Vol. 26 April 1911

ARMYTALKS

QUEEN OF

RestrictedARMY TALKS is a classified official publication of the United States Army in the EuropeanTheater of Operations. The material contained herein may not be quoted or republished, inwhole or in part, nor may it be communicated, directly or indirectly, to persons not authorized

to receive it, except by authority of the Commanding General, ETOUSA.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS, UNITED STATES ARMY

HEADQUARTERSEUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

UNITED STATES ARMY

RPF/JKM/obe

AG 353 MGC

29 August, 1943

SUBJECT : Education in Military and Current Affairs

TO : Commanding General, V Corps

T . In the training of the American soldier the purely military and technical aspectsare usually stressed. It is essential, however, that in addition, the soldier be mentallyprepared for battle . He must know and understand the vital necessity for the successfulconclusion of the war.

2 . To assist in accomplishing this end, it is desired that you establish within theelements of your command a weekly Education Program to instill in all military personnelthe following :

a. Confidence in the command.b. Pride in service and a sense of personal participation.c. Knowledge of the causes and progress of the war.d. A better understanding of our allies.e. An interest in current events and their relation to the war and the establishment

of the peace.

3 . To further these ends, each separate unit commander will arrange to have mattersof current interest as designated in paragraph 2c, dand e above, and matters of leadershipand confidence in the command as indicated in paragraph ea and b above, discussedperiodically within his command . Such discussion should be by company commanderspersonally or by selected Officers and NCO's from the command as deemed best bythe unit commander. It is desired to make it clear that the proper presentationof this material is a command function, and should be handled as such . Youare authorized to devote one (1) hour of training time per week to this program.

4 . The Special Service Section, SOS, ETOUSA, will prepare and distribute thematerial for such weekly discussions, maintaining in their discretion a reasonable balancebetween the significance and progress of military events and current events, relationswith our allies, etc . This material will be dated and delivered sufficiently in advancefor consideration by the staffs concerned at least two days before ultimate use.

c . Direct communication between your headquarters and Special Service Section,SOS, ETOUSA, is authorized in conducting this program.

6 . In order to make the plan effective it will be necessary to provide and train anEducation Officer of suitable rank in your headquarters, and in each of your subordinateheadquarters down to and including divisions.

By command of Lieutenant General DEVERS:RICHARD P. FISK,Lt. Colonel, A.G.D.,Assistant Adjutant General.

It is suggested that the discussion leader call this matter to the attention of hisCommanding Officer.

ARMY TAI,KSEUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

QUEEN OF BATTLE

" Our Army is no better than its infantry, and victory will only come when, andas our infantry gains it ."—Lt . Gen. Lesley J. McNair, U.S . Ground Forces.

THE Infantry is the heart and

guts of a fighting army, justas it always has been . Arm-

chair experts who claimed differentlyin the early days of this war, as wellas a lot of plain, honest people towhom the name Infantry spelled along, hard conflict, are climbingback on the foot-slogger's band-wagon now as the battle reportscome in . They are realizing, evenmore certainly, that Infantrymenare still, as Ernie Pyle describesthem, " the guys that wars can't bewon without ."

Blitz Needed InfantryThat part of the public that was

skeptical of the value of the footsoldier in modern warfare wasthinking in terms of the WorldWar I version of Infantryman—aversion that carried over into thiswar in just about all but the German•Wehrmacht—and the public wasright . That In-fantryman wasoutclassed inPoland and onthe Western Frontwhere he had in-ferior or

insufficient air and armor-ed support withwhich to counterthe attackingpanzer columns .

What the public did not knowwas that General Marshall and hisstaff had a bigger and better Queenof Battle up their sleeve, and thatthey were giving her new methodsof warfare—new teeth and tactics.

The generals knew that theGerman blitz tactics were basedupon infantry—that they weremerely the coordination , of airpower, tanks and artillery with themasses of the ground forces . Theyknew that the enemy was in nosense de-emphasizing the foot soldier,and for sound military reasons.Neither should we . We should,however, bring him up to date.

Battle Record SpeaksSo the new United States Infantry

emerged. It was partly the resultof the planning our military leadershad carefully and quietly carriedforward in the years of peace, andpartly their ability to apply the

lessons learnedfrom the fightingin Europe andAfrica and Asia,both before wewere actually in-volved in it andafter.

