THE CHINESE ARMY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 71, 7 November 1911, Page 2

TH E CHINESE ARMY.

AX IXTEKESTIXC; LUCTiTJ;

• Some account of the reorganisation of llit» Chinese Army, and of tlio 1.00(5 manoeuvres on the great plains ol Shantung, was embodied by Colonel (I. \V. S. Patterson in an interesting lecture clolivercil before the Auckland Oliicers’ Ciui>. Since then the Chinese have benefited by the experience of the llusso-Japaneso war, and the assistance of Japanese ollicers in organisation lias carried to an advanced state the work described by the lecturer. At the present juncture the account, winch is practically reproduced in full, will he read with some

mxe rose. “It is impossible for anyone unacquainted with the race, or for any-one who has not lived among those inscrutable people, to arrive at. any legitimate conclusion regarding their possible .destiny. The opinions of people possessing- only an elementary knowledge of the Chinese, as represented by the few miserable specimens to be met with in the colonies, may, as a rule, bo treated as a negligible quantity; not, that J. wish to infer that in a few solitary instances worthy examples, of Celeetial capability may not be seen in trustworthy traders, reliable mechanics, and so on. Lint, taken in the aggregate, the Chinese

dwellers in Australasia are no more worthy of being considered as types of their race than the stage Englishman is to be regarded as a standard of the British nation. And the Chinese wlio go abroad—Cantonese, as a rule—are not, and never have been, included in the militant class. It is from the warlike tribes of Shantung and the North that the Chinese Army is recruited. These differ from the Southern trader of the ports to about the same extent as the brawny Highlander of British' North country regiments compare with the weedy, townbred recruit of the manufacturing centres. . , ' ': "Taking, in *tl ibir order of merit, the qualities that most prominently characterise' the Chinese soldier, I would place first courage—sheer unadulterated pluck. True, their detractors will point to its fatalistic origin, hut the beliefs of his men arc of little moment to u squadron loader in a charge—provided that his men follow hint, the mainspring of their unswerving obedience donuts for little. “The romance of war teems with Heroic situations, but I can imagine no more noble example than that presented by the forsaken gunners of Port Arthur—in the Chineso-Japanose omeute—who, failing orders, stood by their dummy guns and wooden clayfilled shells, while the Japanese hordes swept over the ramparts of the untenable forts, until, like beasts in a slaughter-yard, they-foil to a man in the ensuing massacre. Doubtless the utter absence of imagination in the Chinese character is a factor which makes for sturdy, unquestioning bravery. The faculty of enduring intense pain uncCmpla h.nglv i- m e that Hie Chinese developed above all other races,' and it is one- the value of which is incalculable. Generally speaking, the majority of the Chinese have no nerves, and, with few 'exceptions, the men will endure unheard of agony without the quiver of an eyelid. The dangerno inconsiderable one—to the morale of troops under fire, consequent on the outcries of the wounded, is therefore reduced to a minimum. If only for the fact that his companions would regard the groans of a. wounded man as evidence of cowardice, a Chinese soldier would remain quiet when suffering intolerably.' The capacity for endurance amonguj tlio Chinese lias .nqqpjjpd a degree; unknown, elsewhere. "It is difficult at this stage to say to what extent the Chinese soldiery trust their native officers. But a striking feature of the soldier as we know him was the blind unreasoning obedience ho evidenced towards the British officers of the Wei-hai-Wei. Like the Gourkha and Patlian, the Chinese will unfalteringly follow a 'European officer whom they trust—as some humorist has. put it—‘to hell and back again.’ ’The men of the Wei-hai-Wei regiment aimed their rifles with as sure revolt against their own friends and relations enrolled under the Boxer banner as at the strange legions of Manchu recruits. "Possibly the native officers have not yet succeeded in gaining the confidence of the men they lead, but that is only a matter of time. "Hitherto the opinions of all military men have been consistent on tin's point. “ ‘Given/ says Gordon, ‘proper leadership, and 1 wish no better soldiers than the Chinese.’ Others have cciioed this sentiment, and it has been proved by the conduct of the troops recruited by us since Gordon’s time. Wo may safely assume, I think, that the time is drawing near when, in every respect, the Chinese will prove as capable as ourselves in evolving leaders from the unlimited material available. "Amongst other reforms, China, within a few short years, lias, in common with all civilised countries, adopted the system of lidding annual military manoeuvres, at which no trouble, time, or expense is spared to demonstrate to the rest of the world the very obvious fact that its rulers arc evolving and perfecting a military organisation which at no very distant date will be a great factor in Eastern politics’ particularly and world politics'' generally. "In 190 G the autumn manoeuvres of 'the army were hold on the plains of fehang-Te-Fu, and as some indication of the interest taken by tho Bowers in the proceedings, it was significant chat military attaches of Great Britain, Russia, France, America, Belgium, Japan, Germany, Italy and Holland attended throughout, and neglected no opportunity of observing olio ‘War Game’ from start to finish. "The combined strength was apiroxiinately -10,000 men and ISO guns. " r ! lie mimic battle was between the armies of the South and North. The former comprised the troops of Honan and Hupeh, 11,000 strong all. hranch- ; whilst their opponents, numerical(v far superior, mustered at least 20,iioo, ami were chiolly Shantiuigosc and men of the Northern River provinces. just before the great autumn manoeuvres of 1900, provision had been made for the creation of eighteen major units, or divisions, divided up on the Japanese-German brigade and regimental system, therefore compusing tl.ii ty-'six infantry brigades, or I-veil iy-two regiments (m.iiiig a total >f 210 infantry battalions, seventytwo squadrons of cavalry, and 102 batteries of artillery.) _ (since 1900, six divisions have been formed, bringing the total up to twen-.y-four divisions, numbering some id(),0U() men of all anus on a peace anting, and possessing no less than .210 field and mountain gums. .labiding the three Manchurian provI '.ces and Chinese Turkestan, the maximum .strength at present contemplated is forty-four divisions. The state of the Chinese Army at the close of 1900 was as follows: Armament.—Tho principal kinds of riilcs used wore: 1888 model .Manser rifles and carbines, made abroad; J.BSS model Mauser rifles and carbines, made in (.Tina; 20lb year ol Meigi Japanese rifles, and carbines, made in iapnu ; Mamdichcr riilcs. The artillery pieces mostly employed were:

