WONDERFUL ARMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15884, 3 April 1915, Page 5 (Supplement)

WONDERFUL ARMY.

RUSSIA'S FIGHTING FORCE. A MIGHTY MACHINE, IThe Russian Army is gradually shaping into one of the mightiest war machines the world has ever scon, writes GranvilleFortosruo. in the Daily Telegraph. Before the outbreak of hostilities it was but the raw material of an efficient fighting force. Now, after six months of trying field work, it becomes in the widest definition of the word, an army. Millions of uniformed raoujiks have boon moulded into a homogeneous organisation, and trained to carry on the infinite variety of detail demanded by a state of war. Native Shrewdness. Judged from a physical standard, the Tsar"? subjects are all latent soldiers. On the mental side they are not wanting. The life they lead develops in each of them some degree of native shrewdness. No farmer in any land is without a fund of knowledge by which he solves most of the problems he meets in daily life. The Russian peasant lias this same shrewdness, and. as is loinmon with all men tiained to live in the open, he knows t;ie country. This quality is especially important in soldiers. I here is no state .if existence that makes prater demands on the faculties than war. and their constant exercise, here a mistake may mean death or captivity, his qui.kcied the mind of the plodding peasant. Also he has begun t<> appreciate the sport of war. A corporal and his squad in the somewhat informal Russian va\ asked to see their commanding office. It was the night before the Russian New Year Only that day they had been brought back from the trout to the reten trenches. "What is it, my children?" The Russian captain is the father of his company. •To-morrow is New Year's Day, wellborn." The corporal shifted from foot to foot like a small boy asking an unusual favour. •Yes:" " V\ e should like permission to go out to-night and catch , ( few Germans. It would be a New Year well begun.'' Obedient Soldiers. One of the, finest traits of the Russian toldiei is his obedience. Put him in a trench, tell him to stay there, and you I can depend upon him to stick to his post until he i a blown or bayoneted out of it. At bottom ho seems to be a good deal of a philosopher, this Ivan the soldier, and his habitual point of view makes him indifferent to the worst accidents of righting. He will come out with a leg and an arm gone, and his only comment will be. "Nitchevo" ("It does not matter.") Of course, he lacks what is termed book learning. But this is compensated for dv his native cleverness, and, take him all in all, there is no better straw with which j to make the bricks of an army than the Russian peasant. Bayonets Always Fixed. Tor serviceability there is no garment lupcrior to the Russian Army overcoat. It is reddish grey in colour, a shade which fades into the landscape. In cut and texture it combines smartness with warmth. After the coat, the best part of the Russian soldier's uniform is the boots. The Russian military boot has been copied by the German Army, and that is stamp enough of its quality. His tunic and breeches are serviceable, and the rest of his clothing is of surprisingly good ma- i terial. There is little to criticise in his equipment. - The ride is the equal of the arm of any other nation. The bayonet, which is a long, wicked-looking, triangular ! blade, is always carried fixed. This gives ' a marching regiment of Russians a very ' formidable appearance. He carries his ammunition in a bandolier, and also in i canvas pockets. , The Russian is very much attached to ' his own tea-kettle, and one out of every rive marches jauntily along with the family ' pot slung to his belt. Entrenching tool's are distributed in the customary proportion among the soldiers. They are of accepted design and weight, The men carry their blankets rolled and slung from the shoulder, after the American fashion, the haversack balancing the blanket. From observation I judge the complete pack to equal in weight the German equipment. The Cavalry. Turning to the cavalry, what I have said about the infantry applies equally to man and horse. The cavalrymen, as a rule, are more "hard bitten' than the infantry, and, I judge, on the average, older. It goes without saying that they are splendid riders. In addition to rifle and sabre, they carry a lance that is longer than the German weapon. It is triangular, with hollowed faces, looking like the ancient knight's lance.

Of course, in writing of the cavalry, the Cossacks come immediately to mind. These wild riders are difficult to classify. There is a wide difference between a squadron of Petrograd Imperial Guard Cossacks, With their long-legged, smartly turned out, officer riding at their head, and a sieging Uralski troop. The tradition of both forces is fighting, and there is no doubt that there would be little to choose between them before the enemy, but certainly the Guards are smarterlooking cavalrymen.

The favourite weapon of the Cossack is the sword. It is not strictly a sabre, but a splendidly-balanced bit of slightlycurved steel, as sharp as a razon-blad'e. An officer assured nie that oho of the sports of his regiment was cutting off the head of a bull with one stroke.

