HOW AMERICA DID IT.

Evening Star, Issue 16910, 6 December 1918, Page 6

HOW AMERICA DID IT.

AMAZING FEATS OF TRANSPORTATION DIvSCRIBKD. TESTIMONY BY SIR JOSEPH MACLAY 'Fairplav' of August 8 contains tho following- interesting Account of an interview with Sir Joseph Maolay, the. British Shipping Controller, on the subject of tile transport of the American army:—

1 I When Lord Vincent was questioned as to t I the possibility of England being invader] , : during; the Napoleonic War he refused, as i First Lord of the British Admiralty, to i , trivo a guarantee that troops could not. i land, but to his timorous quesrioners he al- • ways added, with a grim prniic : " But 1 they won't come by sea." The folly of > the' German naval authorities in the earlv months of last year consisted in their positive assurance that even if America raised , an army on the Continental scale—which no one in Germain* believed she would do —that army could not be transported a cross the Atlantic. G-ermans appreciated the difficulty of moving hundreds of thousands of troops a distance of 3.000 mites in face. ■ of an intensive submarine campaign, and then keeping them supplied with all that they required ; and they were positive that piracy would so imped" the movements bv sea that American military power would never make itself felt to am- appreciable! extent on European battlefields. j A STUPENDOUS TASK. " Prohablv no one who is not familiar with the .'hipping problem can appreciate the character of this transport movement," ' eaid iSiv .Tosenh Mnelay. the. British Ship- | p : i;e Controller, when asked hie. opinion I of the mobilisation of American man-power in Europe. " I.t is the rdsreest thing of the kind that, has ever been attempted," Sir Joseph Maclay added. "ATe are not a little- proud of the manner in /which we transported and maintained our army in South Africa, but in the light of the ' American movement it must be confessed that the achievement was a comparatively | modest one. If 1 remember riehlly we j moved only ahout 200,000- men from fiivt to last, and we bad. the whole of the British mercantile marine to draw from, and there wcr<j no submarines. Over a million troops have been moved across the Atlantic •during the past year or so in the face of an offensive bv sea, warred by the enemy with as ereat determination and persistence as they have fought on the western front ; and simultaneously we have been Kevins British and colonial soldiers to all theatres of the. war and keening them supplied. Only those who have access to official records can appreciate the character of tho enemy's efforts to arrest these, varied transport movements, and particularly of the, American forces destined for Europe. They have been able to combine their original purpose and their original plans for attemptinrr to starve out England with fheir new planoi for attacking the transports. Every submarine at the. c-orauuvnd of the Germans ha? been sent to sea manned by tho mOft experienced ofhrort; and men. Tin -whole "German people were led to believo that piraev practised with the utmost rnthlessneai would nn'n this ambitious: transport j rc-heme. What has happened? Over one million troops have been carried across the Atlantic, and tho lives of less than 300 soldiers l.a.ve born lost On the average about 60 per cent, of Urn American soldiers have been carried in British -ships. and, as I will explain later on, the proportion is steadily risinc 'Che extent of the contribution of British tonnage should he considered not as an isolated act, but in j association with the world-wide activities of the. British merchant navy, which have ! (;one on gimultrinoously. The time has not j vet come when the narrative can bo given in full : but it may be remembered that I wnile the American soldir-rs h-.ve hvrii j travelling to Europe the 7,000.000 British, Dominion, and Indian troops rnrrj/re-d in fix theatres oE war—Franco. Flanders. Italy. iSaionika, Palestine Mesopotamia, rersia, and Ewvpt.—to say nothing of the garrrions in Malta. Gibraltar, and elsewhere, liave been supported with reinforcements, munitions, stores, ..ml ford. and their sick and wounded carried. In fo'ne cases the fresh men had to be brought ! from Canada, South Africa, Australia-, and | Xew Zealand. Nor is that all. A large i volume of shippirur has also been required ! (and that, not in Koine waters only) bv tho i British Fleet, the ships of which are I iartrelv dependent on mercantile tonnage j for fuel, stores, "lid even food. The situa■tion, naval and military, changes from day : t<> f\ar, and an attempt- has to be made to J 1 vaiy the organisation of the merchant fleet j jto meet it. It wa.3 when all these rcsponj siiiili.tirs were alioady being borne that I plans had to I.e. made to help carry the | American troops." HOW IT WAS DONE, " And how was this transport miracle . achieved," Sir Joseph M.aelay was asked. ( " Well," ho replie-d, "it has only been ; rendered possible by the efficient or- ' t organisation on the American side and our assistance, on this side, which has | been rendered with both hands. As to j the first point, co-operation was neccs- , snry between the military authorities and the railways in carrying troops to , the. ports and. between the. people, run- , nirig the ports and the shipning authori- 1 t'os. The American genius for organisa- ' tion ha.s once more l>oeu exhibited in a ' new sphere, and it lias succeeded in spite * of all the created by tho war. * If the American railways had not been '' ov>->ratf'-'l with succoss th? whole tnins- ( port movement might have failed, be- 7 eause it was essential to quick trarispcr- f tntion that the troops should be ready f for the ships. Thai meant economy of - lonnago, and economy was very neccs- ' sary." r

