Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-17
LESSONS OF THE WAR
Commander Miyaoka Gives the Result Of
His Military and Naval Observations.
Changes Made In the Arms of Soldiers
and In Heavy OrdnUnce-Naval
Lessons Learned.

Commander Miyaoka, an attache of the
japanese legation. referring to the militar.
operations of the Japan-China war jus,
closed, said: 'It has afforded a wide field
of observation on modern methods of war
fare, as 1t has been the first great con,
fiict since the Franco-German war, when
the implements of war We're far less adj
vanced than they are now. At the outset
the Japanese soldiers were armed with
old-style rifle, and the battle of Ping
Yang was fought with single-fire guns
Among the guns captured from the Chinese
it was found that they had a few very
superior repeating rifles, although the bulk
of their arms were primitive and useless
Japan has since undertaken to re-arm all
her soldiers with repeating rifle of the
latest type. Already about one-third OF
the troops have this new arm, and the
government arsenals are hard at work
turning out the guns for complete equip
ment The new gun Is after a French
model of ESQ or OBJ caliber. and is ex-
tremely simple, having but one screw to
unlock its entire mechanism. This sim
plicity is regarded as very essential, as
1t has been found that soldiers. particu-
gun. and their effectiveness is much re-
duced thereby.
As tO Heavy Ordnance.
nedNy OTuHdHCS lner JApdnSSe lave
used Krupp, Armstrong. and Hotehkiss
guns, and have found that they are the
best available. There are no Maxim rapid
fire guns muse, but the army and navy are
both supplied with an italian rapid-fre gun
which has proved very effective. The heav-
Ter guns are made In other countries. but
the lighter field pieces are made IN Japan s
gun factories. These equipments have been
in marked contrast with the antiquated
nf nf he Chinese The
of Ii Hung Chang were we'll armed and
we'll drilled, but the others had bows, ar
rows. spears and old-time' single-fire mus
kets
THE war footing of the japanese army
is now up to 10000 men. The peace foot
ing was 10000, distributed In six garrisons.
Now that the war is over it is not likely
that an immediate reduction will be made
back to the peace basis, for If the final
terms of peace include cessions of territory,
permanent or temporary, there will have to
be forces for these localities, besides equip
ping the six home garrisons. The military
headquarters have been at Hiroshima dur
ing the war. the naval docks there gave
ready access to the feet, but with the
restoration of peace the headquarters will
go back to Toxic. The designation of Prince
komatsu, as commander-in-chief, was un-
doubtedly for purposes Immediately con-
nected with the war, and his service in that
capacity is not likely to be permanent.
Valuable Naval Lessons.
1.-The lessons in the naval branch have
been no less valuable than those of the mil
itary. The particular value of the cruiser
as compared with the battleship has been
thoroughly demonstrated. The deadly ef-
fects- of the torpedo boat have also been
shown. 1 have watched the work of these
craft with special interest, as 1 was in
structor at the torpedo school, and a num-
ber of my students have distinguished
themselves on the torpedo boats. OF the
two Chinese battleships captured at Wei
Hai-Wei one is partially sunk, her upper
decks being just visible above the water,
and it is not yet certain whether the Jap
anese wreokers will be able to save her.
The other one is afloat and can probably
be restored although one side is badly
torn open by torpedoes and other explo-
SiVeS."