Chapter VII

PARKS AND DEPOTS, SHELTERS AND HUTS, KITCHENS, OVENS, SINKS, LATRINES, WATER-SUPPLY, ETC.

PARKS AND DEPOTS.

=112.= =The Engineer and Artillery Parks and Depots= are located and arranged for security against the artillery-fire and the attack, by surprise or otherwise, of the defence, and also for facility in receiving, storing, and distributing materials and supplies.

The first condition is fulfilled by placing them at a safe distance, concealing them from the view of the defence if possible, and guarding them against attack, and the access of incendiaries, etc., by strict application of ordinary defensive tactics, and a most thorough system of interior guards. Powder depots, trains, etc., especially are guarded against the access of all unauthorized persons.

The second condition, when railroad communication is used, is satisfied by making the park conform to the best-planned railroad terminals and freight-yards. A type arrangement is given in Plate IX, Fig. 85, in which switches from the main line give access to as many side-tracks, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, etc., and spurs, 1, 2, 3, etc., as may be needed. When practicable, these sidings should connect at each end with the main line in order to afford free ingress and egress from both directions. They should be placed at such distances apart as to allow loading-platforms and the desired room for sheds, piles of materials, etc., between them; large areas being left for light, and small for heavy, materials. The spurs, 1, 2, 3, etc., should preferably be short; but if long, should be connected by switches. A Υ, as indicated, is frequently convenient for reversing complete trains without uncoupling the cars, and is indispensable when a turn-table is not available.

When the powder-depot is separated from the main park it is better to reach it by a special track branching from the main line at some distance from the park, so that the ammunition-trains will not pass through or near the latter. The sketch given is proposed as a type only, since the park may occupy one or both sides of the main line, be long and narrow, short and broad, regular or irregular in outline, as may best conform to the ground available.

Standard-gauge roads will, when practicable, be laid between the main park and the smaller depots. When this is not feasible, narrow-gauge tram-roads will be used instead, and will also connect the smaller depots with the trenches and batteries. The portable tramways used by contractors are well fitted for use in the trenches.

When the park is located upon navigable water a number of piers and wharves are occupied. They should be provided with derricks or cranes, and tracks and cars upon which materials may be loaded directly from the ships. The park may then be arranged on the general plan above indicated. The switches are so arranged as to allow empty cars to return to the wharves on a track different from that used by the loaded ones.

In storing materials and supplies in the park care must be taken to place each class by itself, and to so pile them that they can be readily inventoried and inspected, and be removed or replaced without disturbing other piles. This requires the piles to be arranged in regular order, with unobstructed passages between them, and prohibits piling articles of different kinds or sizes on top of each other.

SHELTERS AND HUTS.

=113.= In a regular siege, the besieging army will, as a regular rule, eventually be provided with tents or portable huts for shelter; but before this is accomplished much suffering and consequent disease may result from exposure, which could be avoided by the construction of temporary shelters, huts, and screens from materials available for this purpose.

In severe winter weather tents and thin wooden huts do not afford sufficient protection, and it may be necessary to substitute for them others with walls of logs, sods, sand-bags, adobe, or other materials, or even huts partly or entirely sunk into the earth. The greatest care must be exercised in enforcing proper ventilation and cleanliness in huts of this class. If this is not done serious fevers and other camp diseases are almost sure to occur. (Art of War, Art. 352-3.) The figures given (Plate IX, Figs. 86-94) have been selected from a great many examples to serve as suggestions. They may be modified or combined, as circumstances require. Their construction is evident from the figures, and requires no description. Ditches surrounding the huts are made to carry off rain-water. Heavy roofs are supported by poles set up inside the hut as needed. Fireplaces are dug in the sides of the excavation, or are built up of sods, clay, etc. It is better to make two, as shown, to obtain a good draught in any wind. Chimneys are made of sods or of sticks plastered with clay, unless drain-tiles, tin cans, or other suitable materials can be found. Great care must be taken to prevent their setting the roof on fire.

In many cases water-proof roofing felts and papers may be obtained and used for roofs, etc., in huts and shelters. The lumber from packing-boxes, tin from canned vegetables, and wire from baled forage may frequently be utilized for doors, chimneys, ties, etc. Straw mats for mattresses, etc., are economical in the use of straw and conduce to cleanliness, as they can be easily taken up and replaced. The method of making them is shown in Pl. IX, Fig. 95. When twine is not at hand, they may be woven of straw rope. They, as well as all other bedding, should be taken out and sunned every dry day. Ordinary hurdles laid upon the ground or raised a few inches above it protect the blankets, etc., from the moisture of the earth.

