NEW ARM IN WAR

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11933, 27 January 1936, Page 2

NEW ARM IN WAR

ARMY -MI.ST UK AIKOIIN'UKD “No one .should hold the rank c! higher commander in the army win, out having had at least six mouths’ really close association with the R.A.F. within a few years of his promotion . ’ ’

This was one of the dicta of MajorGeneral A. P. Wavell, commander c! the 2nd Division, Aldershot, lecturing to the Royal United Service Institution in London.

“The commander of the tutim : s must be able to handle air force . with the same knowledge as force on land. It seems to be immaterial whether he is a soldier who has stud- ! ; ied the air or an airman who ha studied land forces,” he said. “It is the combination of the l«i; j i that will bring success in a future I : war. No one- can pretend that Hrprofession of arms attracts the highest quality of brains. An incrw in the proportion of promotions fellj merit would attract more brains. “Our training grounds in this country are hopelessly inadequate, aid? the weakness of our peace strengths' at home makes much of our training unreal almost to the point, of fare. Should we not he wiser to make more use of the greater opportunities iif:;;; our foreign stations? “We arc overhauling and modernising the machinery of war. We art doing very little to modernise the cireeling brain, the officer. If we wail : to have a higli level of command 2; the top we must begin right at the ( bottom, before the good, keen young subaltern starts to become bored, d;:illusioned, parochial and barrackbound.

"I suggest that at present, in ttisAjl: first vital impression, there is too much stress on drill and routine, on ‘spit and polish,’ on details of 111! regulations and of dress at the eipense of mental liveliness and InfcsAi pcndence of thought.”