THE MILITARY AND NAVAL STRENGTH OF DENMARK.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 53, 5 October 1878, Page 3

THE MILITARY AND NAVAL STRENGTH OF DENMARK.

The Copenhagen correspondent of a London journal writes: —Although it is sincerely to he hoped that Denmark may not l>e drawn into an eventual war, a short account of the military and naval resources of the country may perhaps not ho read without interest at the present moment. In accordance with the law of the llth July, 1807, the army consists of forty battalions of infantry, of an offeetivc of NOO men each, being twenty battalions of the lino and twenty battalions of tlie reserves, besides the battalion of the Life Guards. The soldiers, as raw material, aio excellent; hut the short time allowed for training purposes makes them rather a kind of malitia, while the want of non-commissioned ollicers, and even <jf sub-lieutenants, is most severely felt. The soldiers are naturally bravo, hut they would stand hut a poor chance in the open against the highly-trained troops of other nations. In a fortification, or behind fortified earthworks, however, they are invaluable, allowing themselves, as they proved in I Mi l, to be shot ■down to tin- last man. Tim artillery consists of nine batteries of the lino, and three reserve batteries (not including the heavy seige artillery), hut some of these batteries have still the old-fashioned muzzle loaders. The artillery is very creditably horsed, and the officers, as also those of the engineers (one battalion of the lino and one of the reserve) arc most highly trained, and would do honour to the army of any country. The infantry consists of ten squadrons of the line and live of the reserve. The cavalry consists of dragoons and hussars, the latter being especially splendidly mounted, and the only pity is that, as Napoleon said of the English infantry, “there are so few of them.” All the ollicers of the army, from the captain upwards, have smelt powder, and may justly ho called “gallant officers and highly educated gentlemen.” The Danish fleet consists, on paper, of three ironclad frigates hut very thinly covered (41 inches, I believe), five ironclad steam battoties, one screw line-of-battle ship, four wooden frigates, and about sixty smaller men-of-war of dill'erunt descriptions, not including some few torpedo boats lately added, and some live-and-twenty transport vessels. The Danish sailor needs no praise from anybody. The officers are highly trained, perhaps a little too much theoretically and not quite enough practically. The torpedo department has lately boon greatly developed here, and the active and passive deicnce by means of torpedoes lias by a Royal Order in Council, only about a week ago, been placed in the bands of one superior officer. There are no fortifications whatever in Denmark ; the socalled jortress of Cronboal at the entrance of the Sound would not stand two broadsides from an ironclad. Neither are there any entrenched camps to which the army may retire in case of need. The only fortifications are tho forts which defend the harbour of Copenhagen, and which are very heavily armed.