Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-09
WITH SPANISH
IN MOROCCO
MILITARY EXPERT GIVES HIS
VIEWS OF TROOPS
Condition of Soldiers and Methods in
Vogue Furnish the Material
for an Interesting
Study

MELILLA, Jan. S.-A Military ex-
pert who has been with the Spanish
army in the Moroccan campaign gives
his views of the troops as follows:
The Spanish army has not been cam
paigning long enough for the men to
understand the best way to keep them |
! selves comfortable in all weathers. |
/ Consequently the appearance of bat |
| talions returning from the outpost lines
! during the recent rainy weather has
often been very sorry, indeed, though
| they still swung into town with the
gait of good soldierly material Be |
sides the weather the want of proper
| sanitary precautions in the enclosed |
and overcrowded redans, which are the
| Spanish conception of field works, has
taken a heavy toll of the effective
strength of all units All the weaker
constitutions have given way, and the
| companies, instead of marching in |
about 200 strong, averaged about 115. |
| The test however has been abnormal !
and has been made vastly more diff |
cult to endure by the ineXperience Of
all ranks.
The relay of reftting units has given
opportunity for studying the Spanish |
officers when off duty. The cafes in
Melilla are crowded with them. In
personal appearance they represent no
hard and fast type. Judging from their
! physique they might be drawn from
| the whole of Europe. The majority are
slight, even delicate in build, and dark. |
| Among them are q large sprinkling of
young men Who if differently dressed, |
could not be distinguished from Eng
! lishmen or Americans. There are many
| also who might easily pass as French
men; there are others who require but
French gray cloak to be mistaken
for Italians; while quite number, for
! the purpose of espionage, could make
up" perfectly as Moors. The bonhome
and camaraderie between them are
very refreshing They are all uncon-
sciously garrulous, and the buzz of con-
versation in a cafe at dinner time is
almost overpowering. But at the same
time they possess a restraint and
chivalrous bearing all their own.
No HiIarity or orgies
There is none Of that wild hilarity
that was seen at Cape Town in 1900, no
suggestion Of the orgies which made
| Mukden horrid in 1904, nor is there that
quiet self-effacement which was so no.
ticeable at the bases of the japanese
army in the field. A curious feature
in the Spanish army in Morocco is the
volunteer Nearly 10 per cent. of the
strength of most units is composed OF
volunteers. These for the most part
are young men of means and position
who, moved by a spirit of patriotism
and adventure, have enlisted for the
period of the war. Their ranks include
| some of the best blood in Spain, and
a very large number of students from
! the various professional and technical
! colleges.
1 Although the volunteers meet with
so much sympathy from the ohcerS
there is much complaint concerning the
treatment they receive at the hands of
the permanent staff of non-comms-
stoned officers. AS Is the case in most
) conscript armies, the permanent non
commissioned officers are as class
both tyrannical and mercenary Inc
poorest recruit, and the majority or
Spanish recruits are terribly poor, is
i not too mean to be reckoned as part
of their, active capital The volunteers
are a special windfal. Fatigues and
manual labor are their snare unless
they buy immunity from the sergeants
roster, for complaint to superior au-
thority is apparently not productive OF
real redress.
4 In the Spanish army the authority
1 Of the non commissioned officers over
the men is supreme, not only. in the
matter of pay, equipment and internal
economy, but also in the arrangement
1 of their purely military duties. All
such duties as the posting of men on
outpost duty, the distribution of road
pickets and the leading of patrols Is
officers exercise only the slightest su-
pervision over their actions. The re-
suit of this is that the sergeants rele-
i gate their duties to the corporals, ana
| the work is consequently indifferenrly
performed.
System of "Sniping"
1t is for this reason that one sees
many more officers supping in the Me-
| lila cafes than the situation in the
| outpost line would seem to warrant.
The evils of the system declare them
selves whenever a "sniper" disturbs the
outposts. The corporal in charge of the
post that is sniped Immediately stands
/ the whole command to arms, and the
"sniper" has the satisfaction of finding
| himself the cause of hundreds OF
rounds being uselessly expended. An
! officer with experience Of outpost snip
ing, on the other hand, would correctly
balance the Importance of 'sniping'
against the loss Of rest by his detach-
| ment. In most cases, at any rate, he
would find the former the lesser evil.
The medieval instinct for the conduct
of war is very strong in the Spanish
officer, just as strong as 1T was in the
| British army up to and during the
| Crimean war. This instinct requires
| unf1inching bravery from the officer
| His conception of the duty of leading
his men requires him to show an abb
/
and the amount of Valor that has to be
sacrificed to the modern firearm before
this medieval instinct is eradicated is
! incredible.
Only q few days back the Leon regi-
ment covered itself with glory because
it came back in good order after ex-
Treating a accommodating force, That
is, the companies as they retired before
their enemy sloped arms and marched
steadily back without undue haste in
the peculiar single file formation which
the Spanish infantry affects. AS trial
of regimental discipline and endurance
it was superb. But as tactical move
ment it was at least open to adverse
comment.
The campaign in Morocco. however
has given evidence of sufficient excel
lence in the Spanish infantryman to
warrant the expectation of better
things in better circumstances. He is
brave not to say heroic, for the tao
1 tical formations upon which his officers
insist need nothing short of heroism to
carry them out.
yv,1a