BRITISH ARMY “NEW LOOK”

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28536, 15 March 1958, Page 10

BRITISH ARMY “NEW LOOK”

Use Of Brigade Groups LONDON A self-contained brigade group of all arm- will be the basic formation of the new streamlined British Army as the one best suited to meet all the contingencies of -cold, limited, ■ and global war. This is the main feature of the organisational changes announced in a memorandum on the Army estimates presented to Parliament. The Paper says “In cold and limited war we need small, selfcontained formations which can move quickly to wherever needed and can operate effectively on arrival. For global war under nuclear conditions small formations are also necessary but must be of the right size and balance.” Divisional headquarters will not as hitherto, command a fixed number of brigades but a number of armoured and infantry bitygade groups according to the requirements of the military situation. The central reserve will, in the main, be stationed in the United Kingdom and will be organised on a brigade group basis. Part of the reserve will be stationed in Kenya as from this spring. Stores will be located at suitable points overseas to increase the mobility and effectiveness of the reserve whose units could thus be flown to the theatre of operation with little more than personal equipment. As from April the Middle East Command will cease to be responsible for the Arabian Peninsula. A new independent integrated command will be established -with headquarters in Aden responsible direct to London for commitments in the Arabian Peninsula and in British Somaliland. G.H.Q. Middle East land forces will remain in Cyprus. It will be responsible for the garrisons in Cyprus and Libya and for the United Kingdom commitments in support of the Bagdad Pact. The net expenditure estimated for the coming financial year is £402 million as compared with £5OO million including the supplementary estimate in 1956-57. The memorandum says that the redeployment of United Kingdom forces in Germany has made possible substantial savings of administrative manpower. The Committee on Army Administration with industrial and business membership has been appointed to simplify administrative work as a preliminary to a general overhaul of army administration. The training of two surface-to-surface guided weapons regiments is proceeding. Both units will join 8.A.0.R on completion of training. The surface-to-air guided weapon, the Thunderbird, will be available for training during the coming financial year. Other operational changes announced by the memorandum show that following the example in Malaya the control of the Nigerian military forces will be handed over to the Nigerian Government in April. Discussions are proceeding for a similar transfer in Sierra Leone next January. —U.K. Information Service.