Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-12
HOW ARMIES ARE NUMBERED.
An Exclamation rs to How Estimates
of Strength DIFFER.

| From the London News.
MANY people must have been puzzled at
the discrepancy between the various est-
mates of the strength Of the British armies
| in South Africa. Thus in the early days OF
| the war we read that the Natal Held force
| consisted now of 10000 men and now OF
| less than 1900. So at the present moment
| the total force at the disposal OF our gen.
| erals at the seat of war is calculated some
| times at $1,000 or more ana sometimes at d
little over COCO,
The discrepancy is explained by the fact
| that these different sets of figures refer TO
different states" conditions OF the
army Taking our army corps as nominal
| " constituted, ii numbers a grand total OF
$50 officers and men, OF these, however
| a large number are techncai troops ~
charge of the pontoons, field telegraph, rail-
way appliances, balloons, field batteries,
field hospitals and transport arrangements
| Though without them no army could take
the field though they are absolutely lndls-
pensa BILE in modern war, they are common
| ly omitted from calculations of forces, since
they do not fight and are not expected TO
| fight. ,, ,or,
gerous work than any of the troops in the
field; for instance, in Napoleon's retreat
from Moscow the French engineers had to
bridge the river BereZina under heaVy Ire,
standing up to their waists in freezing wa
ter. Many died of exposure in this fearful
work, but the bridge was built.
the strength of a division in infantry, cav
airy and artillery is 9,449 men with eight
cen guns; of an army corps 5Q,f99 men
with 102 guns. But as soon as these troops
take the field there are fresh deductions of
all kinds to be made. In the hrst place,
losses in battle in killed. wounded and
missing have to be struck of.
Missing" it should be said, is an elastic
term. 1t may mean thG men have been
killed and not discovered; it may mean
that they have been taken prisoners, or it
may mean that they have struggled or de-
serted. Luckily in our own day desertion
in the fact of the enemy is the rarest pos
sible thing, and struggling on the line OF
march is unusual. 1t was not always so.
Wellington after the battle Of Victoria,
wrote: Il do not know what to do with
our vagabond soldiers. By the state OF
yesterday We had 1880 men less under
arms than We had the day before the bat
tie They are not in the hospitals, nor
are they killed, nor have they fallen into
the hands of the enemy. believe they are
concealed in the villages in the mountains"
A few days later he returns 9,6Ss men as
missing
Besides the losses, there are the sick to
be deducted. These will vary in number
according to the care taken of the troops
and the character of the climate in which
they are campaigning. 1t is an open secret
that in the latter stages of the French
conquest of Madagascar good deal more
than half of the French force was usually
in hospital. Forced marches where the
men are called upon to make exceptional
SSeTlohS auG greatly 10 lile llSl u SlCh
Probably in the average division from / to
per cent of sick must be allowed for, which
would give 80 to 100 men absent from this
cause
Lastly, when army is fighting, it is
compelled to make attachments for such
purposes as guarding the line of communi-
cations or watching its camp, or to serve
as depots at the base The strength of
these detachments varies with the length
of the line its proximity to the enemy's
territory and the mobility of the enemy.
In addition to our army corps and quite
apart from it, seven battalions of infantry
and three batteries of artillery are appro-
priated to the guarding of these lines.
This is total of about 1900 men.