,Just how hasthe new Infantryfared in modernwarfare ? Was

This issue of ARMY TALKS is atribute to the fighting foot soldier.It was written to show that he stillplays first fiddle in the aggregationthat shortly will provide music forHitler's Swan Song.How he trains and what he mustknow ; his weapons and equipment ;how he operates in modern battle—these are the things about the Infantry-man that all soldiers should know .

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our General Staff right in refusingto sell the foot soldier short ? Readthe battle roll, and decide.

Remember Bizerte ? Palermo ?Salerno ? Naples ? Anzio ? Andon the other side of the world,Munda ? Lae ? Salamaua ? Attu ?

Allies Smear PanzersThose were infantry actions . Sure,

there was, as there should and musthe, - magnificentsupport in almostevery case fromother members of

the ground-air-naval team. Noquestion aboutthat . But in thelast analysis theywereinfantryjobs.

And how aboutthe modernizedInfantry of ourAllies ? How hasit made out in theface of everythingthe Germanscould throw at it ?The answer is inthe record of theBritish EighthArmy from El .Alamein to Tunis,and in whathappened to the Nazi juggernautamid the ruins of Stalingrad—one of the greatest chapters in thehistory of courage and doggednessever written in the blood of bravemen.

It may not be easy for the laymanto understand how the foot soldierhas been able to bounce back intothe thick of the fighting so soon afterthe dark days of 1939-4o, but thesoldier who knows anything aboutmilitary history will get the picture .

The new Infantry can now mess upan armored attack before which theold Infantry would have been help-less. It can do this because it hasbeen provided with a revised defense,the increased fire - power and thespecial tactics with which to dothe job.

One military writer describes thetank versus infantry struggle asmerely the repetition of an old

story in warfare.He says : " Mili-tary history re-peats itself overand over again,as far as changesin tactics areconcerned —andthese changes arecoming withlightning speed inthe twentiethcentury . . . .The developmentof armored forcetactics illustratesthis point. Thepredecessor of themodern tank wasthe armored

knight of medievaltimes . Originallyhe rode rightover his lessheavily armored

foe. That charge was what the text-books call the frontal attack.

Tactics Were Changed" When the defense caught up

with the attack, however, thearmored horseman was forced tochange his tactics When hefaced the fire of the long bow, themounted soldier gave up the frontal'attack, and in the ensuing years helearned to operate upon the flanks,having recourse to what is classified

" In both Britain the UnitedStates the greater proportion of ourfighting men goes into the groundforces, and I don't think any of usin a war theater belittles their services.

" Out does the postman in Indiana,or in some little , village in Englanddoes he realize what these soldiers aredoing, how they are performing'?Does he know- it as well as he knowsthe stories of the big bombers or of someof the destroyers carrying out 'Thegallant mission at Saki-no? Everycitizen of the United Nations. has aright to know how important to ourvictories are the fighting spirit ; sense ofduty and the gallantry and fortitudeof our ground forces . The accomplish-ments of this indispensable numberof the air-ground-naval team will, whenthe story is fully told, fill many of thebrightest pages of our war history.This is something I have felt for along time. It comes from the hear( ."General DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER,

Supreme Allied Commander.

26 April, 1944

as the wide envelopment. Thatremained the approved tactics forcenturies.

Vehicles Replace Horses" In recent years, however, the

mounted warrior exchanged hishorse for an armored vehicle . As itdeveloped speed and power, heswitched back to the frontal attackonce more—and the blitzkrieg sawthe tanks ridingright over the lessheavily armored foeagain.

"But the defensecaught up with theattack much moreswiftly this time.The latest solutionfinds the armoredattacker once morehaying recourse tothe wide envelop-ment . "

As a noted Britishsoldier points outin the book " War-fare Today," therehave always beentwo types of wea-pons—missile andshock. During theFirst World War,the static, linearwarfare, featuring the use ofmissile weapons had its greatestdevelopment . The traditionalshock weapon, the cavalry, wasof little use in the face of the firethat could be directed against it.

Armored tanks made their appear-ance in the First World War, butthe conflict ended before thedevelopment of their use couldbring about a general change instrategy and , tactics . Where theywere used, they were employed asthe cavalry had been earlier--to

5

pierce the enemy line at some point,or to outflank him.

