VALUE OF SPEED IN WAR

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22519, 29 September 1938, Page 15

VALUE OF SPEED IN WAR

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS REVIEWED “MARCHING INFANTRY OUT OF DATE”

{THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, September 28.

Ever since man first went to war he had tried for greater speed with which to outwit his foes, Major E. H. Whiting said, when addressing members of the Wellington Returned Soldiers’ Association at a luncheon today. Major Whiting emphasised the need for men to operate machinery used by a modern army. Everyone present knew something about military training. Major Whiting said; but he was going to talk about the evolution of military training. There had always been a striving for greater mobility. First the horse was used, and cavalry was evolved. At the battle of Hastings, bowmen took the first place, infantry came -next, and mounted knights formed the third line, and the age of mounted men in armour was well launched. Then gunpowder was discovered, and firearms altered the training- of troops. It was not until about 1870 that “digging-in” became necessary to combat the effectiveness of artillery. The Boer War saw artillery, infantry, and mounted troops in the field, and various services were developed. During the last century military tactics did not change materially until steam was developed for transport, and the telegraph improved communications. War on Wheels Between the Boer War and the Great War the internal-combustion engine was developed, and army tactics had to be completely altered. Early in the Great War the aeroplane was not used offensively, except when the pilots fired revolvers at one another. As the war progressed wireless signalling was used, and air forces became more effective. At the same time, the infantry went back to the older military custom, and used the trench mortar.

In the closing stages of the war the army got on to wheels, and the campaign became a war on wheels, and since the war years all preparations had been towards a war of movement. Tanks and anti-tank guns had been developed, and as aeroplanes became faster, anti-aircraft equipment was improved. To-day the infantry was equipped with • rifles, light machineguns, rifle grenades, and Mills bombs, and the aim was to make each unit self-contained and mobile. The artillery was equipped with pneumatic tyres, and could travel at 25 miles an hour. Everything had been speeded UP so much that marching infantry

was out of date, and infantry would go to the front in motor vehicles. As military science had developed, a higher standard of intelligence was called for. Training had become more interesting, and the only thing that was wrong was that the young men of to-day were not offering themselves for service. This morning Mr Chamberlain appealed for men; but even if every young man offered for service, how were they to be trained for service if a war started on Saturday? In moving a vote of thanks to the speaker, Captain M. S. Galloway, M.C., said that while he knew all returned soldiers were praying war would not develop, he knew New Zealand could produce a first-class army i£ the need arose.