By Colonel A.M. Murray, C.B.
The article presented below originally appeared in The
London Daily News of May 21, 1915.
The organization of the military forces of Italy is based upon the law
of organization of 1887 and the recruiting law of 1888. Modifications
have been made in these laws from time to time in regard to the
strength of the annual contingent trained with the colors and the
duration of the periods of training, but the original laws have not
been altered in principle, and have now had time to completely
materialize.
Every man in Italy is liable to military service for a period of
nineteen years from the age of 20 to 39. All young men on reaching the
age of 20, if passed medically fit for military service, are divided
into three categories--first, those who are taken by lot for color
service; second, those for whom there is no room with the colors, and,
third, those who are exempted from military service for family reasons
specified by law. Men placed in the first category serve for two
years with the colors, after which they go to the active army reserve
for six years. Men in the second category are sent at once into the
active army reserve for the period of eight years, after which both
they and the men in the first category are passed into the mobile
militia reserve for four years, and subsequently into the territorial
militia for seven years, making nineteen years altogether. The men in
the third category pass all their nineteen years' obligatory period of
military service in the territorial militia, receiving no training
whatever till they are called up to their depots when mobilization is
ordered. The following table shows the periods of service of the men
according to the categories in which they are placed by the recruiting
authorities. The figures are years: