TRANSPORT IN WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 156, 2 July 1917, Page 4

TRANSPORT IN WAR.

In his dispatch on the winter operations on the British section of the Western front, Sir Douglas Haig paid a high tribute to the work of the transport service, and called attention to the magnitude of the task of providing rapid and efficient transport,, and to the fact that, success or failure largely depended on the efficiency of this branch of army work. Some idea of tihe magnitude of the task may bo gleaned from tie following figures: Up to the end of last February over 5,000,000 troops had been conveyed by British sea transport, more ammunition was shipped out of England in a week than had been manufactured in the thirty years 'before the war, an average of ten thousand miles of telephone wire was being shipped every month, over 2.000,000 tons of rcailbags had been shipped to France alone, and about twelve thousand tons of supplies, exclusive of ammunition and war material, were being , shipped every day. Those who are fond of figures may be interested to know that in eighteen months the British Government passed through different stores and depots at the bases some eight hundred million horseshoe nails, about the same number of sandbags, nearly nine hundred million buttons, about the same number of pounds of flour, 53,920,000 pairs of socks. I and over 20,000,000 pairs of boots. Mr. Balfour recently mentioned that in 1016 under the guardianship of the British Meet 4,000,000 fighting men, 1,000.000 horses, 2.500,000 tons of stores, and 22,000,000 gallons of oil had passed overseas for Great Britain and her Allies. For twenty-two days in succession during August, 1914, the Orleans railway alone dispatched 2(5S trains a day carrying troops, besides the trains carrying forage, food, horses, and other requisites J for the front. This meant that for three weeks a fully laden train left the station every five minutes of the day and night. Bnt railw-ays are only a email part of tho means employed for transport, and now they arc mostly used for the; carriage of supplies, while the men are! I sent hy motor. We have now at- thefront over five hundred different types' >>f motor vehicle, one oiass of ve*delo ! a!on- being represented by tvitfiriy differ-! ent types. There are 1 r>o different'types' of solid tyre in use; HT'J types of bnll, bc.iringr--: t>3 types of magneto. At! Verdun rhere were 4000 motor wagons' carrying shells day and nicht for the i French guns, and 'the excellence of the; French motor sorvicp was largely respon-j sible for the Gorman defeat." Road! transport was supplemented' by light railways, which were mainly u?ed for transporting heavy shells. The gauge of ; these was usually two feet, hut near the j front this gauge was often reduced to , one foot, so as to allow of tracks being run hy hand and along communication I trenches. The rails for these light I railways are riveted together two by j two on metal sleeper?. These, fastened j t ogether and covered wrr/h a thin layer of ballast, can be put down quickly on ■ almost any existing road or path, and even in some cases upon open country. The truck i≤ generally a flat platform on bogie wheels, and some of these trucks can carry a load of eight tons, or about as much as three motor lorries.' On one occasion one of these light. railways curried 1,700 tons of ammuni- 1 , tion in twenty-four houre. In hilly I regions very diminutive railways and I trucks have been used, and these trucks I were often drawn by a brace of dogs. Dogs from Canada and Alaska were • imported for this work with special dog-. ■ masters ,if their own. and when snow [ fell the little wagons were, fitted with \ runners, and used as sleighs. For the transport of heavy, non-urgent, material extensive use has been made of canals, and the canal barges have been manned i 'by soldier bargees from the canals of I I Great Britain and Ireland. Barges have I also been ueerl for moving the wounded. ! The journey was necessarily long and j slow, but as the barges were fitted up i with beds, nursing staffs, and doctors. , ! they really served as hospitals. All tire ' transport has had to be improvised since J the commencement of the war. and more j than one civilian visitor to the British: j front has left it on record that the one 1 outstanding impression of his visit has I been the marvellous working of our transport service. It has triumphed; over every difficulty, and contributed in : ;no r-mal! degree to the successes, J recently gained by our troops in thei West.