The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-03-18

! enable us to advance a step toward
penetration of the customary veil of
mystery which enshrouds the proceed
ings of Russian armies in the field.
| Until evidence is given to disprove
the very complete and remarkable sum-
mary of the Russian forces east of
Lake Baikal, sent by the Peking cor
respondent of the Times on January
/ 81, the estimate of numbers therein
given holds the field. Reckoning up
| the available troops of all arms, the
correspondent placed the total strength
on the date given at 100000 men and
| 266 guns. His telegram must be re-
garded as tour de force in the art of
military intelligence, and as a model
of accurate and concise reporting. A
critical examination of the very conf
plete details sent in this remarkable
telegram only serves to confirm it's
accuracy at almost every point
1t includes the whole of the troops
of the First and Second Siberian army
corps and of the Kwantung military
district, besides fortress troops, from
tier guards and other forces not inclu-
ded in the larger units now present in
East asia.
The names or numbers and the nor
NAL garrisons of all these troops are
known IN England, and all information
concerning them can therefore be rig
orously checked. The telegram in
question contains proof that account
has been taken of the latest changes
in Russian military organization in the
Far East since it enumerates regiments
which have only been formed during
the last few weeks on the strength of
advices of quite recent date.
We are also enabled for the first
time to ascertain which army corps in
the West is being drawn upon for re-
Inducements. OF four regiments nam
ed, nos 1913, 124, 100 and 40. the first
two belong to the Tenth Russian army
corps of the Kharkoff district, and the
remainder to the Seventeenth or Mos
COW army corps. Whether the remain
ing units of these corps are under or
ders or on the move Eastward there is
a t present nothing to show.
Besides these regiments of the active
army, there are, it would appear, six
teen battalions of reserve infantry in
Manchuria. 1t is probable, but it is
not quite certain, that these belong to
the First Siberian reserve brigade,
whose headquarters are at Chita. The
Times correspondent very properly
remarks that the numbers he gives
represents the full war strength and
takes no account of waste. The num-
bers, in point of fact. accurately repre-
sent the war strengths which are cred
tied to Russian units by the best and
latest information at disposal. The
Russian troops in East Asia are always
nominally on a war footing, and it may
be added that for some time past COM
panies of infantry have been drawn
from European garrisons and sent East
to complete electives
Many considerations arise from a
close study of this information. 1t
would appear that out of 266 field guns
only thirty-siX are of the new quick
firing pattern. This statement may be
compared with the announcement that
has been made on the faith of German
reports of Russian origin that the
whole of the artillery to be employed
against Japan lis now armed with
quick firing guns" Both the Russians
and e Japanese artillery are at pres
ent Il the stage of transition, and moth
ing is more difficult than to secure ac
curate details of the progress of the
rearmament of a foreign artillery. The
new pattern 3-inch quick firing Russian
field gun is in process of manufacture,
and the exact number of batteries is
sued to the troops is not known. The
same remark applies to the new Ari-
saka quickfiring field gun of Japan at
present under construction at the Osa-
10, r. ic hn, hob
that each side will make superhuman
efforts to bring the largest number of
these new guns into the field, and this
fact may account for the rumors of the
movement of Russian batteries from
garrisons like LODI, on the German
frontier, which would naturally have
been the first to receive the new ma
terial so long as there was no danger
of war in the East. We must remem-
Der, however, that a wholesale change
in the artillery armament entails the
transport of not only the new guns, but
of the ammunition and all the vast i'm
pedimenta of ammunition columns and
parks. Even when such change Is eff
fected, the old personnel must either be
replaced or trained In the efficient use
of the new material, and whether one
solution or the other Is preferred, 1t is
a work requiring time.
The technical details made public re-
spectlng these two models are at pres
ent insufficient 10 enable US to institute
n close comparison or to draw any final
but 1t would seem that the
new Russian gun has greater initial
velocity and a longer range, and can
fire with more rapldlty. In the older
classes of field guns the Russians also
seem TO have the advantage. and in
case OF war the first duel Of the rival
gunners will be watched with an inter-
est not untinged with anxiety by the .
friends of Japan.
The information 81 the Picking COR
respondent Of the Times differs some
what from that given by other author-
ties In relation 10 frontier troops. or, 10 .
give them the moro correct Russian
title. defensive guards" The PekinE
az Tho 'Iln9e Ilup,g tho