JAPAN’S GREAT ARMY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1880, 21 September 1918, Page 4

JAPAN’S GREAT ARMY.

BRITISH SYSTEM ADOPTED

8,000,000 TRAINED, TROOPS,

The (milling of the Japanese Army, according to Mr T. G. Wade, of Dunedin, who was A.D.G. to Lieu-tenant-General Birdwood on Gallipoli, and has just returned from an eight-months’ sojourn in Japan, has lately been remodelled. Formerly it went on Gorman lines, now it closely follows the British system, as improved by (he present war, but is more severe. It was, he stated recently, a very rigorous training, and the result was a very tine soldiery. So far as he could ascertain, Japan s regular army stood at about 1,800,00(1, but, under I lie present system of compulsory training iov definite periods at short intervals, her available force was increased to about 8,000,0(10 of welltrained troops. The equipment of the Japanese soldier also followed tile f itish type, and the artillery was of the most up-to-date models, fhe preparations for war were on a vast scale. Munition factories and ammunition depots were numerous and large. Other testimony to Japan s participation in the war was found in the sight of many warships being built in new shipyards. “The impression I got from what I saw,” said Mr Wade, “was that the Japanese are waiting for something wailing to land a knock-out blow, but against whom I could not discover. The Japanese are shrewd — very shrewd.”