MOTOR-CARS IN WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 99, 28 April 1909, Page 10

MOTOR-CARS IN WAR.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT IN ENGLAND. • , " RELIEF OF HASTINGS." (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 19th March. The scheme sanctioned by the War Office for using motor-cars to convey troops to repel an imaginary invasion of England was put to a practical test on Wednesday, when, with Hastings as the objective point, a battalion of Guards, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. F. Erskine, were carried by road froti London to the- coast. The plan, as explained by the War Office, is briefly this : A. battalion of Guards is about to entrain in London, when information ie received that a portion of the railway line has been destroyed by the agents of the enemy. It is therefore decided to send a battalion of Guards with the first and second line of transport by road to Hastings in motor vehicles. ' I This was the task undertaken, and the arrangements were carried through by the Automobile Association. The battalion selected for the purpose comprised companies ot the Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Guards, who, at full war strength, number over a thousand officers and men. They had received special instruction drill in preparation for the. journey. At eight o'clock the companies paraded respectively at Chelsea, Wellington Barracks, and at the Tower. MR. HALDANE'S VISIT. Accompanied by his sister, Mr. Haldane reached Chelsea Barracks in a motor-eir, and alighting walked up and down the ranks of the troops conversing animatedly with the officers. After this tour of inspection the War Minister reentered lii& car and left. The Chelsea contingent waa the first of the sections to arrive at the Crystal Palace at twenty minutes past nine. Thereafter the conj tingents from Wellington Barracks and ; the Tower arrived' m procession and formed up in the Crystal Palace road. A large crowd has assembled to witness the arrival of the motor procession, and ii was obvious that the soldiers were quite enjoying then? novel experience. The weather was delightful, a warm morning sun quickly dispersing all traces ' of the night frost. ' The start for Hastings was made at 10 o'clock. There were 286 cars engaged I and in addition to those conveying the troops, machine guns, ammunition, medij cal stores, and the commissariat, there [ were some thirty or forty relief cars specially detailed to be in readiness in the event of breakdowns. A number of officers of the General Staff and other military authorities accompanied the column in cars which travelled independently of' the main cavalcade, and throughout the route patrols were posted at all points where motors might possibly go astray. Hastings was reached at the specified time, and on all hands it was admitted that the experiment was a distinct