COAST ARTILLERY, JOURNAL - Air Defense Artillery

MILITARY NOTES 571
arm predominates in the Guard, there are three squadrons of cavalry, twenty-five
4-gun batteries of field artillery, and two detachments of tractor artillery. Eighteen of
the field artillery batteries have 3-inch guns and the remainder 4-8-inch howitzers.
Units of the Guard are assembled several times a year for drill and exercises,
usually for five or six days each in May and August, at which times training does
not conflict with work on the farms. Each district, in addition, has winter train.
ing periods when units again go into camp or into the field for four or five days.
All units assemble at least one evening each week in winter for lectures and
theoretical instruction.
The expense of upkeep of the Guards is reduced to the minimum and they
are limited to uniforms, rations during active training periods, and salaries of
regular officers who may be attached. Service in the Guard is entirely voluntary,
no payments being made.
A new school for the training of the Guard officers was recently inaugurated
near Helsingfors where some ten officers of field rank are given a year's course
in basic military subjects. During the summer this school also conducts thirty-day
courses for junior officers and sixty-day courses for especially selected enlisted men.
An important branch of the Civil Guard is the Lotta Svard, or women's auxiliary
corps, whose members attend each training camp in small detachments and
act as nurses, clerks and cooks. The "Lottas" perform all kitchen police in the
camps thus relieving the men from a great amount of field duty. It seems needless
to state that the "Lottas" are an important element in keeping the morale of the
Civil Guard at its present height.
CYCLISTBATTALIONs.-There are three cyclist battalions in the Finnish
Army, each battalion approximating their war strength of one thousand men. The
battalions are composed of three rifle companies and one machine-gun company
of six guns. While the machine-gun cyclist companies are at present equipped
with ordinary military bicycles, a project is being developed to equip them with
motorcycles. During the winter months, these battalions are used as ski battalions.
The Finnish ski differs from the Norwegian and Swiss type of ski in that the
Finnish ski is not bound to the boot but is simply held on the foot by a loop
through which the boot, which has a raised point, is thrust, thus permitting the
ski to be discarded easily.
Japan
ANNeAL MA:-lEliYERSFOR1926~The annual grand maneuvers of the Japanese
Army were held in November in the Saga Prefecture on the Island of Kyushu, the
most southern of the achipelago. The 6th and 12th Divisions, with several technical
units of other divisions, took part in the exercises which featured the operations
necessary for the maintenance of communications between Japan proper
and Korea in time of war as well as the defense of Kyushu itself. General Prince
Nashimoto commanded the offensive forces and General Shirakawa the defensive.
The foreigu military attaches were, as usual, invited to attend the maneuvers. The
United States was represented hy two officers.
In addition to the special grand meneuvers, several other large maneuvers
were scheduled for the fall season_ The largest of these was a division-versusdivision
prohlem in the Guu Prefecture near Nagoya under the direction of
Marshal Uehara where liaison with air and .wireless liaison were especially tested.
Special cavalry maneuvers were also held in the same area under the direction
of the Inspector of Cavalry.