US Army Infantry School - Doughboy Yearbook (Fort Benning, GA)

Page 11 text:

It was to the lnfantry of the Old Guard that Napoleon turned in his last desperate attempt to save his lfmpire at Xvaterloo and it was the British lnfantry that broke the Qld Guard and W1'OtC linis to Napoleon's story. ln was the lnfantry who faced lnfantry in our Civil VVar and strewed the country from the Mississippi to the sea with their bodies. And it was an lnfantryman whose infantry qualities of dogged perseverence, loyalty to principle and contempt of losses finally preserved these United States as one. In the XVorld 'War though subjected to all that history and modern ingenuity could devise by way of frightfulness and terror the lnfantryman acquitted himself gloriously, though he paid the time-old price with his dead. Neither bomb nor shell nor bullet nor poison gas nor flame could daunt him and he went his way to victory as was his wont. The lnfantryman has never felt the need of surrounding his profession with mystery or strange names. But whether it be the javelin or the spear, the dagger or the sword, the, long bow or the cross bow, the arque- bus, the musket or the rifle, the machine gun, cannon, mortar or the tank, to them the Infantry has been ever ready to turn its hand and make good use of them in battle. The Infantry stands today as it has stood down through the ages- stout-hearted, undaunted, ever ready to take one more step toward the enemy, ever ready to strike him one more blow.

Page 13 text:

THE INFANTRY SCHOOL Iell-fN in November, 1551, the Cieneral-in-Chief regarded as ad- mirable the new School of ,Xpplication at Leavenworth, the Qxfllly unconsciously entered upon its period of Rennaissance. Later Cieneral XYagner, like lfrasmus with the classics, culled the best military thought of lfurope and .Xmerica and presented it to the line oflicer. The profession of arms rudely but surely started upon a larger development of science and skill. The .Xrmy stretched itself to find that it was awakening from the Dark .Xges of provincial life into which the nation had thrown it. The lnfantry School is the culmination of the Rennaissance of the United States qXi'iiiy. Not that it is content and feels itself perfect. Such a state would be the very thing to block its advancement. Un the contrary, its attitude is that of constant effort. It has reached the realization of a principle which makes for solid improvement-the principle of being Will- ing and anxious to discard the old as soon as the new has proven itself. So the School with its 97,ooo acres of diversified ground, regiments of Infantry. its battalion of Field Artillery, its Tank battalion, its large service detachments of white and colored troops, its veterinary section, its company of Engineers, its Gas Company, its Urdnance Nlaintenance Company, its great hospital, its large printing plant, its complete photo- graphic section, its access to adjacent air service, its School for Bakers and Cooks, its 40 miles of 60 cm. railway and its experimental target range, over Whose Waters the effectiveness of any weapon can be completely determined, is within itself capable of certain and quick results in technique and tactics of Infantry. Here for the first time in the history of this country there is enough space to Work out problems of mobility on a large scale. There is territory sufficiently diversined to give large classes of field and company officers exercises on different kinds of terrain every day throughout the scholastic year. When General lVIalone uttered the requirements of an Infantry School he gave a complete answer to the previous, blank military policy in this country. The training' ground must be a battlefield. The instruction