The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-26
GERMANS ARMY ORGANIZATION.
Probably the Finest Fighting Mach
inc in the World, or Ever Known
in History.
From The London Chronicle.

in History.
From the London Chronicle.
The intelligence department of the war
Office has just issued for Is Sd a little
volume of over 200 pages, which brings up
to date all that foreigners are ever likely
to want to know of the mighty mass of
100000 Of men who are at the beck and
call of Kaiser William as war lord of Ger
many. The German state begins to lay
its hand on the compulsory service of its
young men at the age of II, when they
are enrolled in the landstrum to the end
of their 10th year. This service however
except during actual war, is more nominal
than real The grip tightens at the begin
ming Of the 2lst year until the end of
March in the year in which the man be-
comes 80 years of age, full. Thus every
German is liable to active service for the
best nineteen years Of his life He belongs
TO the standing army for seven years, of
which three are spent in the cavalry and
horse artillery and four in the reserve, or
two in the other arms with five in the re-
serve. The two, or three, years with the
colors" are periods of incessant hard
work, but. though it is no doubt possible
TO train an infantry man i'm two years,
it must be very seriously questioned
whether a field gunner has in that space
a
German field artillery looks very smart.
At the age of p or % the now trained
man returns to his home, from which, in
the majority of cases, he has not been far
distant, but until he is % he still belongs
to the active army. After that he Is OF
the first levy of the landwehr, for three
years in the mounted arms and five in
the dismounted, and in the second levy
until he is ON the verge of 40 years of age.
Nor is he even then free from the oper-
alton Of "the blood tax" AS he has been
from II to 20 in the first levy of the land
strum, so he goes to the second levy until
he has completed his 4Jth year. There is
an "Ersatz" reserve, from II to As, OF men
who do not undergo training under arms,
though some sort of training, but since
there have been the recent increases in
the annual contingents for the fighting
forces the Ersatz reserve is now COM
posed mainly of men with certain physi-
cal infirmities, who do work in the medi-
cal or administrative services. Besides all
these classes there is one which is rather
anomalous but is found practically use
full. ii is composed Of men of certain ed
ucation who engage TO ''hnd' themselves
in clothes and food. These men form the
source from which the reserve gets the
majority Of it's officers-a weak spot. sure
ly! There are also TWO, three and four
year volunteers who intend to devote
their lives TO the army and who may re-
engage when they become non-comrnis-
stoned officers Officers are obtained from
the cadf corps, or from men who Join
the ranks with the purpose of obtaining
commissions. But even the mighty kaiser
cannot force a young man on a regiment
as an officer. He must be accepted" by
the officers of the regiment, and once
accepted" he has not TO find his life
made miserable as in some, though few,
Of our "crack" corps.
The categories Of the army are: ID Field
troops, comprising the standing army,
brought no to war strength from the re-
serve; (9 field reserve troops, formed
mostly from the first levy of the land
wehr; CD landwehr troops, who would
commonly be used on lines of communica-
ton or IN garrison; "a depot troops who
serve to repair the waste in the field and
keep the numbers up 70 full war strength;
and % the landsturm troops who are for
home defense. but may be utilized to re-
inforce any of the other categories." The
landsturm Is estimated as containing no
fewer than 315O,OO0 men, of whom $4,000
only have been trained though the proper
ton Will be greater In future while there
are available for war at any time:
Eighteen contngents of fully train
cd men ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 2, 400, 900
Three Of four-year volunteers. 80 600
One-year volunteers ................. 100000
Ersatz reserve men .................. 10000
100000
The present organization aims at having,
when twenty-four contngents become
available, 10000 trained men always
ready for war. The landwehr Is liable to
be called up for training occasionally; the
landsturm escapes training.
. The force Of. Ia peace time. ga battal-
ions Of infantry, 49, squadrons Of caval-
ry, 49f batteries of field and horse artil-
lery, besides six at the school of gunnery,
making 800 batteries; or, for war, 5000
guns, q artillery battalons Of foot or gar
rison artillery, % battaions Of engineers,
seven battalions Of railway troops and q