The beginning of World War IIsaw the Allies still clinging to theconception of warfare that embodiedlong, relatively thin lines, whereasthe Germans, making better use ofthe brief lessons in the employmentof the tank as a shock weapon thatwere learned in World War I,thrust forward with heavily armored

and highly mobilecolumns to pene-trate and envelopthose lines.

The answer tothe tank has beento change the de-fense - away fromthe continuous thinline into compactislands of resistancewhich are betterable to withstandand absorb the im-pact of shock action.The answer, too,has been in

improved

weaponsand the develop-ment of new tank-fighting techniquesfor the individualsoldier and small 'combat team.

Sometimes the new Infantry stopsthe heavy stuff on tracks with itshigh-powered anti-tank guns as itis coming in at a distance, or, if itgets close enough, the bazooka boysblast it out of existence.

Tank-Busting PerfectedSometimes the doughboys in the

outer positions just lie low and allowthe enemy armor, if it 's luckyenough to get through the mines, toroll right by or over them without

any argument. Then they pop up

6

ARMY TALKS

and let a big buggy have it withgrenades iii the tracks, or possiblytry to fricassee the crew with aflaming gasoline bottle bomb knownto the trade as the Molotov Cocktail.

In plenty of cases just the rifle-fireof sharpshooting ground troops isenough to hamper badly the effec-tiveness of enemy tanks . Infantry-men have been taught to aim atthe apertures and vision plates, andthey have proved that they canpretty well blind a tank while theiron AT men draw a deadly bead.

Riflemen Go In FirstThe. picture has so far changed

from the days of the blitz that theInfantry has not only developed asuccessful tank-busting technique butnow is actually going out after them.One Infantry commander writingfrom Sicily a while back told howhis men liked to stalk tanks atnight.

He said that they wouldsneak up on the tanks and blastthem with grenades and bazookasat close range, that it was like big-game hunting on a grand scale .

And the Infantry, together withthe Engineers, is running interferencefor its own tanks these days, too.When it turned out that the armorcould no longer crash straightthrough modern defenses, a specialforce to clear the way had to bedevised . So the Engineers worktheir way forward to locate andremove tank mines, while theriflemen of the team infiltrate the hostilepositions and try to wipe out theanti-tank forces holding up theadvance . If the operation is success-ful the tanks can storm through theresulting gap and get at the enemy'ssoft under-belly.

SUMMARYThe' foot soldier has shown that

he can hold his own in this war.Infantrymen are able to stop tanks

with rtew weapons and tactics.

Why did Allied ground troopsfare badly in the early phases ofthe war ? How is the tank vs.infantry contest a repetition ofmilitary history ?

26 April, 1944

Z

"....Dirt Behind Their Ears"Purpose of the Infantry . . .Battle of Cassino . . . Openformation fighting requiresself-reliance . . . Tacticaltraining . . . Importance ofphysical conditioning.

The purpose of the Infantry inthe present war is the same as it hasalways been—to close with theenemy and destroy him, or to dig inand hold ground he is trying tooccupy. Only the methods bywhich these missions are nowaccomplished are different thanthose of the last war and the warsbefore that .

-The Infantry must still take on

the battle job of going in anddriving the enemy from the placeswhere he cannot be knocked out . bythe artillery and tanks and planes,and there are always such places inevery battle.

Small Combat TeamsReplace Solid Line

The Battle of Cassino was astriking example of Infantry close-inwork. Subjected to one of the mostintense bombardments ever laiddown by artillery and from the air,the defenders still hold on to theirpositions until riflemen, slowly work-ing themselves forward, can finallybring their grenades and bayonetsinto play.

The old military axiom that abattle is not won until the enemyterritory is actually occupied bysoldiers is as true as it ever was.

While it is true that the Infantry-man is still in the same essentialbusiness of closing with the enemythat he has always been in, it can'tbe said that he is still doing business

at the same old stand . As pointedout before, the front in today'sbattle is seldom a line at all . Moreoften it is an area fortified in depthby an irregular series of smallseparate groups of fighting men,located according to the advantagesof terrain and cover.

