The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-20

Remembering Napoleon'S famous
saying, that IAN army crawls on its
stomach the Russian and japanese
leaders are devoting the greater part
OF their time and hought to the great
problem of how they are to feed their
forces as they move them over an
immense and comparatively barren
terrain.
Theoretically, the transport and
commissariat arrangements of both
the Russian and the Japanese armies
are well nigh perfect. They have won
the enthusiastic admiration of military
experts of many nationalities, and
none have admired them more than
United States officers. But the theory
of peace time is vastly different from
the stern practice of war; Theoreti-
cally, the Greek transport and COM
missariat were all that they should
have been in the Thessaly campaign,
while the Turkish services were all
that they should not have been. But
the world knows how the Greek or
ganization broke down miserably, and
how the Turkish commanders man
aged somehow to feed their men and
move them across the country from
one victorious field to another. The
present war will test conclusively the
value of the Russian and japanese
theories, but some light is thrown
upon them by previous campaigns IN
which their armies have engaged.
The vast extent of the Russian en-
pire and the comparative scarcity OF
large towns and villages in Asiatic
Russia make it necessary for the gen.
eral staff to assume that, in cam
paign, the troops will usually have to
bivouac, and will rarely be billetted
upon the civil population. According
ly, the baggage trains attached to Rus
sian forces are larger than in most
armies. An army corps of 45,9OO men
is officially supposed to be accompanied
by 2,400 wagons; but the number varies
of course, with the local conditions and
the eXigencies of the situation. 1t is
usually more. for 1t is difficult to re-
duce it if each unit of the force is to
be properly supplied.
The unit of transport is the "polkovye
obozy," or regimental baggage train.
Each regiment has two such trains,
called the first and the second echelons,
The first train, which keeps up with
the regiment or goes ahead of it, car
ries ammunition, medical supplies, food,
the indispensable part of the officers
baggage, and other necessary articles
likely to be Immediately required. The
second echelon carries supplies not so
Immediately necessary, which can be
left behind well in the rear whenever
the tactics of the commanding officer
require. These supplies include har-
ness, reserves of food, technical ma
teriaL movable kitchens, religious
emblems. etc.
The RegimentaI Trains.
The regimental trains are supple
mented by a divisional train, attached
to each division of cavalry or infan-
try. Its business is to replace the regi-
mental stores as they are lost or con-
sumed and to transport articles of sec
ondary Importance not likely to be
often or urgently required. Large
numbers of spare horses are attached
to this divisional train, as Is also a
hospital section. which is subdivided
into divisional ambulance and two
field hospitals.
When campaigning. the Russian SOL
dier is supposed to carry two days
rations on his person. The regimental
trains carry rations for each man for
two days longer and the divisional
trains for from two to four days, ac-
cording to the arm of the service to
which they are attached, less being
carried for the artillery and infantry
than for the cavalry. 1t is reckoned
NAAN~N
obtainable from the surrounding coun-
try or along the line of communica-
tions within the six or eight days al
lowed.
The system is a good one, but it is
impossible to forget that the transport
and commissariat broke down miser-
ably in every important war waged
by Russia during the last century. The
experience of the past indicates that
CnCCaplxG q fHA 1v,lrv
Russian soldiers who are mobile and
well fed on campaign. They are
mobile because they always have
large numbers of spare horses-often
two for each man; they are well fed
because of their skill in foraglng.
Russian officers spend freely out of
their private funds during a campaign
in order to remedy the defects of the
official transport and commissariat.
Ihey have been obliged to do so even
during maneuvers.
Skobelef's Example.
The example was set by Skobeleff
Russia's greatest general of modern
times, during the Russo-Turkish war.
He was a rich man, and every rouble
he owned was at the disposal of his
beloved soldiers when they needed it.
All the official arrangements for feed
ing the men and caring for the sick
and wounded broke down utterly, and
Skobelef was always putting his hand
in his pocket through that campaign.
On one occasion he spent $4,000 rou-
bles to charter a steamer to take a
number of wounded men to Odessa
for treatment. He never recovered
from the government the large sums
he expended.
When Skobeleff was praised to his
face for his generosity towards his
troops, he replied unaffectedly:
II owe everything to these men, and
the least ! can do is to spend a few
thousand roubles to help them in their
need"
That spirit animates most officers in
the Russian army to-day. Gen. Kou-
ropatkin, Gen. Grodekoff and other IA