j "The United States possessed only a i (••omr.nrativeiv small number of ships I suitable for transports, hut the linen in ■ American porta seized from t1» pneinv : proved of immense service. Tt mnrt hj~ j ; one of thi» ironies of the "war. viewed j through German spectacle-, that so mnnv German ships should have been emrdoved in caiTviu£j Arcon'can troops to fitdit Gorman soldiers in Enrnpn. P,nt when everv suitable ship under fir-? American flat: had been taken into I'ktransnnrt S3rvic->, the tonnage was qioto inadequate to the niwd. That is where wo in—willinfrlv :iv<l whnlelienrtorHv co-op<-ratirur to ensure the suci'«s of the movement of troops. the C;.'iimn offensive "in IU.T-ch we haj-) to tnnl-e a hi? effort, T mav add Hint 633.000 t-orps were carried i» t>"> months of April. May. a.nd June. oi'.OOO of whioh were accommodated in B-~"t':--Ti shins. We are all work in tr to promote a common cause and arc not out lr> pit ourselves oil thp. hack for we are doimr. ?,nt I m'Yht add. since the fr-rt might not he known, that we wmi> onlv able to f=>oe thf--(>. i"*w rcsnopuihilitip'i liv sioi'i/i-r-in",' for the. time helm.;, tint only Tv-iiish. hut In-m-e-ial iriteiwts. Shins -which under norma) circumsfarioes are engaged in the trades between tlip British' Tsles and the Far East, ,\n-t-alasia. and India, havp had to he w-'fh-dra.wn from and wp have been P'VmwlM f/> PaeWfice to a Ip'-nv, oyfmit fiiA oornrmmipations between the "Mother Ooimtrv and the Dominions in the ••Villi-! .-.vn Poas. T on it ml. speak too 10-' Mv of t.h n manner in whi< hj fh" people nf t.i.p Dominions havp bowed to comrHli'i'r ci-pnm-f.r.io.ps. Tf has refill v P™v, ]>,ut there 1= mm'o in it, n—-n U,an that. concent r n ( ion of! donnimr ha.s m«-int th« of ""•ooiiti'W* built nn dnrir o ' Ion" pc-iYd-,-.f K..-v v V,„0;,..c, map v.dll nndnr--'-"d thp rharw-t.".' of <snpviflrp. '■'"-"•p is no sn.vinnr v.dir-n thofn --'•'virpc can ho mav snqr?p ; t: fh" oha'-nct"'' of t v -> -vrfirß thp pn-ol'p a]V

--rt of Amvlf-n trorrn-." BTO STBF T'.STJ'RS. An<l -"lother a?-ppet of the transTMrt movement ■f which lit-t.V ha- been "It i." no 'TV-rl." he ,l r ''?ri. " br : r>crr>g over troops 'n En-ope nvl"s.« those troops can he kept s-ppl : ed vith all they require. There ".s •I'ivays a temptation on the pnrt of those 'ho are imfamiliar with military matters to think of an army in terms of men only; but an army requires an enormous ■'ohinie of material— £ims, aeroplanes. \va^Tons. itinmmiilion. food, and stores of all iixls. In June, for instance, half a milHem tons of stores : /or the American, troops

were carried across the Atlantic. Horaw, in particular, present a very great difficulty, as can be Teadily imagined, and an enormous number of horses have to be carried. And that brings me back to the point which T -u-i-h to emphasise: The army which is transported has to bo kept supplied with ell it requires from week to week and day by day. Consequently, the larger number of trooj*; transported the .Greater the burden on tonnage required to supply the army".--, needs. The matter can ho reduced to a, very simple formula. Roiisrhly speaking, cveiy 1,000 men landed in France is equal to 0,000 tons of stores in a vear.

