The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-13 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN ARMY.

(Front a Coprespondent of the Times.)
BERLIN, APRIL B.—The six armee corps,. as the
six infantry corps are now called, were mentioned
in a preceding 1, tter as composing the "First
Army ; ' there is, however, no longer any " Second
Army," and all bodies .of troops not directly a'-
, tithed to this first main army are designated as
"-separate corps." The former terms, "Active,"
"Central," " West," 'and "South Army," have
ceased-to have any significance or application, since
all have been united with the name of First Army,
under the Command-in-chief of Prince Michael
DmitriewitSch Gortschakoff 1., Adjutant-beneral,
General of Ar illery, and. Stadtholder of Poland.
The propriety of. superseding the designation of
infantry corps with that of armee !corps semi to
have been induced by the circumstance of the
additional brigade of dragoons having been at-
tached to it, by which alteration the propor-
tion of cavalry to infantry in a regillar armee
corps--=-viz., six regiments of horse, to 12 regiments
of foot—has' been attained.
' 'The union of the Guard and of the Grenadier
corps under one common commander has also been
done away with ; and each of these bodies of troops
firms now a "separate corps." The higher charges
in the army altogether, and more particularly the
enormous staffs with which they were accompanied
have been very much simplified. The post of com-
mander of brigade, whether of infantry or of
cavalry, has been abelilhed throughout the army,
with the e Kception •of the separate corps in the
Caucasus, where they are
.still filled by major-
generals. The generals of brigade have been at-
tached to the generals of armee corps and divisions
as assistant-generals (PomoschtSchik), and subor-
dinated to them. There is at least one such Po-
moschtschik attached to every division of infantry,
and to every division of light cavalry two, a senior
and junior Pomoschtschik. In addition to the sim-
plification of the routine of business thus attained

the retrenchment of expense mustalso be very con-
siderable, for there are about 80 posts of Brigadier-
Generals thin swept away, together with their
bureaux, adjutants, orderlies, rations, &c.
In addition to the Assistant-Generals, each divi-
sion of infantry and cavalry has'a 'chef of the staff,
under whose control the staff of the division with
the usual personnpl stands ; on the other hand, the
very numerous staffs that were formerly attached to
each armee corps, have been abolished, and thus
the Commander of Division has become much more
independent. Throughout all the changes in this
branch of the service the intention is apparent—
by the staffs ; while, on the other hand, the
try command is exercised much more directly, and
is not so liable to be weakened by intervening in-
stances.
There have also been changes effected in the

separate Caucasian corps ; the Brigade of Caucasian
Grenadiers of the Reserve las been extended into a
division.of Caucasian Grenadiers ; the former con-
si,ted of a regiment of Grenadiers and one of Cara-
bineers, but the latter consisted of four regiments
of Grenadiers. The two regiments here added have
been forme] out of the 41st and 42d regiments of
infantry, which composed the 2d Brigade of the 21st
Division of Infantry ; and in the places of these

latter the two new regitnents " Crimea" and "Se-
bastopol" have been raised. The total number of re-
giments of infantry thus remains unchanged—viz.,
61 With regard to the frontier battalions attached
to this corps (Grusian, Black Sea, and Caucasian),
it is to be noticed that the 16 battalions Black Sea
have been reduced to six ; but whether this has
been occasioned by losses during the war or by
draughting thp men off into the two newregiments,
Crimea and Sebastopol, is not clear. The reserve,
which has been throw* into abeyance throughout
the rest of the army, is still tin full force in this
" separate corps." It consists of a reserve brigade
of Grenadiers, a reserve brigade of infantry for
each of the 19th, 20th, and 21st Divisions of Infan-
try, and a half-brigade for the ri frontier batta-

lions. The existence -of the reserve battalion of
Rifles in the separate Caucasian corps has already
been mentioned.

While speaking of the frontier battalions, it may
be mentioned that of late two Cronstadt frontier
battalions have been raised and attached to the
Guard ; but there still exist, as before, 10 batta-
lions Orenburg, 12 Siberian, and 4 East Siberian—
all attached to the respective separate corps. On
the other hand, the former 22 Finland battalions
have been reduced to 10. In all these frontier bat-
talions the hitherto existing organisation of brigade
has been retained.

On the whole; although a considerable number
of new regiments have been formed, it does not
appear that any material increase has taken place in
the Russian standing army ; on the other hand, the
reserve and supplementary bodies of troops which
had been raised for the term of the war have all

)een disbanded, and of this whole reserve force

there exists now in conne-tion with each arme•
corps only the cadre, or skeleton," of a division of
reserve infantry under the command of a lieutenant-
general, with a major-general as his deputy or assis-
tant. The sole exception to this is formed by the
.divisions of Artillery, which still retain their re-
serve brigades extant and. active. The 12 reserve
regiments of the Infantry of the Guard, 12 ditto
'Grenadiers, each consisting of three battalions,
together with the 84 reserve regiments of infantry
(FirAt Army), each consisting of two reserve and two
supplementary battalions, making altogether 408
battalions, have all been disbanded. To these latter
must be added the reserves of the different kinds of
cavalry and the whole militia of the empire. But,
although the troops of the reserve have been dit-
banded, the system of the reserve organisation has
not been abandoned, but, on the contrary, retained,
and every care is being bestowed on it to bring it,
if possible,, to perfection. On the whole this system
is Considered in Russia to have worked well ; such
imperfections as have shown themselves are not
looked on as outweighing tile many great advan-
tages it offers—such, for instance, as the facilities it
gives for forming new battalions for the Active
Army.
One of my informants,' to whom I am indeVed
for the above particulars of the changes that have
taken plaze of late in the external organisation of
the Russian army, assures me further that a no less
remarkable chanle has taken place in the morale of

the army. The intellectual activity of the military,
in common with the general spirit of the whole
nation, is des.iihed as in a state of rapid develop-
ment, and the army is said to have already arrived
at a consciousness of its having entered uilbn a new
phase of its history.