Evening star., 1932-03-06
BY MAI. GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT.

III OLOhoE LAAO
|HE one great controlling featurt
Of Russian strategy in the =
East is the same today as in III
l. Russo-Japanese War OF 1924
l905-the Trans Siberian Rail
road Siberia-especially that portion
of it known today as the Far Eastern
areas very sparsely populated ano
cannot of itself supply or support large
military forces. The whole population
of the Far Eastern area is not much
more than 100000, and many of these
are Chinese and Coreans. The real
military strength of RuSSia-Czarlst or
Soviet-is in Europe; and this strength
can be brought to bear in the Pacific
provinces exactly in proportion to the
capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railway
to transport men and munitions over a
5,000-mile haul
In 1904 the railway proved, in prac-
tice to be able to deliver 10000 men
a month IN Manchuria, and still care
for, the enormous supply traffic of an
army that grew from 10000 men in
January, 1904, to 10000 at the battle
of Mukden, in March, 1905 despite
losses in battle. The japanese failure
to make early use of their great local
superiority in numbers was due to the
grave underestimate by their general
staff of the capacity of the Trans-Si-
berian. 1t is an error they are not
likely to repeat; but the estimates of
1904 will have to be considered en-
larged, due to the fact that the Trans
Siberian, single-track line then, is
now double-tracked from the Urals to
KarimSkaya near the Manchurian
frontier, where the Amur railway
branches off from the old main line.
Railways Were Badly Damaged.
On the other hand, the railways of
Asiatic Russia sustained severe damage
during the turbulent years 1917-1922,
when Red Guard and White Guard,
Cossack and Czech, and the soldiers OF
half a dozen allied and associated
powers" made Siberia their battle
ground. The Trans-Siberian, Amur and
Ussuri railways have not yet, accord
ing to reliable advices, fully recovered
from these years of war and neglect.
After the Japanese War the
Czarist government completely reor-
ganized its forces in Eastern Siberia,
with a view to providing an army in
that region which could deal with any
possible attack until strong reinforce
ments could arrive from Europe. Ac-
cordingly, they established no less than
IL divisions (each of 16 battalions and
80 guns in the region between Lake
Baikal and the Pacific, and they very
largely increased the military colonies"
of the Trans -Baikal, Amur and Ussuri
Cossacks, which, with the Primorsk
Dragons (Russian military colonists in
the Maritime Province) provided SO
squadrons and sotnias in peace and had
a reserve sufficient to raise this number
to 80 squadrons in war.
The divisions, though known as "Si-
berian Rifles" were, in fact, largely
composed of picked men from European
Russia, volunteers for the most part.
While thus increasing the Siberian
army. the Russian government went
ahead with the project of double-track-
ing the Trans Siberian Railway, but the
Russo-JapaneSe War had made a serious
alteration in the strategic value of that
road as it then existed. From Man
churia station to Pogranichnaya the
line ran through Chinese territory and
was known as the Chinese Eastern. BY
the terms of the treaty of Portsmouth
the Chinese Eastern was definitely
closed for military purposes, and Japans
advance into Southern Manchuria
placed the Chinese-Eastern at her
mercy anyway.
Japanese Could Occupy Harbin.
From Chang -Chun, the northern
limit of the japanese military zone, to
Harbin, on the main line of the Chi
nese-Eastern, is only about 125 miles.
and this meant that the japanese, in
case of strained relations" could oc-
cupy Harbin and cut off Russian COM
munication with Vladivostok and the
Pacific provinces before any possible
Russian concentration could prevent
them.
Consequently, the Russians revived
their old project of an "all-RuSsian"
railway and built, between 1907 and
1915. the "Amur Railway" which leaves
the Trans-Siberian at Karimskaya, runs
northeast, east and southeast, following
the valleys of the Argun and Amur
Rivers, until at last it crosses the Anlur
on one of the longest and most mag
niflcent railway bridges in the world
and connects, at HarbarooSk, with the
Ussuri Railway from Vladivostok.
On the Amur River the Russian navy
established a strong f1otilla of power
fully armed gunboats. which were not
only able to protect the river frontier,
but were capable of ascending the Sun
gari River into Manchuria as far as
Harbin itself. And the Notifications
OF Vladivostok were modernized and
extensively increased.
When all these measures were COM
pleted the Russians could feel reason
ably secure against attack They had
not, indeed, established in the Far East
an army superior to that of Japan, but
they had so strengthened themselves
that the japanese or any one else would
be likely to reflect a long time and
count the cost very carefully before re-
sorting to war over any dispute that
might arise in that region. 1t may be
well to emphasize this point. which is
applicable to military establishments
anywhere.
Absolute military security cannot be
obtained except by maintaining mill
tary forces definitely superior in num-
bers armament and efficiency to those
of any potential enemy or combination
of enemies; if such absolute security
Is sine qua non there is no logical
excuse for the existence of any military
establishments which do not meet this
standard. But practical or relative Sc
curity may be had by maintaining
force so strong, so well trained and
equipped, or so strategically disposed
that no such potential enemy will be
very anxious to attack it.
This Imperial Russia had done in
Eastern Siberia during the decade be-
tween the Russo-Japanese War and the
World War
The World War upset all these ar
rangements; the Pussian Revolution
and the years Of chaos that followed
saw tides Of invasion ebb and flow.
while CoSsack atamans ruled by the
sword and foreign nations squabbled
over the provinces of Siberia. But at
last the SovietS have reasserted the
Russian overlordship of the Amur and
Primorsk governments" and it is in
teresting to note that their military
policy in those regions Is much the
same as that of the Tsars.
Reds" Unknown Quantity.
The Red Army of today is an un-
known quantity as any army must be