The War School is commanded by a General or Superior Field Officer.
Five Field Officers or Captains, taken as a rule from the Staff, give lectures on the prescribed scientific subjects. One Field Officer or Captain of Cavalry takes the duty of riding-master; and one civil Professor that of instruction in the French language and literature. Necessary officers, attendants, and servants take the duty of adjutants, of the internal management, of the service, and of attending to the thirty horses.
The first year’s subjects of instruction are—
1. Military Drawing and the study of Ground and Positions. 2. Higher Tactics. 3. Staff and Superior Adjutant Duty. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
Those of the second year,—
1. Military Drawing, Ground and Positions. 2. Military Geography. 3. Principles of Strategy, illustrated by representations of some of the most instructive campaigns. 4. French Language and Literature. 5. Riding.
The course begins on the 1st of November, and lasts to the end of September.
The Attendants at the War School must be practiced in those arms in which they have not served. They are for this purpose distributed into the various bodies of troops forming the garrison of Vienna, go through the exercises and manœuvres of these troops—in the first year with one, and in the second with the other arm. At the termination of these periods of practice, they will be called upon to undertake the command of a Battery, of a Squadron of Cavalry, and of a Division of Infantry.
In the month of May, the attendant pupils of the first year will go out upon a course of practical surveying; those of the second year will be similarly employed in reconnoitring, choosing sites for encampment, discovering, judging of, and describing proper points for taking up positions, forming têtes-de-pont, entrenched camps, and the like, and in performing other duties falling within the service of the Staff.
At the beginning of October, the pupils of the second year will undergo an examination, which will be conducted, both orally and by papers.