Barb, we don't know if Fujita G was at Kumamoto Castle because it
happened very early on in the conflict...basically this Castle was
standing between Tokyo and Saigo's army. The police stationed at
Kumamoto were pretty shocked to find a document on the body of one
of Saigo's guys indicating that none other than Saigo was waiting
beyond the castle walls. In this case the police trapped in the
castle were seriously outnumbered...I'm not going to spoil the
story :)
Miss B, remember how we were scratching our heads over the
word "tail" that babelfish keeps spitting out? Well it seems that
in many maneuvers during the Seinan War, specifically involving
police battalions their goal was take attack Saigo's forces from the
back, furthermore, the article I was reading deals alot
with "pronged" or "pincer" movements the government used to deal
with the guerrilla forces used by Saigo after siege of Kumamoto
Castle (considered by another researcher to be a turning point of
the war because it raised the morale of gov. troops). After the
siege of Kumamoto castle, fierce fighting continued (because other
groups of samurai began to join with Saigo) and in a way the gov.
had to deal with a smashed bee hive so to speak.
3-hajime mentioned that it was hard/impossible to determine which
battalion Fujita G. was assigned to and I know why...once police
troops were deployed they were re-organized and split up a couple of
times as tactics in the war changed. All I know was that Kawaji was
in charge of an independent brigade #3 and this was considered to be
a "final" reorganization as of March 1877. None of the writers
understand how to present the info visually like a pyramid structure
or something because it seems that there are brigades/battalions and
then a whole bunch of other police battalions running around too
which I assume are part of a larger brigade. I know there is
probably a military book out there that explains this stuff but I am
reading info from 3 authors and they mention both
brigades/battalions/units without drawing any distinction or even
giving a basic defintion :(
Miss B, did you find in 3-hajime anywhere of a "bonus" or prize
award given to Fujita G, besides the Medal "Order of the Blue
Paulownia"? One of the ideas adopted from the French/"Paris" police
system was the idea of monetary awards to policemen.
Remember how we discussed how much 100 yen really was back then?
Fujita G received the "Order of the Blue Paulownia" + 100 yen.
During the Seinan War, the gov. troops were in Saigo friendly
domains and when they inadvertantly destroyed civilian homes,
commanders had to compensate the civilians ofcourse. In one record
it mentions a gov. official awarding 5 to 10 yen to people who lost
their home during the fighting...so 100 yen was -alot- of money.
--- In SHQ@yahoogroups.com, BarbaraSheridan wrote:
>
>
> secretary wrote:
>
> >Today's "Menu During a Seige" as we wait for other police troops
to
> >show up... millet gruel
> >vegetable gruel which looks like bird droppings
> >horsemeat (lets hope one of our steeds get shot today)
> >soup made from crushed horse bone
> >yummy
> >
> >
> No wonder Saitou looks so blah and worn out in that group photo!
The
> poor man hadn't had a decent meal let alone a bowl of soba in far
too long!