THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 65, 5 August 1914, Page 2

THE AUSTRIAN ARMY.

THE AUSTRIAN' AKMY. A PESSIMISTIC VIEW. When the last mail left Europe, the prospect of intervention in Albania was causing some discussion of Austrian and Italian military strength. It was pointed out that Italy has been crippled bv the recent campaign in Tripoli and by disorders at Home, so that her army would be scarcely able to take the field in full strength. The condition of the Austrian army is deplorable if we may believe the "Keichpost" (Vienna), an organ which represents the higher military circles of the country. In this autliorative paper we read:"The Austrian army lias fallen 011 evil days. The condition oi' the infantry in the Austro-'llungarian forces may be called melancholy. For the past twenty years-the personnel of the modernised corps in field and heavy artillery, tlifi technical department*, and the handlers of machine guns have been chosen from the infantry. The. plight of the. army may be guessed when we learn that 110 recruits oiler themselves for these new branches of the army. Things have readied such a pitch that the Austrian infantry roll-call -has a roll-call of barely 80. In Ccnmtnv and France, the company numbers well over 160, in Russia, over 17-0, although the frontier troops are nuich stronger, company for company. A company of between seventy and eighty nien can j neither be trained for active warfare, j nor can the oinceis lcam ' rom handling their command the technical skill necessary for leadership,"