Speed on Foot

The Germans announced last week that infantry forces had for 16 days advanced at the rate of 22 miles a day. This was extraordinary speed.

The U.S. Army considers 14 miles a day good speed, 16 miles exceptional. There have been few more spectacular marches. During the siege of Gergovia, Caesar's men marched 50 miles in one day, fought a battle, marched back next day; but that one was an overnight stunt. Napoleon's crack Imperial Guard marched 33 miles a day for 13 days in the campaign against Prussia, 1806. World's record for sustained marching belongs to Alexander, who after the Battle of Arbela, 331 B.C., pushed his infantry 36 1/2 miles a day for eleven days.

The march most comparable to Hitler's into Russia (because both were jobs involving extensive engineering tasks) was William Tecumseh Sherman's through Georgia. General Sherman made only twelve miles a day.

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