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon officers, that all devices of the kind above indicated, which add to the comfort of the men, add also to their health, morale, and efficiency.

KITCHENS AND OVENS.

=114.= In our service a company will usually have a camp-cooking outfit sufficient for its needs, and generally of good pattern; but these are not always on hand when needed, and small detachments are frequently deprived of them for days or weeks. In ordinary soil, kitchens, and in a clay soil ovens, can be constructed, which, with a few kettles and cans, will enable the men to prepare for themselves fairly good meals without unnecessary waste of fuel. A few of these are figured in Pls. IX, X, Figs. 96-103. The banks of the trench shown in Fig. 96 afford support for cross-bars, and protect the fire from the wind. The type shown in Figs. 97, 102, 103 take the place of a stove, require but little fuel, and secure a steady heat. To obtain a good draught they should be so built that the wind blows toward the chimney. For this purpose they may radiate from a central chimney. (The flues of those not in use may be temporarily stopped up with sods.) The arch of the oven shown in Pl. X, Fgs. 98-101, may be built over a piece of sheet iron if it can be obtained; if not, over a hurdle well smeared with clay. A slow fire will, under favorable conditions, dry and bake the clay arch so that it will stand after the brushwood of the hurdle is burned out. They may then be heated and used for baking.

LATRINES, SINKS, ETC.

=115.= Latrines and sinks for the reception of garbage, etc., are objects of the greatest importance in all camps, temporary or permanent; and, unless properly made and cared for, they speedily make their presence known, and become a most prolific source of discomfort and disease.

For permanent camps liable to be occupied for a long time special arrangements for the disinfection, removal, and destruction of garbage and excreta must be made. For temporary camps it will suffice to provide pits with suitable conveniences and screens; covering with a thin layer of the excavated earth all deposited garbage and excreta before they become offensive. When, as is sometimes the case, these pits cannot be kept free from water, it may be necessary to use in addition lime, copperas, carbolic acid, or other chemical disinfectants and deodorizers.

The ordinary constructions used in temporary camps are shown in Pl. X, Figs. 104-107. Separate latrines for officers are constructed and screened. The seat shown in Fig. 107, when one can be obtained, adds much to their comfort.

In more permanent camps the latrines may be roofed and screened with canvas or boards, and board seats be provided for the men. Uninclosed sinks and latrines should have earthen banks all around them, to indicate their position and to prevent men walking into them at night. Upon abandoning a camp all sinks and latrines are to be disinfected and filled up.

WATER-SUPPLY.

=116.= The problem of obtaining a sufficient and wholesome water-supply for a besieging army is usually one difficult of solution. The precautions which are necessary in ordinary camps (Art. of War, 352 and 358) become of still greater importance in this case, owing to the choice of the source of supply being limited to those which are not controlled by the besieged, and to the constantly increasing danger of pollution of all ground waters by the bodies of the dead men and animals and the refuse and filth of the camps. The evils arising from these sources may be largely or entirely removed by boiling the drinking-water, and the disagreeable tastes and smells may be removed by filtering through good filters. It is very difficult, however, to compel the men to boil the water, or to drink it after it is boiled, unless it is properly aerated and filtered. All available measures should, therefore, be adopted to supply them with wholesome water.

The results of the most recent researches show that properly conducted _intermittent filtration_ with sand-filters will render a polluted water almost if not entirely safe. (See reports of Massachusetts State Board of Health on Purification of Sewage and Water, 1890.) And the analysis of water sterilized by a steam-jet at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893, gives reason to believe that this process may be very effective in removing disease germs. (See report of Allen Hazen, Chemist, Department of Water-supply, published in _Engineering News_, March 29, 1894.) In camps of some permanence one or both of these processes may be well worth applying.

Small filters for limited amounts of water may be bought in the market, or may be improvised and set up for officers or company messes. Figs. 108-110, Pl. X, are given as suggestions; they serve as strainers in any case. If used intermittently they _may_ have a high sanitary value, and if made up partly of either animal or wood charcoal they remove more or less completely any offensive taste or odor which water may have. Security, however, requires doubtful water to be boiled.

In all cases arrangements should be made to protect the water from surface pollution, for convenient access for the men, and for watering horses.

(See the following books, treating on Military Hygiene in Camp and Garrison: Parker’s Practical Hygiene; Traité d’Hygiène Militaire, Morache; Manuel d’Hygiène militaire, Viry; Military Hygiene, Woodhull; the Soldier’s Pocket-book, Wolseley; etc., etc.)