Frequently the farthest forwardof these individual combat teamswill be beyond the enemy's similarforward outposts. So situated, theymay be out of contact with friendlyunits for long periods of time.

The ticklish conditions imposedby such open formation fighting areapparent .

Greater reliance has

had to be placed on the small unitand the individual soldier than in

previous wars . Commanders mustnow think of the Infantryman assomething of a tactical unit inhimself, for often he must think andact entirely for himself. No one canget over to his particular foxhole orslit trench to do it for him whenthe necessity for a quick decisionarises.

The shoulder-to-shoulder com-radeship and mutual dependence oftrench warfare are largely missingon the front in this war . AnInfantryman in combat today mustbe as straight-thinking as he isstraight-shooting if he wants to stayhealthy . He is on his own, plenty.

.Fortunately, American soldiers areby nature and background par-ticularly well-adapted to meet the

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demands of present-day groundwarfare. They are able to operatealone or in small groups very wellbecause they are individualists atheart.

They are resourceful and do notbecome rattled easily when some-thing goes wrong or they lose contactwith others of their unit . Thesequalities have been demonstratedwherever American Infantrymenhave deployed for assault or dug in.

Stiff RequirementsFor Expert 's Medal

Two things make the new U .S.Infantry as formidable as any forcethat ever took the field—trainingand equipment.

ARMY TALKS

6. Certain pre-scribed infiltra-tion ,close combat

and combat-in-cities courses; and7. Qualifica-

tion in the gren-ade course prescribed in paragraph15, FM 23-30.

The actual tests which lead to themedal are prescribed by the WarDepartment, and cover :

I. Scouting and patrolling.2. First aid.3. Field sanitation.4. Military discipline and cour-

tesy.5 . Bayonet (for men armed with

rifles).6. Field proficiency of soldier

with his individual weapon.7. Protective measures, individual

and small units (FM 21-45).8. Personal appearance.

Tactics Are Not NewThe open nature of present-day

ground fighting has called foradditions to the tactical , training ofInfantrymen. In many respects thenew style of warfare on foot isn'tnew at all ; it's a throwback to thedeadly business at which theAmerican Indian was so expert.And it isn't quite right to refer toit as war on foot, either, for it islargely conducted flat on the oldbelly.

The modern Infantryman learnsto " creep like a baby and crawllike a snake," and he further learnswhile doing so to " keep that taildown way down," unless he wishesone day in battle to find himselfsuddenly a freak.

This manner of getting aboutsounds easy to those who don't know,but let them negotiate about 200

26 April, 1944

yards of rough terrain withoutmaking a target of themselvesand they will begin to understand.It takes some doing . They practisethis sort of thing in the new Infantryover battle courses simulatingcombat conditions and situations,sometimes under the fire of liveammunition just to lend the lesson animpressive little touch of realism.

Expert At CamouflageThe Infantryman of today also

learns to take advantage of every bitof cover and concealment available.He develops an eye for spots thatare a few inches below the level ofthe surrounding ground, and heknows how to get the maximumprotection out of a tree that wouldhave trouble making a dozen goodmatch sticks.

He smudges his skin so that itwon't reflect light, and he wears abit of vegetation on his steel bonnetupon occasion so that he will fita little better into the countryside.

And he gets wise to such things asbooby traps, barbed wire and anti-personnel mines in two waysoffensively and defensively.

Teach Knife FightingHe learns heel-and-toe walking,

and then he learns toe-and-heelwalking . He is taught how to swinga rifle-butt or thrust a combat knifebefore an unsuspecting sentry can somuch as let out a squawk.

Indian stuff ? Yes, but it is thatkind of simple, basic battle-savvy thatkeeps the Infantryman boring in,infiltrating the enemy's positions,driving him out, destroying him.

Know-howisn 't all of it,though, and themen behind thetough Infantrytraining pro-

9

gram in the American Army realizeit . They know that the stiffest testof all on the battle front is the testof physical fitness ; that a man musthe able to withstand the poundingof nature first before he can beexpected to take what the enemyhas to throw at him, or to do anylead-slinging of his own.

He must be able to go withoutsleep for long periods, and withoutfood or water, and still keep goingin fighting shape. It won't do himany good to know how to spring up,zig-zag forward a few yards, hit thedirt and roll away, if he is too tiredto get some pretty fast action behindhis knowledge.

