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 japan]

A E M reflecting the sturdy national patriotism of the Swiss, and capable of offering a strong resistance to external aggression. The total annual military expenditure of Switzerland is under <£1,000,000, which approximately represents the cost of the British volunteers. (g. s. c.) Japan. Japanese military organization on Western lines may be held to date from 1873. Involving as it did the disappearance of the samurai, or feudal soldier par excellence, the altered state of things occasioned some trouble at first, but within three years the new model got into fair working order and has now been accepted with sober enthusiasm by the people. At the beginning an advisory board of British experts wras set up. Then this gave way to the mission militaire of French officers and Italian artillerists in the arsenal at Osaka. These were in turn replaced by a stafF of German specialists. Finally, since the period of the Chinese war, the Japanese have felt strong enough to dispense with all foreign assistance and to organize their army for and by themselves. Conscription. —Every male of the age of twenty is liable to the conscription, provided he is passed by the doctor, is not (under safeguards) the sole breadwinner of his family, suffers from no permanent illness or disablement, is not a criminal, and is not undergoing a very specialized curriculum of education. The conscripts are chosen by lot. The minimum height for the infantry, cavalry, and army service corps is 5 feet 2 inches; for the artillery and engineers, 5 feet 4 inches. The number of eligibles is estimated at 427,000 a year, of whom 60,000 are actually taken for the colours, and 131,300 for the depot or supernumerary forces. There is an elaborate system of volunteering, devised to secure the thorough training of the _ exempted students and of natives who have been resident in foreign lands, who on their return to Japan at the age of thirty-two are drafted into the territorials. Service.—There are four grades of service, namely—{a) with the colours for three years ; {b) with the first reserves for 4g years, who are called up twice during their full term for three or four weeks at a time ; (c) with the second reserves for five years (the landwehr), who are called out twice for two weeks at a spell during their full term ; and (d) with the territorial troops (the landsturm) up to the age of forty. Besides these grades there are two classes of supernumeraries (the depot), the first comprising men who, though physically qualified and otherwise liable to serve, have not been called up for service with the colours ; the second, men who have not only escaped the lot for the colours, but also service with the first supernumeraries. The first depot serve for 7 -j years, with 150 days’ training during the full term, of which ninety days are usually required during the first year ; the second depot serve f°i' 1 /i years, without any training, as a rule, during the period. Ultimately both classes pass into the territorial army. Their chief purpose is to fill such vacancies as occur in the ranks of the regulars. Personnel.—The conscript private becomes first a second-class soldier, then first-class, then upper, promotion depending upon proficiency and good conduct. The non-commissioned steps are corporal, sergeant, sergeant-major, and special sergeant-major, with specified periods of service in each grade, promotion resting solely tipon merit. Officers are recruited from graduates at the Officers’ College*—to which students go up either directly from one of the six local preparatory schools or the central preparatory school at Tokyo, after passing an examination in either case—but no commission is issued until the Staff Council are satisfied of the candidate’s competence and progress. For the higher and specialized training and education of commissioned officers there are several schools, of which the most important is the Army College, in which instruction is given for the superior ranks and staff appointments. Others of these institutions are the Toyama School of Musketry and Strategy, the School of Artillery and Engineers, the Field Artillery School, the Garrison Artillery School, the Cavalry Practical School, the Army Service School, the Army Medical School, the Veterinary School, the Arsenal School, and the School of Military Music. The ranks of officers are, in their order, secondlieutenant, first - lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant - colonel, colonel, major-general, lieutenant-general, general, and fieldmarshal. Up to and including the grade of captain, promotion is partly by seniority and partly by merit; but above that rank promotion takes place by merit alone. An officer who never rises beyond his captaincy is compulsorily retired at the age of fortyeight. The pay of a private runs from Is. lOd. per mensem for a second-class to 3s. 0M. for an upper soldier ; of a non-commissioned

