The Russian Army and the Japanese War, Vol. 2 (of 2) / Being Historical and Critical Comments on the Military Policy and Power of Russia and on the Campaign in the Far East

by A. N. Kuropatkin

Infantry.

As in former wars, so in Manchuria was the heat and burden of the day borne by our infantry, and there is no doubt that, in the future, infantry will retain its name as the principal Arm. The importance of other Arms depends entirely on the extent to which they assist infantry to defeat the enemy, for the latter is the final arbiter of victory or defeat. But infantry cannot work alone, and nowadays, if it is not assisted in action by artillery, cavalry, and sappers, if every resource of modern science is not brought into play to lighten its heavy task, it will either fail or will buy victory at too high a price. It is to infantry, as the principal Arm, that we must pay our chief attention. And yet with us service in the Line is not considered so honourable as service in the other branches! From the moment of the selection of its recruits we do everything to weaken it. Even the pattern of uniform worn by our Line infantryman is particularly ugly. In his old-fashioned, badly fitting tunic, overburdened with haversacks and equipment of all sorts, he is anything but a martial sight. This is an aspect of the case which cannot be ignored, and it is almost as important that a man’s uniform should be comfortable and attractive as that it should meet all the purely military requirements. All ranks should be enabled to admire their own dress and be proud of it. Up to the present, the majority of Line officers have not been given a good enough general or military education. Officers of all arms should receive a general education not lower than the intermediate standard of the national educational establishments, and a military education not lower than that of the military schools. We should teach the line officer to have a love and respect for the Arm in which he serves, as well as a knowledge of its particular rôle in battle, and must therefore raise his social position so that he may be a welcome guest in any society. We must provide him with a comfortable, inexpensive, and smart uniform. We must protect him from being abused by his seniors in the presence of his juniors, and in every possible manner encourage the development in him of an independent spirit. Bravery alone is not sufficient nowadays to attain victory; knowledge, initiative, and willingness to accept responsibility are also required. Infantry have always had a hard part in action, and have always suffered great loss, but the modern battle which lasts for days makes greater demands upon their mental and physical endurance than ever before. With a large proportion of reservists and short-service men, we cannot rely on perfection in the soldier; it is therefore all the more necessary that we should take steps to obtain it in our officers, and for this purpose we are lucky in having excellent and responsive material. Under all the arduous conditions under which the majority of our regiments had to fight, the greatest trials fell to the infantry officer, and right well he did his duty. It is quite enough to compare the casualties amongst those officers with those of their brothers in the cavalry, artillery, and sappers to see on whom fell the chief hardships and dangers. In some regiments the whole set of officers was changed several times. The following figures serve as an illustration of how they suffered:

		Killed and Wounded.
The 3rd East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	102
The 34th East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	89
The 36th East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	73
The 1st East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	71
The 4th East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	61
The 23rd East Siberian Rifle Regiment lost	…	50

It is impossible to recall the gallant war services of these and of the officers of many other regiments without profound respect and emotion.

It must always be borne in mind that the infantry of the Line is the backbone of our Service in peace as well as in war. Consequently, we should make much more of those who serve in it than we do, and give them a better chance. At present the list of regimental commanding officers includes far too many Guardsmen or officers of the General Staff. I am convinced that if the importance of service in the Line is to be maintained, we must put an end to the present unfair acceleration of promotion amongst Guards and General Staff officers as compared with that of their brothers. The latter produce a great many men capable of being good regimental commanders; all that is wanted is to know how to select them. Since the last Turkish War they have undoubtedly made considerable progress, and it is for us to arrange that this improvement is continued by fostering it in every way.

Owing to casualties, the company commanders were changed too often for efficiency, but they generally performed good service, lack of initiative being, as usual, their chief fault. It is most important for the good of the Service that captains (of all arms) displaying distinguished military qualifications should be quickly promoted to field rank. Yet recommendations sent to St. Petersburg were not acted on for a very long time, if ever. In such a matter some discretion should be allowed the Commander-in-Chief, and he should be empowered to promote junior officers to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel for distinguished service in the field. Special men would thus arrive at the command of independent units and regiments, posts where the personality of the man in command is so important. It often happened that a regiment which had done badly absolutely changed its character with a change of commanding officers. Seniority should not be the only guide for promotion, and the establishment of field-officers in Manchuria constituted a quite adequate number from which good regimental commanders could have been liberally selected. During the period when we were occupying the Hsi-ping-kai positions, many of the regimental commanders in all the armies were good men, and the 1st Army was particularly lucky in this respect. Though many of the infantry brigadiers who came out to the war proved failures, amongst the regimental commanders were many capable field-officers, whose advancement to the rank of General gave us some first-class brigade commanders. In the 1st Army alone were Major-Generals Lechitski, Stelnitski, Dushkevitch, Lesha, Riedko, Dobotin, etc. Thus, even under the unfavourable conditions under which they served, we found enough good material amongst our infantry officers to give us some confidence for the future. Had the war been continued, many of the colonels promoted to generals for distinguished service would have commanded divisions. This is as it should be, for it ought to be possible for a regimental commander to rise within a year to the command even of an army corps, if he be sufficiently brilliant.

I repeat that the tasks which fall upon infantry in battle nowadays are of such exceptional difficulty that the promotion of its officers for distinguished field service should be made exceptionally rapid. I am aware that even a good regimental commander may make a bad divisional general; but I also maintain that a regimental commander who has successfully commanded in several fights, has shown a knowledge of his work, keenness, enterprise, and personal bravery, and has won the confidence of his men, should be promoted as quickly as possible. He may find it difficult at first to get his bearings under the new and more complicated conditions of a high command, where he has to rely upon maps and the reports of others instead of upon the direct evidence of his own eyes and ears, but still he will grapple with the situation, even of an army corps commander, far better than some general whose experience has been confined to office-work and peace manœuvres.

Finally, in order to give due importance to the principal Arm—infantry (infantry of the Line in particular)—I consider the following measures necessary:

1. To give a better education to the officers entering it.

2. To improve their material and social position.

3. To provide officers and men with a smarter uniform.

4. To accelerate their promotion and put an end to the system by which Guardsmen and officers of the General Staff get more rapid advancement, and so block the way of their unfortunate brothers to regimental and divisional commands.

5. To facilitate as much as possible the special promotion in war of distinguished company officers to field rank.

6. To award regimental commanders who display particular merit on service rapid advancement to the rank of General, without regard to their seniority or the speed of their promotion.

The two last of these recommendations also obviously apply to officers of the other Arms.