Marching Today IsImportant As Ever

An entrenching tool needs some-thing more than cussing behind itto produce a hole in the ground.Bullets don ' t get tired so quickly.

Marching, for another thing, isjust as important in this war as itever was, and perhaps even more so.There are a lot of places wheretrucks can ' t go, but where Americantroops must go.

Proof that the Infantry can hoofit if they have to is in such reportsas one that came out of Sicily of abattalion that made it from Riesi toSan Stefano, a distance of 54 miles,in 33 hours. During the march,made in intense heat on short waterrations, they even had some brusheswith the enemy .

10

It is the combination of knowinghow to fight and having the staminato carry on that pays off in battle.For that reason, there is nothinghalf-way about the conditioning theInfantry gets nowadays.

SUMMARY 2UInfantrymen have the job in battleof closing with the enemy or dig in

ARMY TALKS

and hold. Training and equipmentmake the Infantry more formidablethan ever.

How does ground warfare today

differ from the trench warfare

of World War I ? Why do

Americans make particularly

good foxhole fighters ?

With Sudden Death—OnFootInfantry's modernizedarsenal . . . Quality of heavyand personal equipment . . .Infantryman wins Congres-sional Medal of Honor . . .Place of the Infantry ininvasion set-up.

An American Infantry outfit packsthe finest array of sudden death thatany army has ever assembled . Its.basic weapons are still the rifle andthe bayonet.

The '03 Springfield has long beennoted for its ruggedness andaccuracy . It is the ideal weapon forthe sniper . The M t semi-automaticpiece gives the Yank Infantryman agreater fire-power than that of anyrifleman he faces.

The story is the same all throughthe Infantry arsenal—superiority.

Other Weapons ListedSome of the weapons the Infantry

fights with are, in addition to thestandard rifles, the new carbine,which is carried by officer personneland certain special troops ; theBrowning automatic rifle ; machineguns, both .30 and .50 calibre ; theThompson .45 sub-machine gun ;and anti-aircraft and anti-tankcannon of 20 mm., 37 mm., 40 mm .,

the new high velocity 57 mm ., andthe versatile, greatly improved 75mm. standby.

In the high trajectory class theboys operate, in addition to theamazingly accurate 6o and 8i mm.mortars, the 75 and 105 mm.howitzers.

Keep TNT HandyThen there is the much-publicized

bazooka, or rocket launcher, a nastyassortment of hand and rifle grenades,flame throwers with which to heatup the inhabitants of pill boxes andthe like, land mines of various sizesand a number of other lethal agentsright down to the new bayonet.. They even keep some TNT inthe cupboard just in case it seemsadvisable to blow a wire

entanglementorsome other obstacle out ofthe way, or to carry out somebridge or bunker busting, as the casemay be.

The rest of the Infantry's heavy-equipment layout is in keeping withits arms, from the useful little Jeepto the big personnel carrier at twoand a half tons . It's the best lineupthat American ingenuity can deviseand American industry can produce,and that makes it the' best there isin any man's army.

26 April, 1944

If the sailing is smooth, the newInfantry can get on its wheels andgo places at a maximum rate ofabout 50 m.p.h. And it can takealong its fire-power, even the heaviestof it . The guns all wear big pneu-matic shoes these days.

As far as the new Infantryman'spersonal equipment, such as cloth-ing, gas mask, canvas, webbing anda dozen other items are concerned,they, too, - were designed for thefield: They - have double,dutybuilt into them all the way. Lifeunder combat conditions is no picnicat best for the foot soldier, but goodgear can help a lot to keep him infighting trim and good spirits, evenon a prolonged C ration diet.

Honor New NamesThe Infantry is intensely proud of

the men who fight on foot—menwho have won the nation's highest

11

New names for the role of honor arepresented by every fresh action inwhich the Infantry takes part ; newchapters are written in the historyof men whose service transcends thecall of duty.

Anyone Here Seen Kelly ?Typical is the case of Sgt . Charles

E. Kelly, an automatic rifleman,whose exploits ., against the enemySeptember 13 and 1 4, 1943following his landing at Salernowith the Fifth Army, caused him tobe awarded the first CongressionalMedal of Honor won in fighting onthe Italian mainland.

