Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1323

 DEFENCE 1201

comprises 2 guard divisions and a guard brigade, 15 line divisions, 2 ' mixed ' divisions (half dragoons and half Cossacks), a Don Cossack division, and 3 independent cavalry brigades. Of the 20 cavalry divisions, 15 are permanently attached to army corps, and 4 are formed into two cavalry corps. The second mixed division and the separate brigades are independent. All told, the army in Europe comprises 1,038 battalions, 642 squadrons, and 497 batteries.

The field army in the Caucasus consists of 3 army corps, each of 2 divisions (one division is of Caucasian grenadiers) ; and 4 cavalry divisions,

1 of line cavalry (dragoons) and 3 divisions of Caucasian Cossacks (Kuban and Terek) ; a brigade of Cossack (Kuban) infantry ot 6 battalions, and 2 brigades of Caucasian rifles, each of 4 battalions. The second rifle brigade is recruited from Christian natives of the Caucasus.

In the Asiatic army the men are Russians, with the exception of a few Turkoman irregular horse (jigits). In Siberia the troops are mainly, if not entirely, recruited from military colonists. In Western and Central Asia there are 5 rifle brigades, each of 4 battalions, in peace, and 8 in war. There is also a Turkestan Cossack Division, and a Transcaspian Cossack brigade. The 5 brigades mobilise as the first and second Turkestan Army Corps. Each army corps has a Turkestan artillery biigade, one of 6 and one of 9 batteries.

But the largest part of the Asiatic army is in East Siberia, which now possesses a strong and complete army of its own. Since the Eusso-Japanese war the East Siberian forces have been increased and reorganised. There are 11 divisions of Siberian rifles, each with a corresponding artillery brigade of 4 batteries of 8 guns. Mounted troops are supplied by the Trans- Baikal, Amur, and Usuri Cossacks, and the Primorsk Dragoons, who collectively furnish 36 sotnias and squadrons in peace, and over 90 in war ; also 2 Cossack H. A. batteries, expanding to 4 in war. The whole would mobilise as 5 Siberian army corps (instead of 3, as formerly), and from

2 to 4 Cossack cavalry divisions.

The troops of the Russian Empire are so far territorialised that each corps draws its recruits from a particular district, and is as a rule permanently quartered in the same garrisons. But in European Russia the bulk of the army is stationed west of a line drawn north and south through Moscow, consequently recruits and reservists have in the majority of cases to travel long distances to join their corps. Moreover, a number of recruits from ' Great Russia ' are sent to corps outside. All this makes mobilisation a slower and more diflicult process than in Germany or France. The peace strength of the armies of Russia is upwards of 1,200,000 of all ranks. The field armies of European Russia and the Caucasus, with the first category reserve divisions, and the second category regiments of the Don and Caucasian Cossacks, may amount to 1,500,000 or 1,600,000 men. The Asiatic army might at present mobilise for field operations about 300,000 men altogether. The grand total of the Russian armies may, therefore, be taken at 1,850,000, of which, under favourable circumstances, 1,200,000 might perhaps be assembled in a single theatre.

The Russian infantry is armed with the ' 3 line ' rifle, model 1891. It is a magazine arm, calibre •299in., muzzle velocity 2,035 f.s., sighted to 3,000 paces. The magazine holds 5 cartridges. The cavalry and Cossacks have a similar rifle, 2f inches shorter in barrel, but taking the same cartridge. The Russian artillery is armed with a Q.F, shielded gun, model 1902, tiring a a shell of 13^1b. with a muzzle velocity of 1950 f.s.

The military budget of Russia for 1911 amounted to about 51,350,000/. ordinary expenditure, and 5,000,000/. extraordinary. Total 56,350,000/. sterling.

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