The P. M. Officer is responsible to the commander of the army for the thorough efficiency of his department in every respect; of this he must satisfy himself by personal and minute inspection.

Commissariat.

The commissariat is charged with the whole of the feeding of the men and beasts army as well as with the supply of fuel when it cannot be procured on the spot by the men themselves.

During the Russian war the rations issued to the troops consisted of 14 lb. of meat, 1 b. of bread, besides portions of tea, sugar, rum and rice, per man daily.

A Crimean ox supplies about 200 rations at 11.; a sheep about 30 rations. At this estimate to feed an army of 30,000 men for one day, 150 oxen or 1000 sheep would be required. During the summer of 1855 the English army in the Crimea numbered 30,000 men, and it was supplied with fresh meat four times a week. Thus the weekly supply of animals for the feeding of the army amounted to about 600 oxen or to 4000 sheep.

The amount of land transport required by the commissariat to be constantly employed in the carriage of provisions and forage for feeding the army, 30,000 strong, when stationary before Sebastopol, was as follows: 60 bread waggons of 4 horses each to carry 2000 b.; 178 carts, of 2 horses, 600 fb.; total vehicles being 238, and 596 horses.

Supposing the same army to take the field and make an advance into the interior of the country, the estimate of land transport required was 60 bread waggons, of 4 horses; 509 carts, of 2 horses, and 9193 pack animals; making a total of 569 vehicles, and 10,451 horses or mules.

When fresh meat is not to be had, salt pork or beef is issued; this would increase the carriage on a march, as the fresh meat carries itself, but the pork barrels require transport. Under these circumstances, as a general rule, the troops would have to make it out on bread or biscuit.

At the head of this department is the commissarygeneral. To each division is attached an assistant commissary-general, with one or more subordinates. A commissariat depôt is formed with each division where the cattle are penned - provisions and forage stored-a guard is furnished by the division.

In the Crimea the commissariat was charged with the custody of the following stores, viz. great coats, blankets, tents, boots, and a supply of entrenching tools for regiments, which were distributed on the order of the quarter-master-general.

It had agents at the different ports of the Black Sea and in the Bosphorus for the purchase of cattle, forage, &c; and a certain number of transports were placed at the sole disposal of the commissary-general for their conveyance.

Ordnance Department.

From the ordnance stores in Great Britain are supplied all the arms, ammunition, great coats, blankets, tents, boots, &c.; in short, all the matériel of the army, including guns, pontoon trains, entrenching tools, &c. In the field, however, the arms and ammunition alone remain in charge of the ordnance store keeper, who issues them on the orders of the adjutant-general. The pontoon trains and mass of the entrenching tools are given over to the engineer department; the guns, their carriages, shot, shell, and charges, &c. to the artillery.

Details of the land and sea transport and staff services will be found in another place.

The Soldiers not to be overworked.

But supposing the physical wants of the army to be amply supplied, there is another care which affects its preservation, as important as any, -with which a commander should constantly occupy himself, and in which he will oblige his officers, high and low, to cooperate with him,—viz. to avoid overworking his men.

It may be necessary for a short period to overtask the physical strength of the men for very important objects whose attainment appears immediate, but this must not be continued or the army will be destroyed; and although the certain attainment of the object

may compensate such a sacrifice, yet, where any doubt exists, the greater probability is that a general who so acts will lose both his object and his army.*

All useless fatigue must be spared the soldiers. They should never be kept under arms longer than is really necessary. At the end of a long day's march, the sooner the men are dismissed and engaged in lighting their fires and cooking their meals, the better. If an enemy is in the neighbourhood, delay until the advanced picquets and sentries are posted is unavoidable; but not a moment's extra delay should be occasioned by uncertainty as to the position to be taken up. The general should decide on this before the arrival of the army; and the staff officers should have clear instructions to guide its different divisions by the shortest line to the ground they are respectively to occupy. Useless marching and countermarching must be avoided. If the soldiers are in the habit of seeing orders given and afterwards reversed, which entail unnecessary fatigue on them, and betray indecision of mind in the giver of the orders, they lose confidence in their commander and are liable to become discontented.

The importance of cleanliness need not be enlarged upon in its relation to the health of the troops. This,

* See, in illustration of this, the note to Maxim 9, at the end of Chapter III., on the siege of Sebastopol.

as well as all sanitary regulations, and the choice (wherever it may be possible) of a healthy site for a camp,—although peculiarly within the province of the medical department, should receive no less attention from the general and his officers than each of the other points with which the preservation of the army is connected.

--

MOVEMENT OF AN ARMY.

2. The army has to be forwarded to the place of battle.

The operation of forwarding an army includes its "Preservation" as above; and in addition, everything pertaining to transport, combinations of movement, equipment, &c.

The supply of the necessary animals, vehicles, and drivers for an army is in itself a great operation. This service was until lately part of the duties of the commissariat-it is now performed by the land transport department, which is presided over by a colonel on the staff with the title of director-general.

The estimated number of animals required to enable our army in the Crimea of 30,000 men to take the field with efficiency was upwards of 20,000.