit and it is hoped that other regiments will be similarly equip- ped in the near future. The organiza- tion of additional mechanized regi- ments will depend on what is learned from experience with the brigade now being organized. There are also seven Cavalry regiments distributed at other stations in the United States and one in the Philippine Islands * * *. “The horsed Cavalry regiments of the Regular Army are little more than training sectors during peace time be- cause of the shortage of men and horses. They are being provided with complete equipment, however, and in war each regiment becomes a veritable scorpion, with its 64 machine guns on pack horses and 500 rifies in the hands of troopers. “For reconnaissance purposes there will be a group of armored cars in each regiment, each armed with machine guns and equipped with radio for rapid communication. For defense against the enemy’s armored vehicles Top, left to right: from the enemy. for the set. and these constitute the attacking element of the regiment. . provided l;lt.h a removable umm;li]:; tread, which is used when mo hicles. These guns fire ‘irmor-pierc- | across country, as in attack, but re- ing bullets which will go through one- i half inch of armor plate at distances under half a mile. “The old mule-drawn escort wag- riers are cross-country vehicles used ons are now being replaced by light &y to transport the machine gun nad “The combat cars ere fast tanks| | dition, each troop has a cooking out- trucks, which will permit the Cavalry to operate at much greater distances than formerly from its base. In ad- fit, raon packs and picket line pack, all carried on pack horses. These, combined with the weapons cerried on g0 anywhere a horse can walk, run or swim. “A mechanized regiment is a self- contained unit capable of independent action, which is completely equipped with motor-propelled fighting vehicles. These vehicles consist of three dis- tinct types—armored cars, combat cars and personnel carriers, each designed to fill a particular need. The armored cars are primerily for use on roads, being intended for reconnaissance purposes. Each car carries a crew of four men and has three e pack horses, permit horse Cavalry to | T rifle troops which constitute the de- fensive, or holding, element of the regiment. Cavalry Uses Wireless. The one-horse radio set that can be operated by only one man. A Signal Corps message center in the field. Small, mobile field set, easily hidden The two-man set. The modern lancer, with his radio outfit tucked away in a knapsack. At right, below: radio, with hand generator, at left, furnishing power At left, below: The very latest in field “Radios will be installed in all fight- | ing vehicles to facilitate control and They are | the regiment will have its own main- tenance section for minor repair work. Mechanized Cavalry is in fact, a spe- | cial type of light, mobile, fighting moved for long trips on the road.| force, equipped with armored vehicles The crew end armament are the same | in armored cars. The personnel car- | long distances. and capable of rapid movement over Along with the new radio riders it should prove most val- uable wherever road and cross-country terrain conditions will permit it tc employ its speed, fire-power and the crushing effect of its tanks.” Rosin Exports Heavy. part in the prosperity of Ameri- can agriculture and indirectly, of course, the entire employment of the United States. Under normal concitions about half the cotton produced in this coun- try goes abroad. Nearly 40 per cent of our tobacco is exported. Foreign buyers take half the dried fruit and approximately one-fourth of the canned fruit. Export markets are more important to the gum rosin industry than any 'HE foreign markets play a very vital | other, fully two-thirds of the Ameri- guns—two .30 caliber and one .50 caliber. can production going abroad. THOSE WERE THE HAPPY DAYS— “Vacation Memories” —By Dick Mansfield " HEH: “Buek™ | Kiow WHERE WE, GET {5'15'»45 RIPEN, RIE CHERRIES | SHOES AND § STOCKINGS OFEF ALSO A CLOSE KAIR-COT ] “THAT’D LAST UNTIL SCHooL OPENED IN SEPT. 1 | CEMEMGER - “THIS ONE $ ‘UK SeE \ ALL WELL! GET'EXCELLENT" IN DRAWING AND "FAIR" AND“PoOR* IN 3 YOH FIGURE ELSE, HOW Do /% L= /) = EVERY THING | ol = = EMEMBER “THE GIRL IN Your ) =G M 3ORNOOD PN\ WHO Gow “EXcELLENT /8 INEVERY “THING, AND HOW SHE QY CHANCE S T Q = /T, ELMER, . How 1S YOU GET "EX- CELLENT"\N DORAWING AND \ ALWAYS (\-;‘E'.’ /. "Qoor™ =~ RaSS (o] q flEA}\g‘I“AQEflS B0V CRN LEM S0 MAKE LEMON- ADE FoR \\ ScuoorCLoSING B év < 4 L ‘B EATING CEA~, NOYS BY LAST YO0 KHAC o RECITE Eor “WHE CLASS, DD SoL REMEMBER EVERY LINE D \%C SAY YOO DD, Nov! ~Z WHEN SUDGE 1355 " AOKINS ONSWER “TO LAST WEEKS' KRUVESTION, |HERE WAS PRES, HARDING MADE A SHRINER ? 17-Year Locusts Due. 'HE s0-called 17-year locusts are due to make their appearance thic | year, the first emergence since the ‘World War days. These cicadas differ from the com- mon or dog-day locusts which drone | around in the air during the days of oppressive heat each year. This is the year, according to J. A Hyslop of the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture, for brood IX t turn up in its usual range—Southen West Virginia, Western Virginia ar. extreme Northwestern North Carce lina. It is expected, in smaller nune bers, also in the rest of West Virgini, eastward into Northern Virginia arj Maryland, with perhaps a scatterir) in Northern Ohio, Southeaster Michigan, Northern Indiana arl Marthas. Vineyard, Mass. The periodical cicada, says Mr. Hy slop, who is in charge of the insec pest survey in the Bureau of Ento- mology and Plant Quarantine, is one of America's strangest bugs. It spend: most of its life—17 years in the North and 13 years in the South—practi- cally motionless in an earthen cell sucking at a rootlet of a tree or shrub At the end of this period it change: into the winged adult form and lives for about a month—usually June—in the sunlight and fresh air. Each brood—there are more than 20—has appeared on a regular sched- ule every 17 or 13 years ever since the Pilgrim fathers first saw them in the New England forests. ‘The 17-year cicada makes its presence known by its ear-splitting and never- ceasing uproar—the composite love song of the millions of male members of the brood. This chorus ends only when the brood’s appointed time on earth is up, for the songs of the in- dividuals overlap, one songster always being ready to carry on as another pauses. Trade Data Vary. TB! basing of foreign trade in dol- lars sometimes gives an erroneous view of the situation. For instance, since the 1920 foreign trade peak of $69,000,000,000, world trade fell to about $24,000,000,000, or roughly, about two-thirds. In quantity of goods, however, the factor which represents hours of labor involved - in production, the decline was only about 25 per cent. American exports dropped from around $10,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,- 000, based on the old gold dollar. In the present debased dollar the exports were valued at about $2,250,000,000. ;r’k;c:n later figures refer to the year Brazilian Cotton Cut. N growers, who have felt the pinch of foreign competition be- COMPARED HER REPORT) AN CWITH YOoURS, THINKING 7 A\ SHE’D SHOW Yoo OP. BUT You HAD HER BESTEO IN ONE STOOY, DRAWING, AND SHE CouLD NEveR BETTER ; : YOUR MARK, REMEMBERN'LL SAY YOoU DO . = cause of the high prices prevailing in . MISSES BAKER L\(’Pm g o‘r‘-(; S(CHooL AND K\NDE%AQT < ANSWER: A c1v's THeaTeER, WASAINGTON, D-C. EXY WEE nrfins’%e‘é;\.&’ QUAOT NN