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667 officer from 9s. 2d. per mensem for a second-class corporal to 28s. 6d. for a first-class special sergeant-major, besides rations, uniform, and quarters. Officers are paid at rates varying from £34 per annum for a second-lieutenant to £71 for a captain, £115 for a major, £238 for a colonel, and £600 for a general. Organization.—Taking the army as a whole, it is composed of twelve divisions, numbered 1 to 12, and one division of guards (the Imperial Guard). Each division is commanded by a lieutenant-general, is stationed permanently in an assigned district, comprises four regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, one regiment of field artillery, one battalion of engineers, one battalion of army service, and is in itself a complete fighting unit. An infantry regiment is made up of four battalions of three companies each ; a cavalry regiment of either three or four squadrons, with 100 sabres to each ; and a field artillery regiment of six batteries of six guns each. A battalion of engineers is composed of three companies, or 600 men ; a battalion of army service of 300 men. The normal strength of a division is thus made up, excepting the division of guards, which is somewhat smaller :— Infantry 9,600 Cavalry. 300 Engineers 600 Army Service. 300 10,800 men and 36 guns. Of mountain artillery there are six regiments, or 216 guns in all. The total force of field artillery amounts to seventeen regiments, or 612 guns; whilst the total strength of cavalry stands at about 5000 sabres. Over and above their normal strength, several of the divisions (the Imperial Guard, and the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Tenth, and Twelfth) are furnished with extra corps, mostly of artillery, for the garrisoning of the forts at Tokyo, Yura, Kure, Geiyo, Saseho, Tsushima, Hakodate, Maizuru, and Shimonoseki; the additional complement of the guards consisting of a brigade (two regiments) of cavalry, a brigade (three regiments) of field artillery, and one battalion of railway engineers. The present peace footing may be taken at 100,000 men; but in 1905, when the whole scheme of readjustment will be completed, the peace strength will amount to 150,000 men of all ranks and 30,000 horses, the war strength to 500,000 men and 100,000 horses. The guards are recruited from every part of the empire; the divisions, from the districts to which they are attached. Formosa is garrisoned by a mixed brigade, supplied by the divisions in rotation, composed of two regiments of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, three batteries of field artillery, half a battalion of engineers, and half a battalion of army service. Testimony is universal to the exceptional efficiency of the Medical Service Corps, which is distributed in the proportion of 100 surgeons to each division, with a complete equipment for field hospitals, bandaging stations, special hospitals, and the like. There is also a Red Cross Society, in addition to a great hospital at Tokyo, a large staff of trained nurses of both sexes, and two hospital ships designed and furnished for the transport of the wounded. The total cost of the whole army is a trifle over 37,000,000 yen, or £3,700,000 per annum. Staff.—Supreme control is vested in the emperor, who is the commander-in-chief, but he is actively assisted by a general staff (with a field-marshal for chief and a general or lieutenant-general for vice-chief), the War Office, and a board of field-marshals. In addition to the transaction of general business, the general staff supervises the survey, trigonometry, cartography, and topography departments, and directs the Army College. The head of the War Office is a general on the active list, who has ex officio a seat in the Cabinet and is not affected by ministerial changes. There is a Tokyo Defence Office, under a lieutenant-general, specially charged with the defence of Tokyo Bay, and similar duties in regard to the other forts are entrusted to three major-generals, with headquarters respectively at Yokohama, Shimonoseki, and Yura. All questions concerning arms and ammunition are referred to expert committees of artillery and engineering, and there is besides a Remount Office. I or military purposes the whole empire is divided into eastern, western, and central districts, each under the command of a general or lieutenant-general. Arms. —Excepting in time of war, the Japanese are able to make all their munitions in the arsenals at Tokyo, Osaka, and Taipeh (Formosa).. The infantry carry the repeating rifle designed by Colonel Arisaka, and the field and horse artillery are at present (new weapons, Arisaka pattern, are in hand) equipped with field guns (weight about 6 cwts.) and mountain guns (weight, 2 cwts.) of the same calibre (2'955 inches) and firing similar ammunition, of which the common shell weighs about 91 lb. For a full account of the military system under the ancien regime and further details about the existing organization, see under Japan. [For Egyptian Army see Egypt. For other Armies see under the separate headings for each country.]