XIII 



ADVANCES IN SIGNALLING CONTRIBUTED 

 DURING THE WAR 



A. E. KEN NELLY 



THE fighting on land, in the world war, regarded from the 

 American point of view, was waged on a battle line 

 roughly 750 kilometers long, reaching from the coast of Bel- 

 gium to the Swiss Alps. The center of this line is approxi- 

 mately 6500 kilometers, or nearly 4000 miles, from the War 

 Department Building in Washington, D. C, the army adminis- 

 trative base. It is also approximately 7250 kilometers in a 

 bee line, or 4500 miles, from Chicago, which may be looked 

 upon as the center of gravity of America's supplies for her 

 army. Consequently, America's overseas army of two million 

 men had to join with Allied armies at a distance of more than 

 one-third of the sea-level separation from pole to pole. It was, 

 therefore, of the utmost importance that communication be- 

 tween Washington and the American Expeditionary Force 

 should be kept at the highest point of effectiveness. 



It is recorded that in January, 1815, the news of the Battle 

 of New Orleans did not reach the capitol at Washington until 

 two weeks after the battle had been fought. That was before 

 the days of the electric telegraph and telephone. If such 

 restricted conditions of communication existed to-day, it is safe 

 to say that no such expedition as America sent to Europe could 

 possibly have been conducted and maintained. In fact, the 

 news of important events at the French front were, in this 

 war, frequently delivered in Washington before the hours at 

 which those events occurred; that is, within the five hours' 



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