Territorial militia 1,889,659
_________
Total war strength 3,159,836
According to a calculation, which need not be given in detail here,
the above number of total men available includes upward of 1,200,000
fully trained soldiers, who have been through the ranks, with perhaps
another 800,000 partially trained men of the second category, the
remaining million being completely untrained men, who have passed all
their nineteen years of obligatory service in the third category.
The organization for putting the above numbers of men into the field
is as follows: The fully trained men are organized in four armies,
each army consisting of three corps, one cavalry division, and a
number of troops for the lines of communication. The twelve corps are
recruited and organized on a territorial basis, each corps having its
allotted area, as shown in the sketch, which also indicates the
locality of corps headquarters. The Italian army corps, which is
larger than that in other European armies, is composed of two active
army divisions, with thirty guns each, one mobile militia division,
brought up to strength from the territorial militia, one regiment of
Bersaglieri, or light infantry, one cavalry regiment, one field
artillery regiment of six batteries, (corps artillery,) and other
technical and administrative units. The strength of the corps amounts
to 50,000 men, with 8,400 horses and 126 guns, and this gives each of
the four armies a strength of 150,000 men, 25,200 horses, and 378
guns, with the addition of a cavalry division of 4,200 sabres. The
first line Italian army, therefore, which can be put into the field
seven days after mobilization is ordered amounts to 600,000 men,
100,800 horses, 1,512 guns, and 16,200 sabres. But these cadres only
absorb half the fully trained men called out on mobilization;
duplicate corps will consequently be formed to take the place of the
twelve first-line corps as soon as they have been dispatched to their
concentration rendezvous. It is believed that sufficient guns have now
been provided for these twelve duplicate corps, but it is unlikely
that more than two cavalry divisions could be formed in addition to
the four divisions with the first-line armies. These duplicate corps
would be ready to take the field three or four weeks after the
concentration of the first twelve corps. The above calculations show
that within a few weeks after the declaration of war Italy can place
in the field a force of 1,200,000 men, (24 corps,) and would still
have 1,800,000 men of fighting age left at the depots after the field
armies had been dispatched to the front.
[Illustration: Map showing the Military Districts of Italy.]
The infantry are armed with the Mannlicher (1891) rifle, the field
artillery with the 75-millimeter quick-firing Krupp gun, (1906,) and
the mountain batteries, of which there are twenty-four, with a new
65-millimeter (2.56-inch) quick-firing gun of Italian construction.
The heavy artillery is armed with a 149-millimeter field howitzer,
also of Italian construction.
The organization of the Italian Army and the quality of the troops
composing it were both tested in the Tripoli campaign, (1911-12,) and
all military judges agree that the results prove the army to have
reached a high standard of efficiency. The mobilization was only
partial, but it was well carried out, and between October and
December, 1911, 90,000 men, with 12,000 horses, were transported to
Tripoli and Benghasi without a single hitch. Italian officers are well
educated, and the men are brave and disciplined. Unlike the
Austro-Hungarian Army, which is composed of men split into a variety
of racial sections, the Italian Army is absolutely homogeneous, and
the troops will enter the European struggle with the moral
consciousness that they are fighting, not with aggressive intentions,
but for the principle of nationality, which is the keynote to that
marvelous progress which Italy has made since she became a nation in
1860.
The Italian Navy has ten up-to-date battleships in commission, all
armed with twelve-inch guns, six of these being pre-dreadnoughts and
four quite recently built dreadnoughts. These four latter ships carry
a more powerful primary armament than the battleships of any other
European country, the Dante Alighieri, the first of the type built,
carrying twelve and the Conte di Cavour, Leonardo-da-Vinci, and Giulio
Cesare thirteen twelve-inch guns mounted on the triple-turret system.
Two more ships of the same class--the Caio Duilio and Andrea
Dorea--are due to be commissioned this Autumn, and their completion
will doubtless now be accelerated. Then there are four more
battleships under construction, known as the Dandolo class--the
Dandolo, Morosini, Mazzini, and Mameli--two of which are due to be
launched in 1916 and two others in 1917. When completed these ships
will be equal in gun power and speed to the ships of the Queen
Elizabeth class, for they will carry eight fifteen-inch guns paired in
four turrets--the triple-turret system having been abandoned--twenty
six-inch and twenty-two fourteen-pr. guns, their speed being 25 knots.
Besides these ten, or practically twelve, completed battleships, Italy
has ten armored cruisers in commission and three twenty-eight knot
light cruisers, but no fastgoing battle cruisers corresponding to
those in the British and German Navies. She has also twenty-seven
completed destroyers and thirteen thirty-two knot destroyers laid
down, along with fifty-one torpedo boats and sixteen submarines, with
four others building. With this fleet, which is half as strong again
as the Austrian fleet, Italy can secure complete control of the
Adriatic Sea and lock up the Austrian ships in Pola.