Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/660

598 trict forms a landwehr battalion, and every army corps district forms a reserve rifle company, one or two reserve cavalry regiments, and three reserve batteries, from the landwehr men on its lists. The garrison companies of sappers and the garrison artillery have already been spoken of, and are more closely connected with the active army than the rest of the garrison troops. The officers for the landwehr and reserve regiments are supplied partly from the field troops, partly from one-year volunteers who have qualified, an.d non-commissioned officers of the army who have retired with the rank of landwehr officers, and partly from the half-pay list. In addition to the forces above named, a certain number of &quot;garrison battalions&quot; are some times formed from the surplus landwehr men, and some of the Ersatz reserve. This was done in the war of 1 870-7 1 to relieve the depot troops of the garrison duties which had devolved on them in consequence of the landwehr being sent to the front. The organisation and armament of the landwehr are generally similar to those of the field troops, but the infantry wear a broad flat-topped.cap instead of the distinctive Pickelhaube

The total war strength of the 1 4 army corps composing the Prussian army is

Men. Field Troops,. . 524,335 Depot Troops,. . 186,598 Garrison Troops,. . 200,552 911,485 205,761 1938. Horses. 161,913 17,801 26,047 Gnns. 1428 264 246 The general organisation of the Prussian army remains the same in peace and war. The king is the Com- mander-in-Chief, and exercises his authority through the War Ministry. The War Ministry is divided into a number of departments, of which the principal are the Central Department, which includes the minister s office ; the General War Department, which deals with all questions of organisation, mobilisation, quartering, training, &c., and all strategical and purely military questions ; and the Military Finance Department, w r hich deals with all questions of pay clothing, equipment, and supply. Directly under the king and the War Minister come the commanders of the army corps districts into which the kingdom is divided. In peace time each corps command comprises two divisions, a rifle battalion, a brigade of artillery, and a battalion of pioneers and of train ; each division consists of two infantry brigades and one cavalry brigade; each infantry brigade consists of two line regiments (exceptionally three) and one or two landwehr regiments ; each cavalry brigade of two or three cavalry regiments. On the order for mobilisation the regiments are completed to war strength, the depots formed, and the landwehr or garrison troops organised. A few slight alterations are made to equalise the army corps (the details of the war strength of which have been already given) to a uniform strength of 25 battalions, and a portion of the cavalry and one or two batteries of horse artillery are withdrawn from each corps to form separate cavalry divisions. The active army then takes the field, with the same organisation and under the same officers, corps and divisional commanders, brigadiers, staff, &c., that they have been accustomed to in peace.

The instructions for mobilisation are minute and complete. Every year a &quot; paper mobilisation&quot; scheme is drawn up, showing the number of men and officers required to place every corps and detachment on war footing, and whence these would be obtained, and showing also on what duties the officers and men actually present would be employed.- This scheme is completed at the army corps headquarters, and after revision by the War Minister, is approved and promulgated. Every individual thus knows beforehand what would be his duties in case of war, and the pith of the system lies in two short sentences in the &quot; Secret Instructions &quot; &quot; Every person in authority should know in peace what will be required of him on the order to mobilise, and must expect no further orders. All orders which have to be issued are to be kept ready in peace.&quot; The steps to be taken on mobilisation are detailed day for day. On the first day the War Ministry acquaints the commanders of army corps and principal military authorities, and also telegraphs direct to the commanders of landwehr battalion districts, to summon the reserves. On the second and third days the landwehr commanders complete the written summons, which are kept always ready, notifying to each man when and where he is to join; and these are sent out by aid of the civil authorities. The reserves for the field troops are called in first, the landwehr men one or two days later. On the fourth and fifth days the reserve men assemble, and are forwarded to their regi ments, whence a few officers and non-commissioned officers have been sent to take charge of them. Meanwhile the regiments have formed their depots, drawn the reserve clothing and equipment from their stores, and get every thing in readiness to receive their augmentation men. Most regiments are complete and ready to take the field by the seventh day. As soon as the reserve men 4 have all been despatched, the landwehr men are collected, and equipped from the stores at the headquarters of the bat talion district. The landwehr battalions are mostly com pleted about the eighth day. The reserve cavalry and some of the administrative departments take a little longer, but in 1870 the mobilisation was so far completed that the movement of the army corps to the front could be commenced on the ninth day. The commanders of army corps, divisions, &c., accompany their commands, and are replaced in their local commands by temporary (stellver- tretende) officials.

Appointment and Promotion of Officers.—The Prussian army draws its officers mainly from the Kleinadel or lesser nobility, corresponding to the country gentry of England. Promotions from the ranks are very rare, and generally carry with them retirement or transfer to the landwehr. A certain number of young men of. middle class obtain commissions, but principally in the scientific corps or in the landwehr. First appointments are obtained either from the cadet schools or by entering the ranks as avantageurs. More than one-half the officers enter by the latter system. A young man seeking a commission obtains a nomination from the colonel of a regiment, which admits him to serve as a private, but with recogni tion of his being a candidate for the rank of officer, and as such he is called an avantageur. He is usually required to sleep and mess with the privates in their barrack-room for the first two months ; after that he has more liberty given to him, and is sometimes received at the officers table. After six months service, and passing an examina tion in the subjects of a liberal education, he becomes qualified for promotion to the raiak of Porte epee Fahnrich (swordknot ensign), a sort of intermediate position between the commissioned and non-commissioned ranks. After six months further service in this rank he is sent to a military school for a ten months course of instruction, at the close of which he is required to pass an examination in purely military subjects; and then becomes qualified for a com mission, subject to being accepted by the officers of the regiment as worthy of admission among their number. The career of those youths who enter from the cadet schools does not differ materially from the above. The great majority enter as &quot;avantageurs,&quot; and serve their time as already described, only passing the first or ensign s examination before they enter, and being appointed to regiments by the king, instead of obtaining nominations from the colonels. A certain number who pass through 