From tho shipping standpoint three classes of armies are engaged in this war. There are Ftieh -armies a« those of Germany, Austria, and in. some measure France. The German army illustrates my point best. Tfc ha.s a continuous line; ifc is connected with its source of supplies bv railways, ami it can more its military impedimenta from the factory behind the lines swiftly v,3 well as cheaply, varying the supply arrangements with ease, in accordance with the changing military conditions. In the second cla,=s comes the British Army. The English Channel, with a varying breadth of 20 to 50 miles, lies between it and its inain bis© of supply. That means that the British authorities are compelled to maintain behind the lines larger supplies than the Germans are conpelled to maintain. In the third class comes the American army. It is about 100 times removed from its base of supply as the British Army, and that fact exaggerates the difficulties of the tonnage problem, beeau.<e not only must large reserves be maintained of military material an.l food, but provision must ho made on a large scale for extensive workshops and hospitals, and so on. T believe that the American army now has in France a railroad with more miles -of track and a heavier equipment than the Erie rCailroad. Those who a.re familiar with shipping matters will appreciate what that means in tonnage. But that is not all, for there is no more remarlcable feature of this transport movement than the success with which the Americans have transformed Earns of the French ports. They have ! brought them up tc the highest standard familiar on the United States seaboarcT. The reorganisation scheme, involving immense quantities of material, has been carried out with wonderful success. I may ' mention th-? case of the Leviathan, formerly the Hambnrg-Amerika, liner Yatcrland," -as an illustration of the rapidity with which ships are now turned round, which means economy of tonnage. This enormous vessel recently reached a French port with 11.000 men on board. What happened? These, troops, almost equivalent to a whole German division, were disembarked. 4,OCX) tons of coal were taken on bor-rd, and in 48 hours the Leviathan was on her way back to the United States. French transportation, railway and port transportation, in large arenas of that conntry, is now being brought permanently up to' the American standard." Finally, in. discussing tin's transport movement. Sir Joseph Mac-lay bore testimony to the cordial relations which were beinir maintained between the responsible authorities on tho two sides of the Atlantic. "This wonderful transport movement could not have been carried out if everyone concerned, British ar.4 American, had not worked together with a single eye to efficiency. Our common language has, of course, been of enormous advantage, and has enabled us to place at the disposal of tho Americans all the knowledge and experience we had obtained in the earlier period of the war in transporting and supplvine British, Dominion, and Indian troops. Our military problem was from the first a tonnage problem. Our irosps are all supported from the sea, whether they come from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or India. I sometimes think that perhaps even the British people do not fully realise the shipping problem which our military intervention on the Continent involved." All that we learnt in this respect we have placed at the disposal cf the .American milh.orit.ies. They have proved Tood learners. 1 cannot say too much in praise of the man designated by the American Government, to manage _this matter. The younger business men of the United States"represent a fine type. Our officials have been, pleased to work with them. The two organisations. British and American, have in consequence dovetailed together with a success which even I hnrdlv anticipated. The smoothness with which trains, transports, and deck authoj rilies have worked together is attested by the regularity with which troops have been landed. ' In that connection it should not be forgotten that the movement of the American Arinv began after the Germans 'had been attacking and sinking shipping for many months, and consequently the volume of tonnage available had been considerably reduced. This transport movement has oniv been rendered possible, by efficient administration, enabling the best possible, use bein<r made of the vessels available. In that connection I should perhaps add that the transport of tronps has been worked in association with the movement, of material ; ships hearing material have also been able to carry troops. But that is not a point which need be stressed. It is merely a detail, which explains in some measure how it has been possible at one and the same time to carry this great armv and maintain the military supplies of the Allies, and ship the immense stores of food, which, owing to Mr Hoover's admirable administration, and the selfdenial of the American have been available for meeting the needs of the Allies in Europe. It is only possible to apnrreiate the success of the transport movement if a broad view is taken ol the whole problem of sea carrintie, whicn has been thrown upon a rcducr-d volume of shipnincr."