ITALY'S FIGHTING STRENGTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 81, 31 August 1914, Page 7

ITALY'S FIGHTING STRENGTH.

THE ARMY AND SCHE NAVY,

600,000 IN LAND FOJitJiS.

The Italian Army numbers, on a w-ir footing, 400,000 eombatanfe ,'n 3w Held and the mobile mHitia hav« a nominal strength of 32<i,000. Of these prooalbly 200,(H» can readily take the he Id making an approximate total hghtmg fore? of G00,u4 The you g Italian has to serve in either the awi r*L ™yte W yews, beginning at the age of 20. A section i 8 "posted to the permanent army; a seeonu lot also to the permanent with "unlimited leave," a „d the third section is « crated from active service and »ous into the Temtorial militia. The seeond category form, the "complementary troops and supply a reserve to make up the waste of war. The mobile militia consists of men who have served two years m tine permanent amiv and six years m the reserve. These' men remain in the mobile militia lour years and then pass into the Territorials, joining the exempted awn in this form of service, and supplying the only part lot this service which can be counted upon for use in war tone. The field army consist* of twelve /army corps, eadh of (two divisions (one has three). The divisions cum consist of 14,150 officers and men I,'iDD horses, and 30 guns. Each array corns has also a regiment of field artillery with 36 guns in six .batteries, two or three heavy batteries, a cavalry regiment, and, a regiment of Bersaglicri, kst (light infantry, 'line Bersagjjieri [regiments consist of three battalions of infantry and one of cyclists, the latter being intended to assist tile cavalry in the field.

ars el S ht (about 20,000 men) of Alpini, or frontier troops, specially organised to defend the mountain passes leading into Italy. Ihcy have with theim two regiments each of 3G batteries of mountain artiilery.ln addition there is a regiment of eight batteries of horse artillery (in addition to the two batteries attached to each cavalry division), two regiments of heavy artillery of eight batteries each, and ten 'batteries of fortress artillery. Italy owned 9 airshios in 1913, and about 150 efficient aeroplanes. The infantry are armed with tthe Mansilicher-Oarcano rifle, a magazine waapon of C.5 nun. (.20oinchj calibre. The field artillery has been, or is bean.", re-armed with a De Port q.f. gun of 75 , mm. (2.9oinch calibre). i ' The frontier of Italy is as follows: Wrench, 300 miles; Swiss, 413 miles; Austro-Bungarian , 484 miles; total, ' 1202 miles. The principal uasscs of the Alps are defended by fortifications, and 'the basin of the' Po river, which stretches across) the broad "root" of the Italian peninsula, is studded with fortifications. The chief strong places 'are Casale, Piacenza, Ve.ro.ia, Mantua, .Venice and Alessandria. Several of the towns further south arc protected, m- j eluding, of course, Rome.

TUB NAVY OK ITAIA'. Italy 'lias a formidable navy, which enjoys the distinction .of hav.ng been the latest of great Powers to have taken part in war previous 'to the present conflict. There are certainly two Dreadnoughts in serviiec, and two others are understood to have been coram.ssioned. The two certain ships are the A.'onto di Vavour, thirteen li-inch, eighteen 4.7-Jnch, and fourteen small ,guns, 21,500 itons, 22% knots; and the Dante Aligbieri, twelve 12-inch, twenty 47-inch, and twelve small guns. 19,000 tuns. 23 knots; and the ot'her two are the Leonardo >-c Vinci and (lie Oiulo Ccsare, sisters »f the Conte di Cavour. Two others like tfjeni, the Duilio and the Andrea Doria, are Hearing completion, but cannot be < ■iinted upon. There are ten very hcav. • ::r:i!ed preDraulnoug'hte. The San 'itM'gio and the San Marco carry each four 12-inch and eight 7.5-inch guns; four ships carry two 12-inch and twelve 8-inish, two others, four 12-inch, four 8-:nch, and twelve (i-inch; and another pair are armed with fcur 10-mch and eight 7,5 inch guns. This category, however, takes us back into ships of the 1S!>8 programmef There tare mo particularly powerful cruisers. The constitution of tile tleeti on paper fle at the end of this year is as follows:—Dreadnoughts, 4; pic-Dread-noughts, 8; armoured' cruisers, !); protected cruisers, 13; torpedo gunboats, 10; destroyers, 35; torpedo 'boats, 8(i; submarines', 25. These figures exclude several old ships which have lost their fighting value. The personnel of the navy is 1027 officers and 38,000 men.