The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-06-01
RUSSIAN ARMY DUTY.
Tho Varied Accomplishments the
Soldiers Must Possess.
A Practice Vancouver Which Illustr tcs
tho Severe Tasks They Are Some
times Required to Per-
form.

In the German army every soldier
is taught to act intelligcntly on out
post service and in scouting opera
tions. and this is not too much to re-
quirc in q country where every soldier
reads and writes, and can readily I'M
derstand n map and compass. In Rus
STA, however, where nine-tcnths of the
people cannot read or write, and have
lost the faculty of thinking consccu-
lively, the army cannot teach the sol
dicr much more than to move as with n
machine. In order to have force of
good men for picllet-work and adj
aacc-sllirmishing, writes Poultncy
Bigelow in Harpcr's Magazine, they
have adopted this plan:
Each company sends four of it's most
intelligent men to select body called
the scouting-c corps, and as the Russian
regiment has four battalions, with
four companies each, that gives Il regi-
mental scout force of sixty-four. This
service is very popular, for it is full of
variety, and, though the hardship is
great, the food is good, for hunting
and fishing are in the programme
The men are practiced in every kind of
woodcraft, and are expected to de-
'SiCP as anu SclI-rcl-
ancc rs an Indian scout in our service
They must sail, row, climb, find their
way by map and compass, slip through
the cncmys lines, procure every va
ricty of information, and escape cap
turc at all hazards.
They are splendid fellows" said
Schutzcnberg, in answer to Il 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 Il little racticc
in this respect called my sixty-four
men together one morning in the bar
backyard, and divided them into two
SIDES. each commanded by non-com-
missioncd officers. pointed out on
the map position which one side was
TO watch, and indicated the direction
from which an attack was to he antici-
patcd. Another position 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 Il mile and q.
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.
Zach party found the right position,
and, after posting sentry. detached a
party TO steal the flags of the enemy.
Six men of the one party went off,
each on his own account. Two of them
were captured, one OF them failed to
lind 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
othcr side remained together. and
were discovered. when close to the
picket line. They wrrc fired upon:
two were captured and the remaining
four pursued to a stream forty feet
wide near here. In spite of the float
ing ice, they sprang in and struggled
TO the other side. The pursucrs hcs-
tatcd 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
escaped; but one of the followers
managed, in spite of his ice bath, to
sneak away with the flags of the en-
cmy."