Kelly, then a corporal, accordingto the official citation ; " voluntarilyjoined a patrol which "located andneutralized enemy machine-gunpositions .- After this hazardousduty he 'volunteered to establish

awards for their valor in this war contact with a battalion of U .S .

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ARMY TALKS

Infantry which was believed to belocated on Hill 315, a mile-distant.

" He traveled over a route com-manded by enemy observation andunder sniper, mortar and artilleryfire ; and later he returned withthe correct information -that theenemy occupied Hill 315 in organ-ized positions.

Gets More Ammunition" Immediately thereafter Kelly,

again a volunteer patrol member,assisted materially in the destructionof two enemy machine-gun nestsunder conditions requiring greatskill and courage.

"Having effectively fired hisweapon until all the ammunitionwas exhausted, he secured permis-sion to obtain more at an ammuni-tion dump. Arriving at the dump,which was located near a storehouseon the extreme flank of his regi-ment 's position, Kelly found thatthe . Germans were attacking fero-ciously at this point.

" He obtained his ammunitionand was given the mission ofprotecting the rear of the storehouse .

He held his position throughout thenight.

" The following morning theenemy attack was resumed. Kellytook a position at an open windowof the storehouse . One machine-gunner had been killed at. thisposition and several other soldierswounded.

Hurls Mortar Shells" Kelly delivered continuous

aimed and effective fire upon theenemy with his automatic rifle,until the weapon locked from over-heating. Finding another auto-matic rifle, her again directedeffective fire upon the enemy untilthis weapon also locked . At thiscritical point, with the enemythreatening to overrun the position,Kelly picked up 6o mm. mortarshells, pulled the safety fuses arid . .used the shells as grenades, killingat least five of the enemy.

" When it became , imperativethat the house be evacuated, Kelly,despite his sergeant's injunctions,volunteered to hold the positionsuntil the remainder of the detach-ment could withdraw. As thedetachment moved out, Kelly wasobserved deliberately loading andfiring a rocket launcher from thewindow .

26 April, 1944

13

" He was successful in coveringthe withdrawal of the unit, andlater in joining his own organization.

" Kelly 's fighting determinationand intrepidity in battle exemplifythe highest traditions of the armedforces of the U .S.," the citationconcluded.

Commando Kelly, as his fellowsoldiers have affectionately namedhim, has earned the acclaim andgratitude of an Army and a wholepeople for his valor. The nationsalutes a real Infantryman.

Infantry Is BasicIn Invasion Scheme

The Allied powerhouse whichsmacks Hitler's Fortress Europe inthe West is going to be aground-sea-air combination—the greatestmilitary team ever assembled . Andthe Infantry, as always, will be thebasic element of the whole operation.

The primary job of the otherelements will be to get the Infantry-man ashore and give him some coverwhile he gets set to start boring in.The Navy 's big guns and the AirForce will see to that, with thebombers ranging ahead constantlyto soften up the defenses.

Its Importance GrowsAs the show progresses, the role

of the Infantry will receive moreand more emphasis . The supportis going to eliminate plenty ofenemy positions, all right,- but theNazis have been preparing for thistest a long time.

It will remain for the Infantrymanto induce those who stay on in theirconcrete and steel nests to admitthat it was all a big mistake . Thenew does its coazing insuch matters With flame throwers

and TNT. These are very per-suasive.

They are- so persuasive, in fact,that many experienced officersbelieve that the coming attackswill produce far fewer casualtiesthan the men themselves may expect.There are others who think that istoo optimistic a view.

Whether the job turns out to beeasier — or tougher — than mostpeople expect, there is one surething.

Power Play Can't LoseIt will be done—and done well—

by the mud-pounding Infantry,the foot soldiers of whom newspapercorrespondent Ernie Pyle wrote :

" I loved the Infantry becausethey were the underdogs . Theywere the mud-rain-frost-and-windboys . They had no comforts, andthey even learned to live withoutthe necessities. In the end theywere the guys without whom theBattle of Africa could not - havebeen won."

Such is the spirit of the newUnited States Infantry as it lookstoward the. Continent, awaiting thesignal.

SUMMARY 3 nAmerican Infantry weapons are

equal - or superior to anything theenemy has to offer. infantrymenare winning the nation's highestawards for valor in battle.

