Operations Upon the Sea: A Study

by Freiherr von Franz Edelsheim

The formation of the expedition corps must of course be established in the annual maneuvers. Various factors, such as seasons, political aims, present situation of opponents, extent of material for the available ships, all bear witness to the urgency of taking up measures in advance for facilitating the work of mobilization. The speedy concentration of troops and materials at the points of embarkation will make heavy demands upon the railroads, even though the haul is short, and the shipment comparatively small. Arrangements should therefore be made with the railroads to have on hand at all times sufficient rolling stock for these purposes, to guarantee the prompt departure of the transports. It is urged that authority be given the loading commission to supervise and direct this work. It must be taken into consideration that part of the troops are inexperienced reserves and good order must be maintained. A high standard of efficiency should prevail, to lessen the burdens of executing orders.

Numerous machine gun divisions increase the fighting strength and do not require great space or support. The usefulness of a cyclist division depends entirely upon the condition of the roads in the hostile country. For the reasons stated previously, cavalry would not suffer in distribution of strength, which is customary in wars on land. In large over-seas operations it is recommended that a special cavalry division or brigade be formed for reconnoitering purposes. Beyond this, the strength of the cavalry division must be sufficient to render possible an independent operation. It would also be of great value to the field artillery, of which an ample supply is on hand.

Especially important is the method of distributing supply trains, for these require a great deal of space and render landing very difficult. They also hinder the rapid movement of the expedition corps. When the transports do not remain in close communication with the troops after landing, a very large supply of stores is necessary to make the army independent of the vessels. There should be added, therefore, a reserve ammunition column to that already provided.

A fixed amount of supplies should be determined upon, taking due consideration of the extent of the voyage. The troops could requisition some materials from the hostile country.

EMBARKATION.

Proper loading is the business of the land forces and should be conducted by trained officers so as to ensure the shipment of materials and men. To make landing effective the necessary supplies should go on the vessels with the troops. A loading plan should be so drawn up in advance as to meet all emergencies. The length of time consumed for loading depends on the distance of the voyage.

At the most the limit of a short sea voyage for us has been considered about forty-eight hours. This is too small an estimate; it should undoubtedly be doubled. The Italian General Staff estimates the length of a short sea voyage to be five days. Besides, to preserve the fighting worth of our troops, we must allow sufficient time for rest.

The troop transport capacity of a ship has heretofore been calculated by the ship's tonnage, that is, sixty per cent. of the ship's capacity is net ton loading space. The necessary space for us, for a long sea voyage, is set at two tons for each man and six to seven tons for each horse. The English and Russian estimates are about the same. But the English transports to Cape Town accommodated a larger number of troops than was thought possible, and the American transports to Cuba were increased by one-third.

As for the arrangements which must be made for sleeping, cooking and washing and for a hospital service, we need not go any further here, as they have been discussed at length in the press. The stowing of equipment and baggage should be done in such a way as to make the articles available on landing in the order in which they are needed. The ship's space required for maintenance supplies for man and horse figures relatively as about one to five.

Coming next to the loading of the artillery, the rule should be to place all common and machine guns on deck. A certain amount of ammunition should be stowed so as to be quickly accessible. This is an essential measure to afford the transport protection from some privateer. The guns should be securely placed to prevent their movement by the motion of the sea and to render feasible their use on deck. Trials will soon be made to find the suitable means whereby field artillery may be put to successful use on shipboard, and this testing will certainly repay us. All rolling stock will be stowed away firmly in the freight space without removing the wheels. The material and personnel of the field hospital should be divided among the ships, so that a ship's hospital division may be formed. The airship division should be placed on deck in such fashion that observation flights may be made during the voyage.