The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-12-26
G[RMANY'S MIGHTY ARMY.
THE FINEST FIGHTING MACHINE IN
THE WORLD.
Nearly Two and 0ne-Haif Hiihons OF
Fully Trained Men Who Can He
Called Under Arms. and Hair
MILAN More Available for Service


department CT the English war Office
has just issusd a little volume q
over De pages Shic5 brings ~ 20 Gate al
that foreigners are ever likely 70 want 10
know Of The mighty mass q four millions
OF men who ara ~ the beck and call OF
Kaiser william az waT lord q Germany
TIE German state begins 20 lay rs hand
on the compulsory service OF IFS young
men at the age OF H. when they are en-
rolled n the landsturm to ,ae end OF tnsr
18th year. This service. however. except
during actual Ear. Is mere nominal than
rsal The grip ttEh.ens at the beginning
~ the aiss year until the end % Aarca IN
the year Ia which tie man becomes -
years Of age. full Thus every German
r. liable 20 active service for the best nine
teerr years OF his life. He belongs 20 the
standing army FOR seven years, OF winch
5hree are spent In the cavalry and horse
artillery and four in the Reserve. or two
IN the ether arms with Eve IN the reserve.
The TWO. or three, years with The colofs
are periods Of sncesSant hard work, Dat,
though IL IN no doubt possible 10 train an
infantry man In tgo years. II must be very
seriously questioned whether field gunner
has in that space Of time learned all he
ought 10 know. Yet German field artillery
looks very smart AT the age or = or -
the new trained man returns To MS home.
from which. In the majority nf cases, re
has 70. been far distant. but until he Is q
that he IL OF the first levy OF the iandwehr,
for three years in the mounted arms. and
five In the dismounged, and III the second
levy until he is on the verge OF ~ years
of age.
ton OF "the blood-tax." AS he has been
from II to % in the first levy or the land
sturm SO he goes TO the second levy unia
he has completed his forty-hfth year.
There is an ''Ersatz' reserve. from IL 10
a. Of men who do not undergo training IN
der arms. though some sort OF training,
but since there have been the recent in-
creases ia the annual eontiagants Tor the
fighting forces the Eraatz reserve Is now
composed mainly Of men with certain ply
steal innrlnities. who do work in the medi-
cal and administrative services. Besides
all these classes there is one which IS
rather anomalous. but is found practically
useful IL is composed of men OF certain
education who engage 10 "nnd" them
selves In clothes and food. These men
from the source from which the reserve
gets the majority of It's officsrs~-a weak
spot. SURETY There are also two. three
and fou--year volunteers who intend TO de-
vote their lives 10 the army. and who may
re-engaEe when they become non-com-
rnissioned officers. Officers are obtained
from the cadet corps. or from men who
join the ranks With thu purpose OF ohtain-
ing commissions. But even the mighty
kaiser cannot force a young man on II
regiment as an officer, He must he ac-
capted' BY the officers Of the regiment.
and once accepted" he has not 10 find
his life made miserable IA In some. though
few. of our crack" corps.
The categoF!es OF tina army are: 81
Field troops. comprising the standing
army, brought up TO war strength from
the reserve: 20 field reserve troops. formed
mostly from the first levy of the land
wehr. CD landw1hr troops. who would
commonly be used on lines Of communica-
ton or In garrison: (n depot troops who
serve to repair the waste I'm the held and
keep the numbers up TO full war strength;
and 60 the landsturm troops. who are
for home defense, but may be utilized
10 reinforce any OF the other categories."
The landsturm IN estimate as containing
80 fewer than 3, 900 men, OF whom 49,
90 only have been trained though the
proportion will be greater in future while
there are available for war ut any time:
Eighteen contingents OF fully
Trained men .................2i 100 90
Three OF four-year volunteers a40oo
one-Year volunteers .-...... ......,, lns GO
fIsata reserve men ....... ......... 40 90
Total ........ .......-. ............. g. 013 COO
The present organization aims at hav-
Ing. when twenty-four conilngents be-
come available. $4,000 trained men al
ways ready for war. The landwehr IL
Liable TO be called up for training occa-
s'gsp,ahF the ia5iustuFn escapes training.
me force Is. In peace time. ga bat
taiions OF infantry. 4g5 squadrons of cav
airy. - batteries OF field and horse artiI-
lery. besides SIX at the school OF gunnerv
making 800 batteries: or for war so0
guns. 81 artillery battaIions of foot or gar
rison artillery. q battalions OF engineers
seven hat''iions OF railway troops. and
81 oattaAohs OF tram" or. as Va should
say. army service aad ordnance corns g.
Formed Into nineteen army corps. each OF
two divisions. each division having two
brigades OF infantry and other troops In
proportion. But three OF the Ravar4an
army corps are Of three divisions and IL,
the Frussian guard the cavalry forms a
separate division OF four hFigadcs. Each
infantry and cavalry brigade has two
regiments. and Some Infantry hrisy,ssz
have rife hattaions'' attached. which In
some corps are under the corps comma nd
or. and these form c0rps as apart frou
divisional troops, ZACH army c9rDs con,-
mandcr Is independently responsible far
his oNu district. receiving orders only
from the emperor ana thus ostr tsffra a.
za'ion IN the war office is avoided Ahova
the army corps In time OF war is the field
army. There would b five ~ these each
composed 81 four or Eve army eo,pS- tv,
or three cavalry divisions ana Some -
serve divisions. The strength of an army
corps Is so.Al6 comta Jants and 66N non.
ConhatAutE, ar fu sii g, ISL men vth
ujas horses and i9o guns Hut tho ae,uaI
f4Eattng strength is less than ths, uoy1,tY ~
comhstsnt sfrencth--that gS - 81 rsf1fas
- cavalry and ten dozen guns. The
reserve division would have II n, rit,as
eoa saecfs ana Ss guns ~ lighting strength
The nVhtng strength ~ A cavalry atvlsinr
8 SO with twelve guns
In The infantry each battalion has four
companies ami is regiments have three
hAst8llonS each. while forty have to-a Tina
division. av provinces or realms g.
Eleven regiments PRISE al guard Nina
~ fhTee and tFVo az two h2ttal{0nE
One hundred and gfgy-agc regiments
FraSSssn me Fwen'y~four 81 thrce hat
tSleus s0d thsrty-oue ef we Ntrrarfs.,s
Fifteen regiments SExNue. 7'u.grs-s -
to>S
Ter regiments q w;grter,ssi~e--f ,fr,- 80
turrs h2tr ATOMS srtf ssca ~ tsss ts..ts ft,>,.
TNrn.y -four regiments az H,verfsN
'Iwent T-'we - te:VH tsft2,aes avs tvs -
tn Hat,e}ieos
i%t't details - :Ne u~sf.rrn are esva,
w}-h Se1-e plates aH3 ta}e On TIE wns,,a
on better ard sT1cre readily es,a7preh.nxl.
hle plan than that of the German '-art-
r0rrG- books wsove traatte .ar-t-v ~
prttv details S. rather irritating tsar tn
rtrUr,ive. thNgrA every detail. hoNe.e.-
trs1uAje. a7<srs something A infantry
eaffer carries N3@ ro3Cs1s wesge. IN ga
service o-5r@. toclaGi0s a caNA.3e kHap-
The Right