REPORTS 



EUROPEAN ENGINEER TROOPS. 



THE KUSSIAN ENGmEER TEOOPS. 



As has been stated in ;. previous report, they are organized in battalions of four companies 

 each, a battalion being attached to each army corjjs. Each company consists of 1 first captain, 

 1 second captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 second lieutenant, 1 ensign, 20 sergeants, 6 musicians, 230 

 corporals and privates. There are three classes of privates, with different rates of pay. No 

 extra pay is allowed them for any kind of work. 



Forty men in each company carry a rifled carbine, the rest have the ordinary infantry musket ; 

 all carry tools of some kind. The general equipment, drill, &c., is as for the infantry. The 

 drivers are not detailed from the companies, but are a distinct set of men. 



The officers of the sappers are distinct from those of the corps of engineers, and need not 

 have passed through the engineer school, but may enter at once from any of the military schools. 



The engineer troops have charge of the bridge train. Their general duties are as in most 

 other services, including the repairs of roads, &c. 



The use of armor in the trenches has been abandoned. The tools, pontons, wagons, &c., are 

 made at the engineer arsenals of construction. In a siege all the works, including the batteries, 

 are made by the sappers. 



COMPANY AND BATTALION SCHOOLS. 



These are under the supervision of the junior field officer of the battalion ; the method of 

 mutual instruction is pursued, and text books are provided. 



In each company school the following branches are taught: 1, reading; 2, writing; 3, 

 religion, i. e., the 10 commandments, the creed, and the principal prayers ; 4, arithmetic, i. e., 

 the four rules for single and denominate numbers ; 5, reading extracts from the School of the 

 Recruit, with questions and answers. 



In the lower class of each battalion school the following subjects are taught : 1, in religion, 

 the catechism, short extracts from the scriptures ; 2. the chief rules of grammar and parsing ; 3, 

 in arithmetic, the repetition of the four ground rules, fractions, proportion, raising to the second 

 power, and extracting the square root ; 4, in geometry, the drawing, nomenclature, and proper- 

 ties of figures ; 5, writing. 



In the higher class of the battalion school the course is as follows : 1, in the Russian language, 

 the rest of the grammar, and writing from dictation ; 2, in arithmetic, simple, inverse, and 

 double rule of three, with its application to examples, the extraction of the cube root ; 3, algebra, 

 as far as simple equations; 4, geometry, with the calculation of plane surfaces ; 5, writing ; 6, 

 the drawing of the diff"erent objects relating to the duties of sappers, miners, and pontoniers ; 7, 

 4 si 



