The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-10-15

many or France. but his devotion to
his fatherland brings out his fighting
qualities.
sincere and unaffected love for his
monarch. profound religious piety In
timately united with the idea of the
car and Of the fatherland. attachment
to the fatherland. unlimited confidence
in his chiefs. strong esprit de corps
and a faculty Of enduring gayly and
naturally the greatest privations-
such are the most marked characters
tics Of the Russian soldier" says a
Russian general.
ITO these traits must be added re
markable bravery and a rare contempt
Of death. combined with naive kind
heartedness and a gentle and indul-
gem disposition. The Russian soldier
is distinguished by a good humor that
never abandons him ever in the most
difficult moments. by his brotherly I'M
Outstanding with his comrades and by
his gay and contented way OF facing
all the DEGREES Of fate. Obedience Is
SO deeply rooted In the mind OF the
Russian soldier that during my thirty
years experience In the army | do not
remember to have witnessed one sin
gle case Of INSTRUMENTATION. either In
times of peace OF In times of war.
Willing to Die at Posts.
1.-THE Russian soldier dies at his post.
I have seen him In winter on sentry
duty ON the heights of Shipka die stand
Ing, surrounded with snow, and trans
formed literally into a statue OF Ice;
have seen him die on the march. strid-
ing over the sandy desert and yielding
up his last breath with his last step; !
have seen him die of his wounds on
the battlefield or in the hospital. at a
distance Of 5000 miles from his native
village. and In those supreme moments
have always found the Russian sol
der sublime.
although a child Of the plain. where
his eye rarely describes the most modest
hill. we see him boldly scale the top
most SUBMITS Of the Caucasus and
climb the rocks and glaciers of the
Thianshan. fighting all the time. He
feels ut home everywhere. whether In
the steppes of the fatherland. In the
tundras Of Siberia or the mountains
and deserts OF central Asia. He has
an exceptional faculty of putting him.
self at his ease wherever he may be.
even in places where others would die
Of hunger and thirst
81 have seer the Russian soldier at
home in time Of peace or during truces
In the enemy's country. rocking the
peasants child In the village where he
was stationed: ! have seen him
bivouacking in the desert, with his
tongue parched and burning. receive
his rations Of a quarter liter of salt wa.
ter: ! have seen him In heat and In
cold. In hunger and In thirst. In peace
and in war. and ! have always found
In him the same desire to oblige. the
same abnegation Of self for the safety
and the good of others. These special
characteristics of the Russian soldier
mis- self denial. his simple and natural
self sacrifce-give him peculiar pow.
ers as a warrior"
How Army 10 Organized.
So much for the individual soldier Of
the cxar. As to his numbers the fol.
lowing figures are accepted as correct:
The Russian army numbers 10000
on q peace footing and h.530.OOO on a
war footing This includes possible
fighters Of all classes The irst line
army numbers l.S5O.O0O men. Russia
leads the world In point Of nlmbers.
There are a total o thirty seven
army corps In Russia. each OF which
In time Of peace numbers a little more
than 10000 men. hut which h more
than doubled in wal times. Bach corps