The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-04-13

SHOULD Italy throw the weight Of her arms
~ into the war; which seems now almost in
evitable, she would bring into the field an army
Of more than three million men, many Of them
veterans The military law OF Italy calls for uni
versal service, the total period Of service being
nineteen years. The young men of each years
class are divided into three divisions-the first
being made up Of sufficient recruits to fulfil the
requirements Of strength of the permanent army
on peace footing, the second comprising the re-.
mainder OF the eligibles, also classed with the
and the third class those exempt from active SER
vice, the territorial militia The second division
forms what is known as the Complementary force,
and is regarded as belonging TO the permanent
army for eight years, during which time those in
it receive approximately six months training,
which may be scattered over a term OF years.
They then pass to the mobile militia and then to
the territorial militia IT
Service in the ranks Of the permanent army is
for two years, after which the men are placed on
unlimited leave, which brings them into the re-
serve. until eight years have elapsed -Four years
more are passed in the mobile militia and the next
seven in the territorial militia Beginning at the
age Of twenty, the recruit is not free from ser
vice until he is thirty-nine years old. #$
The field army consists Of twelve army corps
and three cavalry divisions. Each army corps,
except the Ninth, which is in the Roman district;
consists OF two divisions. The Ninth has three
divisions. The divisions consist of two brigades of
infantry, each Of two regiments of three battaons,
and a regiment Of field artillery 1--we batteries
with war strength Of l4l56 officers and men,
1899 horses and thirty guns One regiment Of
field artillery-six batteries Of six guns-two or
three heavy batteries, regiment Of cavalry and a
regiment Of Bersaglieri are attached toyeach army
corps. The cavalry divisions consist OF two bri-
gades Of two regiments each, accompanied by two
horse batteries of four guns each.
The Bersaglieri, Italy's famous light infantry
regiments, who correspond to the chasseurs pied
Of the French army, consist each Of two battaons
Of infantry and one battalion Of cyclists. K
The organization OF the army is as follows: In
fantry Nnety-four regiments of line, two of
grenadiers, twelve Of bersaglieri, and eight regi
ments Of Alpine troops, Cavalry Twenty-nine
regiments. Of whom twelve are lancers Artillery
Thirty six regiments Of field, one of horse, two
Of mountain two of heavy field, and ten Of fortress
artillery. z
There are six regiments OF engineers, comprising
sappers. miners, poutoniers and teegraphers, The
aviation service consists Of thirty field squadrons
OF seven aeroplanes each There are twelve legions
Of carabnier (gendarmes), twelve sanitary COM
panies and twelve companies Of army service corps,
pne eacht to an army corps Z
The total strength Of the field army on peace
footing is Approximately $4,000 officers and men.
Added to this are those on unlimited leave-who
have for some time past been modelling, o38OO0
The reserves called the mobile militia, 10000
strong With the addition OF the territorial militia,
$4,000 men, the total number available in round
numbers is $4,000 men,
u Il .