COAST. I ARTILLERY JOURNAL, - Air Defense Artillery

492 THE COAST ARTILLERY JOURNAL
the noon halt was reached. Here hot tea was served to the men from the fireless
cookers which are a part of the mountain battei"y's equipment, and the horses
were also fed. It is a rule in the Swiss Mountain Artillery to save up both rations
and forage so that extra meals may be given to both men and animals on long
climbs through the mountains.
Following three hours of steep descent, the command reached the lower
ground at six o'clock with thirteen kilometers to go to the objective of the day's
march. After an hour's halt for supper for the men and animals, the last stage
was made to the night's camp, which was reached at 10:00 P. M. by the last battery,
making a total day's march of seventeen hours including two halts of an
hour each. The command bivouacked for the night on a grassy plot near the railway
station, the officers being quartered in several of the small hotels. Marching
into camp, the batteries were reviewed by the commander, the young recruits
executing "eyes right" with a grimness and determination which provoKed most
favorable comment from the observers. Not a man had fallen out and the only
casualties had been one horse killed and one severely wounded_
The second day's march was over a mountain road paralleling a valley and was
of some twenty kilometers in length. After reveille at 7:00 A. :\1., the morning
hours were devoted to cleaning equipment and preparing for the march which was
begun at 11 :00 A. :\1., the objective being reached at 4 :30 P. :\1. The heat was very
oppressive and little air -was stirring so that the men and animals suffered more
fatigue on this day's march than on the much longer one of the first day.
The unusually good comradship existing between the officers and men of the
Swiss Army was illustrated by several instances of the officers assisting tired men
with their packs and rifles. The noon meal this day, carried as usual in the fireless
cookers, consisted of oatmeal soup, supplemented by bread and raw bacon
carried in the men's haversacks. Raw bacon is considered a great delicacy by
the Swiss.
The third day's march, over a difficult pass, was begun in the cool of the
morning at 5:00 A. :\1., the ascent being comparatively easy, but the descent extremely
difficult as the trail was narro-w and so muddy and in places so rocky
that at first sight it did not seem possible to get the animals down without
accident. In the descent. the two "steering straps," fastened on to the rear part of
the horses' harness and held by one and in some cases by two follow-up men, -were
the only means of saving the animals from losing their balance and toppling headforemost.
The trail was much too narrow to permit the guns to be set up so that
the heavy -weights had to be carried by the animals for the entire distance. Camp
was reached at 2:30 P. :\1.
The fourth march was expected to be so difficult that a working party of six
officers and forty men was sent out at 5:00 P. :\1. The next morning a hea.,y rain
-was falling which greatly hampered the work of preparing the trail and of ad-
vancing supplies for crossing the pass. Convoys -were sent up to the advance base
both morning and afternoon. every horse and mule carrying two bales of straw
(90 pounds each) or hay 1100 pounds each) or its equivalent. By noon next day
all the stores for the crossing had been aceumulated at the advance base.
The following morning the passage of the pass "as commenced. The ascent
was so arranged that the gunners of the third battery should accompany and
assist the leaders of the leading battery, while the gunners of the leading battery
should descend and assist the leaders of the third battery, while both joined in
assisting the intermediate battery. In addition to these general precautions, six