The Russian Army

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 65, 5 August 1914, Page 6

The Russian Army

VASTLY IMPROVKI) iX RKCKNT YEARS. Mr d. Kllis Jiarker, writing in tin"Fortnightly Review," deals iueidly wilh tin.' development and progress made hy the Russian Army, which is now regarded as a. menaru to Onnany. Tin: following is an extract t*r< m t':e a"tide: '

The Kii.^xiait army, which had be-'ii miMnanaired fur many years, has of late been greatly improved, partly because tiii- .Japanese defeat has jjiwn Rn>sia a rude and wholesome awakening; partly because that lier <jreat piospeiity ha> ena-'led to spend enoniioiH ir-on her army and navy. The eo-4 oi' living has ;;Teat!y increased t'iu» world over, pritn-ipnll, in of the rise in tile prices o! iVod-tutl's and of raw materials it in! Itn-Mii, ehielly a prolineer of foodstuffs and raw material, has heen ;;ivally henelited by tint rUe. That may he seen from the groat increase in the value of her foreign trade, and by the notable improvement of the Russian Rud^ot.

In HMD Russia's iture on her annv was 'J.V2.."illi'-.ouo, and on her navv, C'.I.SOO.OIiO. together. rCli-2.300.U1X); ill 191:!, tilie expenditure on tin.' annv was £<i-\7MU!OO, ami on the navy. £-24.!)f10.000, together equal to C87.000.0-fl!), or an increase of £23,300.000 as compare.! with 1010. The increase is truly startling. lint it should henceforth cxccd .C 100,000,000 per year, in view of the enormous increase in the peace strength of the Russian army. Rus^iaf?*officers have worked very hard since the Japanese War. The great progress of the Bussian army is particularly noticeable in the technical sen-ices, in which the Russians were hitherto weakest. According to Hie French authorities. Russia ocuipies tli'i 'second rank in aviation. She intends building 41)0 aeroplanes during tile present year. The effective peace strength of the Russian Army is 1,385,000 men. and it is proposed that this enormous number should be increased by 450,000 men.

RUSSIA DANGEROUS TO (IKRMAN'Y. ' Russia lias become more dangerous to Oniiauy than she was in former times, because situ lias lost ilier iormer megaloii ani-.i. the complacent belief in her invim ability. which caused her to frill.-r away her strength in Asia, ami neglect her Western frontier, where alone she is vulnerable, to the despair of (ienei'ai Kir."o:.atkiii and other leading soldiers. Russia lias wisely abandoned the Pacific. She ii >ati.~;ied to rule the Black Sea. where s'ni' is building three dreadnoughts of 23.i)s«j ton . i«i'! he intends conceiitr:'tin« her naval ,!i rts upon the I'alt.c, nil, ]'.• s!'e is ci 'mulcting lour dreadnoughts i,; tons, armed with"l2 12-iiHi guns, nnil has laid down four huge" battle-cruisers of tons, armed with nine 14-iiu-li The Kussi.tn army is supposed to have wry modem , artiili-vy. and i;, bein.L' supplied with a ' lle'.V I'ille i-ilKe I!) I If. Jll lull) Russia etl'eeted a hid-: i; Mi-r----tant redistribution of her true;' . .tin a view to accelerating their mobilisation, increasing their eilieien.*\. an ! pr>hcrsi'lf against a ?■ wryvi-.r attack. Formerly a larjje ;-ai: n.' aer army was concentrated in i:w !:*i.?ll.*«• r l'ortre>M i >, where mobili. atbm It take piai-e in ease of war. !!owv\<;. In view of the fact that d: tain«s ai; ; •jivut in Russia, ami 11•:«t railway* :.iv few and slow, Russia's mobilisation takes longer tlian that of (in-many, lbnee the danger was thai a mobilised (brman Army have attacked tin* Russian Army before it had completed its mobilisaiMil. and that Russia, beiui; attaeked tinnrepared. migh L be deieated be (b-rmany in the same way in which the Freirh troops uere r-iii'prisi-d and defeated in 1870 by the Cennans, and tl-.e Turks by the Unitarians in the reeent war. Jn both cases disaster was eatised by the fa<a that an unready arm; was ■ too slowly mobilised too near (he fronI tier. Jn view of the possibility of a j Kiidib-n attaek, the Russian line of niobi- | lisation has been drawn so iar bark , from the (lenmin frontier that an adI '■ennan army will hw the ailvanittjs' 1 ' 01 '* s mon ' mobilisation, for it* will liu': 1 tll( ' linssian Army fully mobilised and renn.v J l "' V i, J tiK ' h - v th " time it has covered tbe ilisl-J 111 ' 1 ' ating the Herman frontier from tlui nili' marking the points of assembly pf tinRussian army. Moreover. Russia is endeavouring to accelerate her mobilisation, and to (]iiii'];en the transport of ; her mobilised troops towards the (!erj man frontii']- by inpooviiig her railways, If »'( aliovv forty train per day on a double line, ami twenty trains per day on single ones, and estimating tinaverage speed of trains at liitecn miles per hour, it appears that an army corps, whieh can be shipped in 1 110 trains, reijuires three days for advancing to the fi'ontier on a double lin-.- of railways and si\ days for advancing to the frontier on a single line. If we calculate the capacity of the Russian railways on this basis, we lind that the four army corps concentrated in Yilna. can reach the C.erman frontier in twenty days; that the live army corps concentrated at Warsaw can reach tin- (lerman frontier in thirty days, and that four army corps of tile St. I'etcrsburg district can reach the I lerman frontier in t}ii rt,-four or thirty-live days. In otlier words. Russia '-an attack (lermany with thirteen army corps live weeks titer the beginning of the mobilisation, and can. at the same time, direct Jier twelve army corps of the Kiel!'. .Moscow and Kasan districts towards the frontier of Austria-Hungary. During those live weeks, much may. if course, have happened between Germany and France. (Iciiiiany is strengthening very greatly her forti'e.->es on tin; Russian frontier. Apparently, it is her plan to act on the defensive in the east, to destroy the armies of France ;is ripidlv as possi'iile. and then to hurl her entile army at Russia, Russia remains •! slowly moving colossus until her rail way system is greatly improved, and she intends completing her strategi-al rail-.va.s ;i> rapidly as possible.