SOVIET ARMIES.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3577, 13 September 1920, Page 5

SOVIET ARMIES.

THEIR FIGHTING VALUE. A conspicuous figure in the Finnish Delegation now in London, on its w T ay to Rome and Paris, is the. new Chief of jhe Finnish General Staff, General EnckeL, reports the Daily Telegraph. The distinguished .officer and writer on military science was from 1915 to 1918 the head of the Russian Military Mission at Italian General Headquarters in the Field, while during last summer, before General Mannesheim’s retirement, he commanded the Finnish coast defences, and in ithis capacity co-operated 1 with RearAdmiral! Sir Walter Cowan and the British Baltic squadron against the sorties of the Bolshevik fleet. General Enckell, on whose views of the ‘‘Red” armies and their commanders, 'this correspondent questioned him, was not inclined to doubt the report that the Generali Brusilof stated to Be in 'control of ithe Soviet armies on the Polish front was the Galician victor of 1916. He, also held fhait there was conclusive evidence to the effect that'the chief organiser of the Soviet military machine alt the present day was the Russian ex-War Minister, Generali Polivanoff,* who did such excellent service during the European. War on the munition side. On the subject of the Bolshevik rank and file General Enekell ; was rather more diffident in expressing an opinion. It would he dangerous to ( generalise, he hrfd, as to the value I of the “Red” (armies, !ssnoe these were not homogeneous bodies, but composed of units, the quality of which was varied and variable. Here and there one might happen upon a nuclnlus of finely tempered shock troops, while at other, places one would encounter litffe more than a rabble of irregulars. However, since. Trotsky’s decree of a few months since abolishing the Soldiers’ Councils and reinstating the former commissioned ranks with full pristine authority, the professional cadres of the Bolshevik armies |iad been greatly | improved, and‘an iron discipline had been introduced. But desertions * fro~m the' ‘ 1 Red ’ ’ ranks were numer- [ OUS, especially af er a reverse or dur- ! ing defeat. Of course, a homogenei ous force of well-trained., seasoned, I and equipped regulars could account J for several times their number of “Red” troops.

The state of war between Finland and Soviet Russia, ever since the "Red” revolution in Finland, alt the close of wdiich af.l the Russians were expelled, had been rather a latent

than an active one. Only occasional affairs of outposts occurred, more especially towards the Arene Sea.

Dr. Ho'lgi, the Finnish Foreign Minister, laid stress, along with General Enckell. upon the efficiency of the Finnish “White Guard.” or citizen defensive force, raised by General Mannesheim during the Bolshevik insurrection. This forcej which to-day numbered wefl over 100,000 men, has now been ionverted info a permanent one, beig deeToeTi essetial to the public security of the Diet, which was providig the necessary credits for i’s maintenance. Its pennanent organisa’ion. wholly distinct from t> 7 i 'hat of the regular conscript army, commauded by General Enckell, was very much on the lines of Britain’s Territorial Army. General Mannesheim still regained the chi°f eommand of the “ Whi‘o Gward. ’ ’

DEATH OF GEORGE GOEGAS. MAN WHO SAVED THOUSANDS. Surgeon-General Gorgas, tuu j. amu as American doctor who made the building of the Panama Canal possible, died in London on July 3, a; the Queen Alexandra Nursing Home for Senior Officers. His body has been taken to the United States for burid. In May, General Gorgas left America with Mrs. Gorgas, to investigate tropical diseases in "West Africa. When visiting Brussels he developed kidney trouble* and in London was Linen seriously ill. Os June 8 the King visited the hospital and personally conferred upon him the insignia of a Kniglu Comander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, in recognition of bis services to the British .Empire and the rest of the world. No man h.yd a higher record in sav- . ing hiunan life than George Gorgas, He e adicated ydEow fever at Havana, transforming a death-trap into a health resortf, and converted the plague spo, of ’Panama into one of the most sanitary districts of- the world. He succeeded almost in exterminating the <|efirible “sitegomyia” mos-, quito, which transmitted the dreaded Yellow Jack, In 1906 he went to Panama as the chief sanitary officer in connection with the construction of the canal. When he arrived the deaths from yellow fever - and malaria was 50 per 1000; when he left in 1913 it was only about eight per 1000. At Panama and Colon he had frequently as many as 40,000 men under his supervision, and in 1908, out of 43,000 men, there were only 45 deaths. Previously the men ’working' on ‘the canal had died in huge numbers.