3. An honourable character.
Having satisfied the authorities on these subjects, the candidate now serves as a private for five months, generally with the regiment he intends to enter. At the end of this time, during which he is called an “avantageur,” he undergoes an examination in military duties, etc., and on receiving a certificate of satisfactory service from his superior officers, he becomes an ensign (“Porte-épée Fähnrich”) and is sent to a military college for a year. There he passes a final examination in military knowledge, and, if balloted for successfully by the officers of the regiment of his choice, he joins as second lieutenant.
Württemberg,
Sergeant of the Train.
As much as 40 to 45 per cent. of the officers are drawn from the Cadet Corps, which is distributed amongst establishments at Lichterfelde (near Berlin, head college), Kulm, Potsdam, Wahlstatt, Bensberg, Plön and Oranienstein, in Prussia; Dresden in Saxony, and Munich in Bavaria. A new college will shortly open in Karlsruhe. This Corps is chiefly composed of the sons of officers, who receive a cheap and excellent training and education. The proverb that “the apple falls close to the stem” is well exemplified here, for amongst the cadets are many who bear celebrated soldiers’ names, such as Roon, Steinmetz, Canstein, etc., etc.
Although the training in the Cadet Corps is chiefly a military one, yet on the whole the cadets receive an education equal to that of a first-class civilian college. Thus they are enabled in after-life, when they have left the Service, to pursue a civilian calling with greater ease than if their education had been purely military.
Mention may also be made here of the establishments in which the “Porte-épée Fähnrichs” (ensigns) are instructed: they are the military colleges of Potsdam, Engers, Neisse, Glogau, Hanover, Cassel, Anklam, Metz, and Munich. The higher branches of military science are pursued in the United Artillery and Engineer School, and the Staff College (Kriegsakademie), both in Berlin. The entire military education and training of the country are managed by an Inspection-General.
As in all large armies, the three great branches of the German service are Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery, besides the Engineers and Transport Corps, the latter of which is called the “Train.”
Infantry.
As everybody knows, Infantry is intended to go anywhere and fight anywhere. It is, therefore, equipped for all contingencies that may arise, and is armed with a weapon for use either at a long range or in close hand-to-hand fighting.