In what way is infantry fightingtoday a throwback to the tacticsof the American Indian ? Whyare the Infantry's losses in theinvasion of the Continent likelyto be much less than some have

anticipated ?

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PreparationI

T doesn't matter what service your men are in—they will all beinterested in this article about the " foot slogging infantry ." Theyhave been the backbone of our armies from the beginning : They

waded through swarms of mosquitoes and bullets in the Spanish-AmericanWar, and covered themselves with honor at Chateau-Thierry and theArgonne . The infantry have had -a proud record and they're addingto it in all Theaters of the war.

If you belong to another service it will be a good idea to have someinfantrymen sit in with you to answer questions or tell some of theirexperiences . Perhaps you can get a veteran of World- War I to contrasttechniques and training of the two wars . A quick look at the Form20'sor the service records is likely to reveal several men with infantry experiencein your own unit . It might be valuable for an infantry outfit to invitea few Tommies over to acquaint the boys with their oppositenumbers in the British Army. This will make for not only better under-standing of the subject but of our allies as well.

The November 22, 1943, issue of Life featured the American foot soldieron the cover and included a full page tribute by General Eisenhower tohis importance . You, as a discussion leader, will certainly want to readit, and you may want to pass on all or part of it to your group . Any issueof the Infantry Journal will provide some background material about theway the infantry do their job. The issues of Yank, dated March 26 andApril 9, carry stories about infantry action, " The Town That WasCassino " and " Counterattack ." Put some last minute punch in yourdiscussion by using Stars and Stripes stories to show how our doughboysare shaping current events all over the world.

You can't always gauge a man's ideas by his outward appearance.There are probably several members in your group who sit throughdiscussion after discussion without making any contribution at all . Donot assume that they are uninterested, without ideas, or half-asleep . Itmay be they are just a little shy about offering their ideas in a group meeting.Throw an occasional question their way . Ask your questions like a manseeking information or a valued opinion—not like a school teacher checkinga spelling lesson . The results may surprise you. In many cases bothgroup and individual will profit.

Printed by Newnes & Pearson Printing Co ., Ltd ., Exmoor Street, N . Kensington, London, w.10 .

26 April, 1944

lb

I . What are the major differences between the new and oldedition of the " Queen of Battle " ? p . 3.

2. What was the role of the Infantry in the Blitz tactics of theGermans ? p. 3.

3. What are the two basic types of weapons and how do theydiffer? p. 5.

4. Why has the defense in depth using "compact islands ofresistance "" replaced the " continuous thin line " of World War I ?

p. 7.

5. What trumps does the modern American Infantryman have inhand when he faces an armored attack ? p . 6.

6. Can you suggest specific instances from recent news illus-trating the importance of teamwork between the Infantry andother services ?

7. -Why is individual initiative more important in this war thanthe last ? p. g.

8. Can any comparison be drawn between modern Infantrytactics with frontier Indian fighting ? Howdoes it differ ?

9. What is the fundamental purpose of the Infantry it this asin earlier wars ?

to. Why is it ever necess ary for Infantry outfits to make longmarches when so much emphasis is laid on motorized transport ?p. II .

11. What, in year opinion, made T/Sgt Charles Kelly the out-standing soldier he is? Can such soldiers be "made" or dothey have to be " born " ?

12. What sort of cooperation can the Infantryman expect in the 'combined operations aimed at establishing a beach-head ? p. 13.

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ARMY TALKS :—The PURPOSE of ARMY TALKS-is to helpAmerican officers and enlisted personnel become better-informed men andwomen and therefore better soldiers.

ARMY TALKS are designed to stimulate discussion and thought, and,by their very nature, thus may often be controversial in content . They arenot to promote or to propagandize any particular causes, beliefs or theories.Rather, they draw upon all suitable sources for fact and comment, in theAmerican tradition, with each individual retaining his American right andheritage so far as his own opinion is concerned.

THEREFORE, the statements and opinions expressed herein are notnecessarily verified by, nor do they necessarily reflect the opinions of, theUnited States Army.

THE SOURCE OF MATERIAL must therefore be made clear at eachdiscussion. All written material appearing in this publication has been writtenand edited by uniformed members of the Army and/or Navy, except whereit is stated that a civilian or other outside source is being quoted.