The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-23

RUSSIAN ARMY DUTY.
The Varied Accomplishments the
Soldiers Must Possess
A Practice Vancouver Which illustrates
the Severe Tasks They Are Some
times Eeqrired to Per
form.

In the German army every soldier
| is taught to act intelligently on out
| post service and in scouting opera
tons, and this is not too much to re-
| quire in a country where every soldier
reads and writes. and cal readily IN
derstand map and compass In Rus
sia- however, where nine-tenths of the
people cannot read or write, and have
lost the faculty of thinking consecu-
| lively, the army cannot teach the SOL
der much more than to move as with a
machine. In order to have force of
good men for picket-work and ad-
Understanding, writes Poultney
Bigelow in Harper's Magazine, they
have adopted this plan:
Each company sends four of its most
intelligent men TO a select body called
the scouting-corps. and as the Russian
regiment has four battalions, with
four companies each, that gives regi-
mental scout force of sixty-four. This
service is very popular, for it is full of
7ariety, and, though the hardship is
great, the food is good, for hunting
and fishing are in the programme.
1lO lLCil al lJL G-SliSCd ia CsCl hilld VI
woodcraft, and are expected to de-
velop as much ingenuity and self-reli-
ance as an Indian scout in our service.
They must sail, row, climb, find their
way by map and compass, slip through
the enemys lines, procure every va
riety of information, and escape cap
ture at all hazards.
They are splendid fellows" said
Schutzenbers, in answer to a question
OF mine. Here is what they did last
winter when snow was on the ground
and floating ice in the streams:
You must know that we attach
very great Importance to creeping up
close to the enemy and watching his
movements. Well, for little practice
in this respect l called my sixty-four
men together one morning in the bar
backyard. and divided them into two
sides, each commanded by non-com-
missioned officers. l pointed out on
the map position which one side was
to watch, and indicated the direction
from which an attack was to be antici-
patedL Another position I selected for
the other side. Neither side knew what
the other side was to attempt, but each
had orders to slip behind the lines of
the other, and steal three flags that
had been posted about a mile and
half in the rear of the line that was to
be protected. The difficult part of the
problem was that neither side knew
anything Of the positions beyond what
was shown them on the map in the
barrack-yard, and the non-commis-
stoned officers had to transmit this
knowledge to their men.
Each party found the right position,
and, after posting sentry. detached
party to steal the flags of the enemy.
Six men of the one party went off,
each on his own account. Two of them
We're captured, one OF them failed to
find the flags because he could not re-
member the topography of the map,
and one succeeded in finding the flags !
and bringing them back to the non
commissioned officer. The remaining |
two found the spot after the flags were
gone. and described the spot, so that
there was no doubt that they had been !
there. The six men detailed on the |
other side remained together, and /,
were discovered when close to the |
picket line. They were fred upon:
two were captured, and the remaining !
four pursued to stream forty feet |
wide near here. In spite Of the float |
ing ice, they sprang in and struggled |
TO the other side. The pursuers hest
tated a moment at the sight Of the |
ice blocks, then they followed. One !
was captured in the water because he
was hampered by the ice. The rest
but one of the followers
in spite of his ice bath, to
sneak away with the flags of the en-
emV."