GERMAN MILITARY SYSTEM.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15047, 15 August 1914, Page 13

GERMAN MILITARY SYSTEM.

A German ■ resident of Wellington, who is not a naturalised British subject, and who is consequently called upon to report himself once a day at the local police headquarters, explained to a "Post" reporter the various classes of reserves connected with the German military eystem. After the standing army, he said, come the first and second reserves, graded according to age, and consisting of men who had served ii the array. Then came the "Landwehr" and "Seewehr/ , also composed of men who had had military training, but who were older than the first and second reserves, their ages ranging from about 32 to 35 years. Next came the "Landstnrmpflichtigen," or what might bo called the last line of defence. It "was to thi* class that the informant himself belonged. He produced his military certificate issued in Germany in 1898, and interpreted it into English, to explain what the duties of those belonging to the "Landsturmpflichtigen" were. The interpretation showed that the men in this category were in tiroes of peace under no military control whatever, but in times of extraordinary national crises, when the other reserves bad already been utilieed, they would be required to complete the army or navy, and in such cases the younger men would be called on first. The informant further explained that when a young man eomTiie+ed his twentieth year he was examined with a view to military service before military and civil authorities, and if- he was physically unfit he was again examined the following year. If he still failed to pass the medical test, he was ordered to stand down for another year, at tho end of which period he was again medically examined. Should his physical condition again fail to reach the required standard, he was passed into the "LandsturmpflichtiRon,' into which members of the "Landwehr , and "Seewehr" also automatically passed.