CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1905-07-27
RUssIA's FLYING FJsT
The Arrny's System of Com
munications at the Front.
EXPERT MOUNTED MEN EMPLOYED

EXPERT MOUNTED MEN EMPLOYED
Three Chinese Farmhouses Near .
Village Forn the Posts Central
Point-Both Men and Horse. Are
Numbered and sent Out In Turn
with DAsDatehes-The Service At
Night Most Danxerous
A correspondent now with the Rus
sian army in its retreat sends the St
Petersburg Zeitung an interesting de
scription Of the flying post" which is
used to keep up constant communica-
ton between the leaders and to carry
dispatches, the daily orders and re-
ports, says the London Globe The
''nying post" il quite a distance from
the field postal service, which is man
aged by the field post The headquarters
Of the three Russian armies are connect
ed by line Of posts arranged as fol-
lows. The chief Of the "nying post
at headquarters u a star captain, and
with the armies the lines Of this post
are under lieutenant who belongs
to the stan OF his army and who must
have his quarters In the post road in
the neighborhood Of the headquarters.
The dying post Of the Third army
II under Lieutenant Baron Won Tiesen-
lying apart from a certain village, have
been fitted up as its central point The
choice Of such . position was very
practical, for the place can be seen
from afar, and at night time II can b
found easily.
This central point connects. firstly.
the army with the headquarters; sec
ondly. the army with the other armies,
or at least with those in the neighbor-
hood, and thirdly. the army with the
stan Of the army corps connected With
It For this purpose the commander of
the flying post always has at his dis
posal varying number Of horse soldiers,
according to the distance separating the
thus mentioned was kept up by a squad
ron Of dragons and BY men belong
ing to all kinds of Cossack and mount
ed troops. who are told the direction
which they are to take and the dis
tance Of their journey. but who have to
choose their own way. Naturally, 10
far as possible. only smart and handy
men are picked out for this work.
which becomes more difficult during a
battle or when there. Is any activity
on the part of the enemy. When there
is Iull In the warfare, the posts"
are quartered in a village but, in case
of a sudden attack, the men have to
"fan In" with the rest. and once Baron
Won Tiesenhausen had to lead his men
to the attack.
At the central point of the dying
post" there are kept about score of
horses, but the number varies accord
ing to the number of men sent out with
dispatches, for the lines Of communica-
ton extend on three sides. From the
single posts only one man is away at
time as a rule, as the dispatches do not
follow one another so quickly. Ac-
cording to the regulations. the posts
are stationed from five and half miles
to eight miles apart on good roads and
from three to four miles apart when
the roads or weather is bad or when
an enemy is at hand. Experiences has
shown that the distance Of four miles
10 the best. as that space represents
the average distance that can be trav-
ersed by a Dragons horse at full gal
lop The posts under Lieutenant Won
Tiesenhausen are stationed almost ex-
actly at intervals of four miles. At
every post are seven horses, and q non
commissioned officer In in charge Of ev-
cry post
The men and their horses are NUM-
bered, and they are sent out in turn
with dispatches. One horse always
stands ready saddIed. II horse No. b
sent OF, then horse No. 2 is saddIed at
once, so that no time may be lost. The
rate OF speed desired is marked upon
the envelope. Thus n cross signifies i've
minutes trot md FIVE minutes walk In
turn, while two crosses signify that the
message has to be carried at full gal
lop. When a soldier sent of from the
central point reaches post No 1. the
noncommissioned officer In charge re-
ceives the post bag. takes from it the
various letters and copies into the Post
Journal their titles md numbers-thus,
for example, "Orders from the COM
mander In chief. Nos Alb to AT" Then
be gives the bearer Of them q receipt
for their due delivery at that post and
hands the dispatches to one Of his own
men to carry farther. When pogt
bag contains many dispatches fhis
method Of acknowledging their aEH1yni
st svGy post isads to q great ~ -
tina. II Wouh b bottoP 10 ineInm -