Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/884

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DENMARK

and of tlie provinnial towns and places and rural commnnes, wore as follows : —

—

Revenue

Expenditure

Property

Debt

Copenhagen (April 1,

£

£

£

£

1911-March31,1912)

2,226,407

2,705,717

13,183,543

11,046,200

Provincial Towns and

Places (April 1, 1910-

March 31, 1911)

2,780,659

2,797,509

8,717,319

6,224,832

Rural Communes

(April 1, 1910-Marcli

31, 1911).

1,852,873

1,839,932

4,355,163

2,298,373

Defence.

The Danish army is a national militia, resembling in some respects the Swiss army. Every able-bodied Danish subject is obliged to serve in the army or navy, except the inhabitants of Iceland, the Fai'oe Islands, and the Danish Antilles. Exemptions in Denmark are few, even clergymen having to serve for 5 years.

Service commences at the age of 21 and lasts for 16 years. For the first 8 the men belong to the active army, and for the second 8 years to the extra, or territorial, reserve. At the time of joining, the recruits are continuously trained for 165 days in the infantry, 280 days in the field artillery, 1 year in the garrison artillery, and 200 days in the cavalry. The engineers have

7 mouths', and the train 2 months' continuous training. In the case of about, one fourth of the men, their initial training is prolonged by periods ranging from 2^ to 8^ months, according to the arm of the service to which they belong. Subsequent training for all arms only takes place once or twice in the remaining six or seven years of army service, and then only for 25 or 30 days on each occasion. The peace strength of the active army is about 820 officers and 12,900 men.

The countpy is divided into two territorial commands ; one including Copenhagen and the first and second Zealand brigades ; the other comprising the Funen brigade, and first and second Jutland brigades. There are 11 regiments of infantry each of 3 or 4 battalions making 52 battalions altogether, also 4 regiments of cavalry, 2 regiments of field artillery each of

8 four-gun batteries, 5 garrison artillery battalions, and 3 battalions of engineers. The field army would apparently consist of 5 mixed brigades, with a fighting strength of about 50,000 men.

There are two special corps of infantry and garrison artillery, formed from reservists, for the defence of Copenhagen and the island of Bornholm.

The Danish infantry is armed with the Krag-Jorgensen magazine rifle, calibre 8 mm. Mounted troops have the Remington carbine. The field artillery has been rearmed with a Krupp gun, firing a 14*88 pound shell.

The permanent staff of the Danish army (officers and non-commissioned officers) is about 2,650 strong, and about 8,000 recruits are trained yearly. The military budget for 1912 amounted to 1,097,0007., of which 166,000/. was for extraordinary expenditure on fortifications.