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

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must be continued the entire year. The kind of ground must permit every phase of action to be encountered by a modern infantryman-the ap- proach, the engagement, the break through and the pursuit. The reserva- tion must permit the simultaneous training of thousands of riflemen in accurate target practice, in field firing exercises, in artillery and machine gun barrages with live ammunition, in secret marches over considerable distances, in night occupation of trenches, in advance by compass through total darkness, in the attack over ground extensive enough to represent a day's battle and in the resumption of the offensive after the break. 1 All these conditions Benning fulfills for its classes. Students actually do the work. They apply all that can be applied individually and the troops demonstrate the rest. Everything is actual but the bullet Wound. Further, the Infantry Board is locatedwithin the limits of the garri- son. Together with the Department of Experiment and the troops avail- able, it is ready to test thoroughly and pass upon speedily any project in technique. Such action has become a necessity, especially since the VVorld VVar. Before that time the infantry had always been recognized as the mainstay of any army. The rilleman with both feet on the ground has ever been the final necessity for victory. By magnitude and quality he was the chief element of military strength. Withoiit losing any of these elements he suddenly in the recent conflict grew out of all resemblance to his former self. Pandora's box had been opened. Hand grenades, rifle grenades, machine guns, tanks, automatic rifles, mortars and one-pounders summoned the foot-soldier with many mysterious voices. The infantry had come to be the technical arm of the service. The machine gun of itself had grown as intricate in its use and workings as the 3-inch field piece. Although the Doughboy was sad- dled with no less responsibility for a successful issue of the fight than before, he was forced besides to an intimate understanding of his weapons. and their use before he could conscientiously accept his position as a leader. The Infantry School, therefore, within a year after peace, metamor- phosed itself from a small school of bfusketry into the largest plant of its

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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

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kind in the world. lrlundreds of infantry oHicers were taught, drilled and trained in the best that this big vital branch of the service could give them. Instructors of the greatest experience during the war were brought to the Faculty. Cther branches sent their co-ordinating teachers. Nlethods changed and outgrew themselves. The Demonstrationl' came to play the most influential part it has ever played in any pedagogical scheme. And officers learned their science and art, became familiar with the authori- tative voice of their arm, and went away confident and inspired. So the School has kept pace with progress. In some cases it has out- stripped it. ln the four short years of its existence it has stridden for- ward with such surety that its beginnings are scarcely recognizable in the present. The Benning graduate is demanded. XVherever he goes, in or out of the service, he bears the stamp of knowledge of his branch. He repre- sents the latest achievement of Infantry technique and tactics. y He carries with him soundness and uniformity. The Infantry School has articulated the backbone of the United States Army.