The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-18

configuration, usually holding the low
places and not protecting their men by
firing patrols on the hills forward of
. their TANKS. Their shooting is exc
J cradle, and consists mainly of voIley
| firing, which indicates in itseIf-when
the skirn1ish nature of all Japanese ad-
! vances is considered-that they are not
good shots, and do not know the value
of careful individual craftsmanship.
/ They take no care of their arms and
, pay no attention to their personal ap-
{ pearance. The japanese say, laugh
] ingly, that they fight worse than the
! Chinese; and they should know. since
! they have already had much experience
! in war with the Celestial Kingdom.
+; This statement does not necessarily inn
ply that the Russians are cowardly,
| for the Chinaman places no value up
! on life.
The Japanese officer and soldier stand
for everything that is best in military
tactics. The military experts of the
nation have eliminated all the stage
play from the best military systems in
the civilized world, and have stripped
these systems down to the factors which
make for the greatest efficiency in
placing the fighting man on the firing
| line, properly equipped and properly
. fed. There are no frills; all the eff
forts, every movement, every thought
being directed to the most certain and
expeditions method of rendering the
enemy hors de combat. The manual
of arms comprises but three motions.
To the skirmish drill much attention
/ is paid, the men being not only train
ed in actual maneuvers at all seasons
Il - -
different contingencies which may arise
in actual warfare, but trained physical
~ until they can sustain long-con-
tintfed and immense exertion without
suffering. The soldiers-stripped as we
now see them by the thousands, bath
ing in the mountain streams-present
hnely-muscIed limbs and torsos, almost
to man.
! The fire-dril1 is exhaustive. and the
men, by a large amount of target prac-
tice, become really fine shots. Every
man in the army has fired at fixed tar
gets at different known ranges, at fixed
targets at unknown ranges, and he fires
from standing, kneeling, and PROSTATE
attitudes with equal facility. 1t is
drummed into every soldiers mind that
his first care is his rifle, and that the
training has sunk in is evidenced by
/ the fact that every man, whether with
his officers or not, cleans and oils his
gun carefully every night. His second
care is for himself, and, toward this
end. he seems to have learned and
usually obeys the Instructions to drink
nothing but boiled water, to battle free
", and to wash his clothes often 1t
should be remembered that a powerful
incentive for the Japanese to care for
his physical welfare SO solicitonsiy lies
/, in the fact that no greater. disgrace can
overtake a soldier than to be invalid
ed home; it is even worse than being
wounded and having to go to the hos
pital.
The Japanese army, then, starts with
| a sound body of men, thoroughly
grounded in taking care of their weap-
ons, as well as themselves, and trained
as to the best means of reaching the
enemy quickly with the least possible
danger to themselves. The officers, in
an engagement, adapt the movements
/ of the troops to the best tactical dis
positions, where the immediate region
permits, always putting the men under
natural cover when it is to be obtained,
but never hesitating an instant to ex-
pose them should the emergency arises
. In half a dozen actions witnessed the
j japanese have used almost all the tao
! teal dispositions provided for in mod
ern textbooks. and all of them were,
in each instance, exactly adapted to
the country and the object in view.
With the enemy in front blocking the
valley and roadway. small patrols were
sent scurrying on to the hills, and these
crept forward from ridge to ridge seek
+, ing possible contact with an alert enc
my who had had the tactical wisdom
to hold the ridges himself, and never