DEUTSCHE HEERES ZEITUNG.

Nos 93 AND 94. New Regulations for Infantry in France. Modern Reserves (continued).

No. 95, NOVEMBER 28, 1894. The Battle of Yalu (a Review of Admiral Sir George Elliott's views on the Battle).

DEBEMBER I. Modern Reserves (continued). Madagascar. Modern Reserves (continued).

DECEMBER 5. Foreign Squadrons at the Seat of War in China.

The strength of the different squadrons was, at the end of November, as follows: English, under the command of Vice-Admiral Fremantle, twentysix vessels of all classes, of a total tonnage of 65,323. Russian, sixteen vessels, 46,791 tons displacement, carrying 106 heavy guns. French, eighteen vessels, including those at Saigon, 39.590 tons displacement, carrying 120 guns. Exclusive of the vessels at Saigon, France has only twelve vessels of 27,700 tons displacement, carrying 93 heavy guns. The United States has a squadron of eight vessels, all modern, except the obsolete Monocacy. These vessels displace 17,350 tons, and carry 64 heavy guns. The number of R. F. guns carried by the several squadrons will be of interest, in view of the important part that this type of guns played in the battle of Yalu. Of these guns, the English squadron carries 28, varying in caliber from 12 to 15-cm., and 113 from 4.7 to 6.5, or a total of 141 guns, exclusive of revolving cannon and machine guns. The Russian squadron carries 135 R. F. guns of moderate caliber, of which nearly one-half are 3.7-cm. guns.

The French squadron carries numerous revolving cannon and machine guns, but only sixteen heavy R. F. guns, of 10 to 16-cm. caliber, and fourteen of 4.7 to 6.5-cm. caliber. The vessels of the United States carry 41 R. F. guns, including those of 3.7-cm. caliber. Italy has sent a squadron of three ships of a displacement of 7096 tons, and carrying 50 guns, including 22 R. F. guns of moderate caliber. Finally, Germany had a squadron of five old vessels, which has since been augmented by two modern ships. The former displace 7824 tons and carry 36 heavy guns, and not a single R. F. gun, and only 12 revolving cannon. The addition of the latter increases the tonnage to 13,864, the number of heavy guns to 58, of which 8 are R. F. guns. Besides these guns, the increased squadron carries 8 R. F. guns and 24 revolving cannon.

With the vessels en route to the East Indies, the strength of the combined foreign fleet is 78 vessels, of a total displacement of 199,714 tons, carrying 561 heavy guns. The fleet carries 350 R. F. guns, of which 90 are of heavy caliber. Japan's Navy sinks into insignificance in comparison.

Modern Reserves (continued).

DECEMBER 8. The Capture of Port Arthur. (continued).

Modern Reserves

DECEMBER 12. French Artillery Material. Modern Reserves (continued),

DECEMBER 15. The Proposed Increase of the German Navy for this Year. Modern Reserves (continued).

DECEMBER 19. A Critical Review of the Fleet Manoeuvres of 1894. Modern Reserves (continued).

DECEMBER 22. A Reply to the Brochure "Unser Kadetten Korps." Modern Reserves (continued).

DECEMBER 26 AND 29. A Reply to the Brochure "Unser Kadetten Korps" (concluded). Modern Reserves (concluded).

JANUARY 2, 1895. Frederick the Great. Field Fortifications and Tactics.

JANUARY 5. Field Fortifications and Tactics (concluded).

JANUARY 12. A Russian Criticism of the Corps of German Officers. JANUARY 16. German Water-Ways. A Strategical and Tactical Review of the Battle near Pressburg, 22d July, 1866.

JANUARY 19. The French Army. A Strategical and Tactical Review of the Battle near Pressburg, 22d July, 1866.

JANUARY 26. Military Attachés. A Strategical and Tactical Review of the Battle near Pressburg, 22d July, 1866.

MILITÄR WOCHENBLATT.

No. 103, DECEMBER 8, 1894. Review of the Grand Manœuvres of 1894 in Germany (concluded). The Battle of Orleans (concluded). Mobilization of the Russian Army. The Strength of the French Army for 1895.

