IMPROVEMENT OF THE RESERVISTS. Our infantry in the recent war can be classified in four groups, according to the relative number of old regular soldiers and reservists: 1. The East Siberian Rifle Regiments, which were maintained almost on a war footing[34] in peace. 2. The infantry in the 1st Brigades of the 31st and 35th Divisions, which were filled up to war strength with regulars at the beginning of the war. 3. The infantry of the regular army corps brought up to war strength with reservists. 4. The infantry units formed from reserve troops. According to the opinion of competent officers who served in the war (which I fully share), other conditions being equal, _the more regular soldiers there were in a unit, the more it could be relied on in battle_. The best troops we had were the East Siberian Rifle Regiments, and after them the brigades of the 31st and 35th Divisions. In the case of the army corps, which proceeded to the front direct from Russia, sufficient care was not taken to regulate the proportion of regulars to reservists. Some units—the 10th Army Corps, for instance—arrived at the front 20 per cent. below strength in men, and more in officers. In the first fight in which it was engaged, several companies of this corps had only sixty regular soldiers—thirty trained men and thirty recruits—who had not _even passed their recruit’s musketry course_. All the remainder were reservists, among whom were a large number of 2nd Category men. These regular units consequently were, to all intents and purposes, nothing but reserve units. Finally, our reserve units arrived almost without any permanent peace cadres, so swallowed up were they in the great mass of reservists. In the early fighting these reservists, particularly those of the 2nd Category, were vastly inferior to the regulars; many of them took advantage of every opportunity to leave the ranks with or without permission. There is little doubt that if the war had been a national one, and if the country had supported its sons at the front instead of doing the opposite, these men would have done better in the first fights; but it is also quite certain that, other conditions being equal, the man with the colours must be better than the other as a soldier. He is not torn from his family at a time when he has begun to think that his military liability is over; he is better trained, and possesses _esprit de corps_. Therefore, the best way of improving our infantry is to maintain it with a stronger peace establishment than at present.