The most formidable regiment of CosBacks I have seen were the Askhabads. These Trans-Caspia'i troopers are the direct descendants of the hordes that harried Alexander the Great when he invaded the vallej of the Oxus. To-day their uniform is only slightly modified from that of past ages.

1 cannot leave the Cossacks without telling the story that is current at the expense of a Ural regiment. After travelling over the breadth of Russia, these troopers arrived in Warsaw, where the inhabitants were certainly different from any people they had ever seen. As they formed outside the railway station, the con-commissioned officers asked eagerly, "Can we begin killing now?" Just as a precaution another regiment *as detailed to accompany the new arrivals on the ride through the capital of Poland.

Many stories of Cossack ferocity are retailed by the German prisoners. The fear inspired by the Steppe cavalrymen has led certain German commanders to issue a "no quarter" order against the regiments with breeches showing purple Itripes. Improved Artillery.

The Russian is not temperamentally an artilleryman. The tradition of Slavonic fighting emphasises the use of cold steel and hand-to-hand combats. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that long-range artillery duels are not to the taste of the Russian. Nevertheless, the artillery of the' Tsar's troops has greatly improved since the dark days of the Mauchurian Campaign The pieces are better served, ranges moie quxklv obtained, and <ertainly a lamer peicentage of hits recorded. Russian battery commanders are over courageous. It is a good deal of trouble to dig pits and entrenchments for field pieces and heavier guns, yet when batteries Mirk in the same position for months, as is often the case, this urecaution certainly makes for safety.

The Russian is more prodigal o'. his ammunition than the (Jermana. One battery commander told me that ho expended 480 rounds in a day. This happened in tho early weeks of the war, and would rarely be the rase now, as the gunners He more cs^ricnccd.

Horse Transport. The most admirable thing about the Russian Army that 1 have seen is the transport, The English are right proud of their tremendous transport trains. But splendid as these are they would never stand the test of these miserable Polish raids. The enormous English motor-lorries are not as well fitted to the peculiar conditions in Russia as the light cart drawn by Siberian ponies. They keep going day and night in all weathers, doing extraordinary work on a small hay ration. Taken as a whole the most difficult problem of modern warfare, transport, has been successfully solved bv the Russian Army. Allied to the transport department are the soup kitchens. How any army can exist without these very important features 1 now fail to see. The kitchens, which are in a word a stove and boiler on wheels, are driven at night right up to tho trenches. In this manner the troops are served with a hot meal. Of course, in the heat of action, it is impossible for these kitchens to approach the tiring-line, but nothing short of an actual bombardment keeps them from their duties. I have seen a train of these i kitchens, fires alight, and their lamps carefully hooded, being driven through a blasting winter's storm to deliver hot stew to battle-weary troops. The Medical Side. • The medical department has two unique features. The first is a hospital railway carriage. It has all the fittings of a firstclass operating room, being, in fact, a small field hospital on wheels. The second feature is the railway bath train. Tlicso are run out to the reserve Jines at some point on tho railroad track, where the troops are brought in for hot scourings. i The men are given complete.new changes i of underwear when they leave the bath train. While in tho bath their outer ' clothes are put through a thorough pro- ; cess of disinfection and cleaning. , The division of transport that has to do with the removal of the wounded is re- ' markably well organised. It is true that rather primitive waggons are used for this work ; and the wounded get a rough ride over the poor roads. Yet they are brought back with promptitude to the dressing stations whence they are rapidly reshipped to hospitals. It must be always borne in mind that the sanitary division of an army in time of peace exists only in outline. It would be an unnecessary expense to keep such an organisation up to war-time efficiency when hostilities are not in progress. Trench Work. This war has emphasised the ' importance of the trench, and there is no better trench-builder than the Russians. I have made careful studies of the trenches, known as the Blonic system, and they might serve as models for. the instruction of any engineer officers. The Russian is extraordinarily skilled in woodwork. He also seems to be a natural builder, and 1 the ground fortifications which ho lias constructed cannot be improved upon. The I greatest care has been taken to get the [proper field of fire. To summarise, I consider the Russian infantryman one of the finest soldiers in the world. Courage, patience, and obedience are his chief virtues. And when you remember that even under the most trying exposure and the severest privations' he does not trrumble, you understand that he is a fighting man who will never quit. The Cossack is a cavalryman whose record is already a tradition. Those Cossack regiments which have ha/1 the opportunity to show their metal have amply proved that they live up to those splendid traditions. Savage they may be, but the world must realise by this time that the classic expression of General Sherman, " War is hell," epitomises conditions when man fights man.