DECEMBER 12. The Battleship in the Battle off the Yalu River. The Mobilization of the Russian Army (concluded).

DECEMBER 22. A Brave Deed. The Effect of Field Artillery. The Riding School.

DECEMBER 29. The Effect of Field Artillery (concluded). The Riding School (concluded).

JANUARY 16, 1895. The Mobility of Artillery. Cereals for the Sustenance and Support of an Army. The Latest Changes in the Organization of the Italian Army.

JANUARY 19. The German Cavalry, 1870-71. The Mobility of Artillery (concluded). Shrapnel Fire of Field Artillery (a study). The Reverse Side of a Militia Army.

JANUARY 23.

Concentration in Infantry Attack.

JANUARY 30. Changes in the Organization of the Army Corps of the Russian Army.

SUPPLEMENT TO MILITÄR-WOCHENBLATT.

VOLUME I., 1895. Von Moltke's Views on Flanking Manoeuvres. The Disposition of Reserves in Battle.

MITTHEILUNGEN AUS DEM GEBIETE DES SEEWESENS. VOLUME XXIII., No. 1. Speed and Turning Efficiency of Ships of War.

A discussion of the relative advantages of these qualities in actions between fleets and between single ships. The writer holds that the advantage will be with the ship or fleet that possesses the greatest turning power, and advocates in the construction of battleships increased steering power by the use of side rudders, to be operated either conjointly with or independently of the main rudder.

Naval Events in the War between China and Japan, including the Battle off the Yalu River.

A review of the events at sea, and a discussion of the battle off the mouth of the Yalu river.

The

The Pebal-Schaschl System of Electric Signal Telegraph for Ships. The Best Tactics to Develop the Fighting Power of the Gun, Ram and Torpedo in Actions between Ships, Groups and Fleets (translation). Gibraltar as a Base for the English Fleet. German Naval Budget for 1895. The Dutch Naval Budget for 1895. The French Naval Budget for 1895. The French BattleShip Brennus. The Drezevecky Under-Water Launching Appara

tus.

The trial of this apparatus on board the French cruiser Surcouf was successful.

Proposed Cruisers 3rd Class for the English Navy. TorpedoBoat Destroyer Ardent. The English Cruisers Conquest and Carysfort. A New Torpedo Launching Apparatus Adopted in the English Navy. Launch of the Russian Armored Ships Poltava and Petropavlovsk. Petroleum as Fuel on Board Russian Warships.

The new armored cruisers Rostilav and Rossia will have their boilers fitted to burn petroleum; and, if they prove successful, other ships will be similarly fitted.

The Trial of the Zalinski Pneumatic Gun in England. Death by Electricity.

No. 2. The Austrian Cruiser Empress and Queen Maria Theresa. This protected cruiser has been recently completed and added to the Austrian Navy.

The English Naval Manoeuvres of 1894. The French Naval Manoeuvres of 1894. A Method to Determine the Position without the use of Logarithms. The Best Tactics to Develop the Fighting Power of the Gun, Ram and Torpedo. Defenses of Sarent. The Corinth Ship Canal. The Italian Battleship Re Umberto. The English Battleship Magnificent. The English Torpedo Boat Destroyers Ardent, Conflict and Dragon.

The first, on her official trial, developed a mean speed of 27.84 knots in six runs. The last two were launched at White and Laird's ship yard on December 15, 1894.

The French Submarine Boat Gustave Zédé. New French River Gunboats.

These boats have been designed and are building for use in the Expedition against Madagascar.

Proposed Increase of the Portuguese Navy.

New Battleship for

the Brazilian Navy. A New Man-of-War Harbor in France.

It is proposed to build a harbor at Port en Bessin.

A New Type of Whitehead Torpedo for the English Navy. A New Escapement for Watches. The Balloon at Sea.

H. O.

Reliable news in regard to the details of the capture of Wei-Hai-Wei is exceedingly scarce, and even the account of the sinking of Chinese vessels, previous to the surrender, is somewhat mixed.

