War on Wheels

ARMY & NAVY

The least-known quantity, if not the greatest threat among modern military arms are swift-moving mechanized troops who can speed as far in a day as pre-War armies could march in a week. Last week while Czechoslovakia's well-publicized motorized army was mobilizing against a possible thrust by Germany's famed mechanized divisions, the U. S. Army's one, little-publicized mechanized brigade was also taking the field. Principal difference was that while Czechoslovakia's army was ready for a war which men feared might occur, the Seventh Cavalry Brigade was occupied with maneuvers in one of the calmest regions on earth: Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. Object was a 700-mile march from Fort Knox to Fort Oglethorpe, and back, to test the brigade's new equipment.

Technical distinction between motorized and mechanized forces is that while the former march on wheels the latter not only march, but fight on them as well. Not to be confused with the motorized "Proposed" (experimental) Infantry Divsion which maneuvered in Texas last autumn, the Seventh Cavalry Brigade was mechanized two years ago. Recently built up nearly to projected quota, its 516 vehicles now include three major types: light tanks ("hell buggies"), each seating four men and equipped with four machine guns; four-and six-wheeled scout cars, some open at the top, some entirely armored; towing vehicles to drag howitzers and machine guns. Last week's maneuvers started as a simple practice march. When the brigade was within 160 miles of Fort Knox on its return trip, they were to reach a climax in a sham battle against a wing of a sham invading army trying to capture the Federal Government's Fort Knox gold hoard.

The march began inauspiciously. Six miles south of Glasgow, Ky., a hell buggy "threw" one of its tracks and turned turtle. Three of its occupants were injured and the fourth--an old-time horse-cavalry sergeant named Frank Bruno--was killed. Thereafter the march proceeded smoothly save that static made it difficult for officers to hear the orders of Brigadier General Daniel Van Voorhis who broadcast his commands from an observation plane flying above the line of march. With speed that would have bewildered William Tecumseh Sherman, whose 300-mile march from Atlanta to the sea lasted more than three weeks, the brigade roared over the first half of its route in two days. Said Brigadier General Daniel Van Voorhis, at Fort Oglethorpe: "The trip from Fort Knox was completely successful, affording an opportunity to demonstrate the training of the brigade in moving large numbers of troops a long distance in short time."

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