MILITARY AND NAVAL NOTES

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 15124, 13 October 1909, Page 10

MILITARY AND NAVAL NOTES

<> ("' Canterbury Times.*') Some interesting figures concerning til", composition or the Russian Army are supplied by the Miuintcrial reports addressed to the Emperor regarding the conscriptions of 1907 and 1808. In regard to nationality, the Russian Army is almost half recruited from the provinces of Great Russia. In 1907 the proportion «'8» 202.000 Orcat Russians out of a total of 440,000 recruits. If Little Russians ami White Russians bo added, the figure rises to 332.000 in 1907 and in 1008 to 380.000 nut of a total oi 456,000 recruits. Tlio remaining nationalities inhabiting the Emoiro gave the following number of recruits in 1907:—Poles 30,000, Jews 18.000, various Finnish tribes 12.(X>0, Tartars SOOO, Bashkirs 0000. Germans oGtW. Over 78 per cent of tlie Russian Army belongs to the Greek orthodox faith. In 1907 the non-Christian recruits represented 18,000 .Tews and 14.C00 Mussulmans. Classified according to their serial stains, the recruits in 1907 consisted of 392,000 peasant*. 41000 townsmen, 1337 burgesses, -191 merchants and 2000 nobles. The physique of the men is established as follows:—The height of about. 27 per cent of the recruits was oft 6}in; 26 per cent, oft -J Jin; 18 per cent, sft SJin ; 16 per cant, sft 3in ; less than 1 ppr cent, sft lin. There were 124 S recruits whose heigh", was 6ft ljin'. 128 of 6ft 3 l i:i, and 10 of 6ffc Sin. There wore four above. 6ft -sin. As regards education, the statistics are far from satisfactory. Over 37 per cert of the recruits were illiterate. Of 275.000 recruits in 1007 who were able to read or write, only about 6000 had passed the medium or higher standards of education. 35,030 the lower standard, 180.000 could read and write, 04,000 could only read.

There is a branch of the Russian Army, service in which is greatly competed for. It is known as the Courier Corps (says a writer in the. ''Military Mail," dealing with the subject), and sections of it are attached during war to the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the field and to each Army Corn-. The Commander-in-Chief is supplied with eight officers j and twelve non-commissioned, officers, and esch Army Corps takes half that : number. Their duties are the. carrying of important despatches, and as orderlies to general officers commanding. Only highly educated, experienced and trustworthy officers and noncommissioned officers are enlisted into this corps, and when on ' duty each courier is supplied with a pass, which allows him the use. of horses, drivers and carriages without payment. All station commandants are ordered to dc everything in their power to assist these couriers in their journeys, and depots of post horses, drivers and carriages are stationed on all roads leading from Army headquarters to the nearest railway station ; these horses and vehicles are reserved solely for the use of the Courier Corps. Couriers are strictly forbidden to take any person with them in the Government carriages and cannot use the horses for their own private purposes. "When travelling by railway special compartments are reserved for the Courier Corps, and the railway authorities are liable to heavy penalties in the event of a delay hindering the rapid transmission of despatches in charge of couriers. They receive high rates of pay, and are rewarded for any special work that they mat successfully carry out. j

In a recent number of the Journal ol the Royal United Service Institution Battalion-Major Sir A. Bartnerman, Bart., R.E., in an excellently reasoned article on the "Difficulty of Aerial Attack.'' observes:—"'Much haw recently been beard about specially constructed anti-balloon guns, but at present there ere absolutely no data, from which to estimate the chances of hitting a vessel travelling fast at a great height, and it is this question which must be settled before wo ear, definitely say whether wo are safe against aerial attack or not. Experiments'with field howitzers firing at captive balloons can teach. US little or nothing. We want to know tbo results obtained by a special gun firing at a rapidly advanced aerial target. Hot-air balloons released a couple of miles to windward in a smart breeze would provide a cheap and realistic mark at which to fire, but their inflation and release must be difficult, i

and the experiments must of necessity ' be carried out by ships on the high seas, where there can be no danger of j hitting anybody. "If a vessel in ai moderate seaway can bring down Iter ! target, under such conditions, the gun- j ner on land, when provided with a suit- I able weapon, has nothing to fear from aerial attack. Great Britain has no cause for anxiety unless we find that tho target has more than a reasonable chance of escape, since it can only be a. useless extravagance to use airships

for purposes of defence, if their object can equally well be achieved by the guns of a fleet or fortress. An airship may cost tens of thousands cf pounds, while the ammunition required to destroy her could probably bo purchased ior a hundred.''

The experiments which are being made in the West of England by the military authorities in firing with special guns at balloons have shown that a,.moving balloon can-be destroyed with a reasonable degree of certainty. Many rounds have "been tired from howitzers and field guns, and. some of the results of the high angle lire and otherwise are little short, at marvellous. A battery, says the '"Standard's'' correspondent, in one of the most successful teste brought a balloon 'down in a few seconds. The guns were, placed about 1200 yards away, and a captive balloon, representing an airship, was sent up about 800 feet. A strong wind was blowing, and the balloon—swaved

round in a circle, making an accurate aim very difficult. The battery could be seen to place three shells well over the balloon There was a cloud of white smoke, and the gas has burst into flame, collapsed, and , sank to l earth. The shrapnel, striking, downwards,-, had apparently torn the tough silk to ribbons. These tests with the new gnus are most exhaustive, and are carried out with great secrecy. Mo one is allowed to approach the scene of operations, which is situated in a remote corner of Wiltshire! The methods by which such accuracy, hitherto impossible.: have been obtained, are. of course, only known to the expert com-! mittco conducting the trials, but so much has been learned that airship movement will be a serious undertaking for any one facing the guns and. methods now in use by the artillery experts of iho Army.