The Japanese official account of the sinking, as we gather from a contemporary, runs thus:

"On the night of February 4, Monday, the first torpedo flotilla guarded the western entrance to Wei-Hai-Wei harbor, while the second and third flotillas, after the moon had set, made their way into the harbor through the eastern entrance. Having got inside the harbor, the boats torpedoed, and destroyed the large ironclad Ting-Yuen, whilst the bottom of the cruiser Ching Yuen is supposed to have been damaged. On the night of the 5th, the first torpedo flotilla renewed the attack, and torpedoed, and sank the cruiser Chih-Yuen," (this should probably be Ching-Yuen, as the Chih-Yuen was sunk in the battle of the Yalu) "and the large ironclad Chen Yuen" (this is an error, as the Chen Yuen was afterwards surrendered by Admiral Ting), "the Wai (Lai?) Yuen, and one of the gunboats."

The following, from the letter of a naval officer stationed on board a cruiser at Chefoo, will possibly indicate the answers to a few whys and wherefores unexplained as yet in the newspaper accounts with regard to the capture of Wei-Hai-Wei. The writer was not present on the ground, so of course writes only from hearsay evidence.

Wei-Hai-Wei fell on Monday, February 18; that is, on that day the final surrender took place. The day before, Admiral Ting, and the general in command of the forces, and a commodore whose names I forget, committed suicide. Admiral Ting took opium, the general swallowed gold (had to take opium afterwards to finish the task), and the commodore shot himself. This, that is, the shooting, is a very rare thing in China, as the Chinese like to leave their bodies intact.

Nothing was destroyed; the Japanese allowed the garrison to go, even furnishing a ship (one of the captured Chinese men-of-war) to convey the dead bodies of Admiral Ting, and the others, and the living frames of the various

European officers in the Chinese service to this port (Chefoo). The Japa. nese got the Chen-Yuen (7300 tons), two or three smaller men-of-war, six gunboats (Rendel system), and nine torpedo-boats (mostly Thornycroft), a machine-shop, the forts and their guns (a few were disabled by the Chinese), six bran new rifled breech-loading mortars for high angle fire (Krupp, 28 cm.) and a large amount of coal, food, clothing, rifles, ammunition, etc.

The defense of the place was almost farcical. We hear that the Japanese lost only a couple of hundred men on land and sea. They made no efforts to force the island forts, but turned their attention to frightening Chinese. In this, they were most successful; the sailors and soldiers (Chinese) absolutely refused to fight any longer.

Perhaps you will be amused at the account of the attack of February 7. This was given to me by an officer in the Chinese service. On the morning of this day, all the Japanese fleet placed themselves in front of the east entrance to Wei-Hai-Wei, and turning on their steam sirens and whistles, they fired all their guns (many of which were loaded with powder only) at the east entrance and the Chinese fleet. The forts on the mainland (also in possession of Japanese, having previously been captured by a Japanese army commanded by Field-Marshal Count Oyama) also opened fire, and the noise was terrific. The Chinese torpedo-boats turned and ran back through their own fleet and out through the other entrance and then dispersed, every man running for himself. The European officers, and the few men who remained in the island forts (the majority ran and hid) opened fire on their own torpedoboats and sunk one of them. The others were all run ashore, the crews deserting, and running inland. The Chinese fleet started to follow, but did not go all the way out, and so were not lost. Not a shot from the Japanese during this "attack" struck any of the Chinese forts or ships. It was simply a scare, and a most successful one.

The famous torpedo-boat attack of the Japanese was directed by signals (lanterns, English Morse code) made by Chinese in the pay of the Japanese, who were serving in the Chinese forts.

The cowardice, ignorance and knavery of these Chinese "warriors" is almost beyond belief. They will run from a dozen men if they are only given the chance. The only obstacle the Japanese have is the weather. The winter is very severe; many days it is so rough that their ships have had to put out to sea, and their men have been unable to leave their quarters.