German-made 7.1 V;..'d. Krnpp fh !d i guns of various dates; Gorman-made j 57 M.M. mountain guns; 75 Ivl.M. j Japanese held guns, made in Japan; 75 MAI. Japanese mou itain g'cs, i (made in Japan; 75 .Mt'rmn ol m Id j guns, made in France ; \ ickcrs Max- | j ini guns ; ami many others . 1 Each division aims at having 51 gnus of which .“’.6 arc held and IS j mountain.- that is one regiment of] three 'battalions ol three halt cries each, each battery having six giro;;. There are two arsenals in China I where firearms and ammunition are j turned out— one at' Shanghai and one at Hankow, (UK) miles u-p the ang-tse-Kiang. Three small arm and Cartridge factories have a (lady outI put of do rifles and 15.000 cartridges. I i'his output could be doubled.

The corps forming the Chinese Army arc composed of conscripts recruited on a three-years’ system, who pass, on completion of their service with the colours, into the reserve of the active army, then into the Landwelir, and finally into the Lanasturm. The exact terms of sendee are as follows ; Throe years in the active army, three years in the first reserve, four years in the Laudwehr, five years in the Landsturm. China is trying to discover the military system hast suited to her needs. She has tried German drill masters and Japanese drill masters, English I guns and French guns, and, at the present moment, she has a large party of military students serving in the ranks of the French Army, in order to ho able to compare the merits of such training with that obtaining in Japan, where there arc at present serving in colleges and attached fo troops about 500 military students.

The programme of educational reorganisation is being executed with remarkable efficiency and thoroughness. There are to-day 29 preparatory colleges for cadets, with 5000 pupils; three secondary colleges, with 1530 pupils; a college for student officers belonging to the nobility, with 200 pupils; an Imperial college for tiie rapid instruction of officer students, with I JOO pupils;'six temporary provincial colleges for tho rapid instruction of officer students, with 810 pupils; a normal military college to provide military teachers, with 120 pupils; and one temporary staff college, with 120 'pupils. Turning from the army to the navy, it may be said that China has very wisely not attempted the costly and almost impossible task of re-creating her navy at a time when her army plans require so much more development. Certain principles, winch call for commendation, would appear, however to have already been adopted. The first is, that it is necessary to create a water-policing force of modern powerful gun-boats and small protected cruisers, which will do away with piracy in tho Chnton River delta and effectively police the thousand miles of Yang-tse River now overrun by European warships. Tho creation of a corps of well-trained naval officers is also held necessary, and already a certain number of Chinese midshipmen have beau placed on British warships by special permission of the British Government, and a large number of others dispatched to Japanese naval academies; whilst a plan is said to have been elaborated which aims at obtaining permission for regular drafts of Chinese youths to he sent on board British training ships. Thus, during the next few years, there should ho created the nucleus of a future Chinese navy ; and the existence of- an efficient squadron of twenty or •thirty modern cruisers and gun-boats, well-officered and well- manned, will allow a battle fleet programme to be drawn up with a greater chance of success than has ever been possible heretofore.