Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-01-03
THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
Its Strength, Quality, Organization, Eft

army at about 100000 men, of al
arms, and the force that might be di
rected to the shores of the Bosphorus
in the event of war, at from 100000 te
400, 900, an army numerically worthy
of the times of Xerxes, and Infinitely
more powerful. In 1886 Russia sen
as large force to the Crimea, having
France to combat as well as England
not to speak of the other allies. Sn
corps are now being modified on tn.
frontier for the purpose of arrestins
the Christian provinces under thu
grinding rule of the Porte from it,
grasp, and disrupting that power, Some
facts, then, as to the colossal military
power which is about to execute this
long threatened movement, unless its
demands are complied with, may be
found interesting by our readers.
The quality of the Russian army is
IN some respects, very good. In intel
ligence, the rank and file may be in
ferior to the French and German, but
| it excels both in hardness and endur.
ance. The men are sturdy and CAL
subsist on rations at which other troops
would turn up their noses. The infantry
will march thirty miles day and few
men will drop out of the ranks, unless
the country in which the army is Oh.
Grating happens to be unhealthy. The
army is we'll led, the officers being m en-
of intelligence and some of them hay
ing high attainments. AS lipguists
they excel the Germans; and this is
particularly the case with the staff. II
has been said that the sergeants of the
English army are its backbone" but
it is the officers who are the vertebra
of the Russian army.
The army is organized into corps of
three to four divisions, each, on q war
footing, numbering $4,000 to 10000.
The division consists of two brigades
and musters about 5000 men on its
rolls, and is formed of two regiments
of four battalions each. AS to the bat
talon, it is organized into four rotas
leach Of two companies, or $50 men,
and corresponding with the German
company. Care is taken to have the
full complement of officers with each
battalion on its entering the field, as so
much depends on them in the face of
an enemy; and the utmost respect is
exacted from the rank and file, 80 that
In the hour of danger the men may
from habit readily obey their superiors.
The army is classed into active and re-
served troops, the latter being used to
fill up the cadres of regiments, and call
ed out In time of war, or apprehended
war.
The infantry is the best arm of the
service, being noted for its steady quail
tiles and endurance. The men are
sturdy and in general stout, but not
very intelligent, though some are not
behind the troops of other nations.
They are coarsely clothed, but are
clean and healthy. 1t is not rare to
see ruddy complexion. AS to the
discipline, it is strict if not severe, and
has rendered the Russian infantry what
it is. The army is organized into
bodies called corps darn,ee, stationed
about the various important strategical
points of the empire. About St. Pc
tersburg there is always an elite corps
In time of war, cavalry as well as ar
tillery is attached to the corps, two bat
teries of the latter arm being attached
to each division, and a reserve of the
same assigned to this body when it en-
tiers the field. A Russian corps d'arm,ee
is in fact small army, complete in all
it's parts, and adapted to act alone, yet
forming part of a larger body or grand
army. It not only has cavalry and ar
tillery attached to it, but detachment
of engineers. AS to the cavalry acting
with the corps, it is light, in some cases
regular Cossacks, who do scouting
duty, and that they do well, and fur
nish escorts, etc. The infantry are all
armed with breech-loaders.
In point of numbers the cavalry
come next to the infantry. The men
are chosen for strength of arm and
size, as well as dash. A large part of
the light cavalry consists of regular
Cossacks, and their wild brethren add
thousands to the force in time of war.
The line of heavy cavalry is all regular,
and the men picked for size. AS a
body, the Cossacks are we'll mounted.
though some of the Cossack regiments
bestride small horses, unable to resist
the shock of charge of regular cav
airy, but very hardy and active. This
arm is organized into regiments of four
squadrons, brigades Of two regiments,
and divisions Of two brigades. It is
rarely in such number as to require or
ganization into corps. To each divis-
ion of cavalry is attached a battery of
horse artillery-that is, artillery adapt
ed to accompany the movements of
cavalry. A large part of the arm con-
sists of lancers, and the Cossack reg
iments all carry this weapon. The
heavy sabre and pistols are the arms of
the line cavalry.
Much attention has been recently
devoted to the artillery, to render it
equal to that of other armies, and to-
day it stands at the head of the Russian
forces military establishment. The
men are chosen both for activity and
intelligence, and receive better pay than
the infantry, while their clothing is
more snowy. The artillery are organ
lied into batteries of six guns, and
classed into horse artillery and line
artillery. A battery of the latter are
attached to each brigade of infantry in
time of war, and one of horse artillery
to each division of cavalry. Besides
this distribution of artillery, q reserve is