Feb 
rii.i 
rj- 
[915 
LAND AND WATER 
MOTOR TRANSPORT IN MODERN WARFARE 
By ATHERTON FLEMING 
"More effective and varied means of communication will be 
available than were known in earlier wars." 
" The commander who can carry out all operations quicker than 
the enemy, and can concentrate and employ greater masses in a 
narrow space than they can, will always be in a position to collect a 
numerically superior force in the decisive direction ; if he controls 
the more effective troops he will gain decisive successes against one 
part of the hostile army and will be able to exploit them against 
other divisions ot it before the enemv can gain equivalent advantages 
in other parts of the field. .... If the assailant can advance in 
the decisive direction with superior numbers, and can win the day 
because the enemy cannot utilise his numerical superiority, there is a 
possibility of an ultimate victory over the arithmetically stronger 
army." — From ■ Germany and the Next War," by General F. von 
Bcrnhardi. 
I AM quoting these two passages from General Bernhardi's 
work for very much the same reason as that which 
inspired Mr. Horace Wyatt in his very clever and 
exceptionally well-written book— one of the 
" Telegraph " war series ; " Motor Transports in 
War." That is to say that, " even if only improvement in 
means of communication is considered, the motor vehicle 
forms one of the three greatest factors in moulding the 
course of modern warfare." 
That motor cars arc being used and used extensively in 
the present war is a fact that is well known to the majority 
THE U^„:^^Lu lOWN OF PEKVYSE 
No:e the .Motor Cycliit Dispalch RiJer'i " Rudge " m foreground 
of people— even by those who are not motorists ; but I 
doubt very much whether even the keen motorist^who is 
not connected with military matters in any way — has an 
accurate conception of the actual part played by the petrol- 
driven vehicle in this war of nations. This is not the first 
war in which motor transport has been used, but it certainly 
is the first war in which the motor vehicle has achieved such 
a status that the particular branch of the Army which control^ 
it is infinitely more important than many other branches. 
To fuUy realise the importance of this new branch of tl-e 
Service it is essential for one to see it in operation under 
actual active service conditions — to witness the never-ending 
ebb and flow of the thousands and thousands of vehicles along 
Wk- 
the lines of communication. The regular nmnmg of the 
Loudon motor bus service used to excite my admiration in 
the old days before the war ; now, however, as compared 
with the work done by the motor transport lorries, the 
ordinary day's work of a motor bus is a mere nothing. Whereas 
the London motor bus has its regular periods of rest, and its 
driver at least knows how many hours sleep he is going to 
get. as well as the tiine of his meal hour, the motor transport 
THE 10 H.P. HUMBtR 
An ideal Car for messenger work 
lorry on active service and its driver simply goes on and on, 
night and day. Rests are very few and far between, and 
meals are very often eaten during the journev. The main 
principle seems to be " get there " and back, and start over 
again. 
Possibly to many people this principle may savour of 
lack of organisation, but this is very far from being the case. 
The organisation of the British motor transport" is extra- 
ordinarily efficient, and is becoming more so day by day. 
Food, clothing-equipment and the hundred and one things 
which are essential to our Army on active service arc delivered 
in a space of time so short that it would amaze many of our 
delivery contractors at home. And plea.se let it be remem- 
Iiered that this is happening in a strange country, with a 
strange language, and over roads which, though they were 
mm 
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IN ACIION 
INTERIOR OF AUSTIN TRAVELLING 
MACHINE SHOP 
excellent before the war broke out are exceedingly different 
now. Not only that, but many of the routes are being 
altered from time to time as the exigencies of the case demand. 
\ road which might have been comparatively safe, say, at 
six o'clock this morning, may be under a withering shell 
fire at six o'clock to-night, or vice versa. Such little things 
IS this have to be taken into consideration, otherwise valuable 
and very essential cargoes may be lost, or as good as lost, 
owing to non-delivery in time. Whatever happens, our 
fighting men must be fed and clothed. Especially is it so 
during the present weather ; fine weather atones for a lot of 
discomfort, but when the only possible cheering up influence 
in a rrtan's Ufe is the prospect of a good feed and a change 
into dry clothes, then it behoves those who are in charge of 
the transport service to see that the goods are delivered in 
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