WHO IS WHO IN THE WAR ZONE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3198, 24 September 1917, Page 6

WHO IS WHO IN THE WAR ZONE

THE CAMP COMMANDANT AND THE } "TOWN MAJOKV AUTOCRATS IN THEIR LITTLE e KINGDOMS < ( (By H. B. C. Pollard.) j ('Authorised for, Publication by the War • -Office, per Favour of tho Royal j Colonial Institute.) ] In war time there are in the field a j number of special appointments of a military nature whose very names are unknown to the public in times of 1 peace. There is a certain reminiscent flavour about the very names of some ' of these jobs, such as the "Town Major" and tho "Camp Commandant," for the dignity of the title of "Town Major" seems to suggest the statelihess of the Peninsula period, and "Camp Commandant" is a name that echoes of the South African War. As a rule tho duties of Camp Commandant and Town Major are separate, but at /times the two roles ' arc 'executed by one officer . combining both'appointments. A Camp Commandant is an officer who is attached to a division or corps headquarters, and who may be best described as the major-domo of the establishment. He is responsible for billeting, messes, transport, motor-cars, and must provide for tne smooth running of all the domestic economy of tho various staff messes and groups of specialists who comprise the personnel of the Headquarters. The Town Major is an officer in charge of a special town or military area, and is responsible for the proper billeting of troops and the preservation of good order and discipline in -tho relations of the troops with the civil population in that area. These are only the most general outline's of the work of the two posts; in actual practice these officers have a thousand and one little jobs to do, ana are absolute autocrats in their own sphere, settling out of hand the various questions that arise at every hour of the dav. When a Camp Commandant is also a'Town Major, his life is an endless struggle with the discontented, in tlie limited accommodation of ® sma A[ French town it is no easy matter td, find comfortable accommodation ior tne various branches of the staff, who require big rooms for the unfolding ot large-scale maps, or surroundings in which' the throbbing brains of general officers shall not bo disturbed by external and avoidable, sources of noises and irritation. In the old days the staff could frequently he found installed m a convent school, whose high rooms and well-lighted, spacious lialls were suitable to their needs, but the childien of the village, even if relegated to a distant corner of the school, found out that gold-laced, red-tabbed staff officers had stores of chocolate and cake, and high conclaves were more «>an once delajed bv the arrival of deputations of small avaricious children demanding Monsieur le General." +„ Sentries and military police tailed to cope with the trouble. The little onfs regarded them as an amiable ]okc, and, knowing the. harmlessness • of the "khnki," refused to recognise their authority. Thus, when important conferences'were on foot, the wilv Camp Commandant had to arrange for the pre . senco of a sentinel man who could keep order and prevent the disturbance of tho cmmcil by-an invasion of chocolatehunting frames. , Must Also be a Diplomat. It'is no easy thing to find room in a village for some hundreds of soldiers-m addition to the • customary inhabitants. When they arrive, a village may. have about six small shops, hut, within « week, every other cottage in the place has developed into a mmuto general store, and there is a tendency to require what should be billeting room for commercial expansion. ® This leads to protests from the lnlubi tants to the Camp Commandant. J-hey desire to trade with the soldiery as.. ivell. as to house tliein, and it is then that great tact is .needed to explain-the basic laws of economics, ana expound how tho law of demand depends entirely upon the supply of hungry soldiery to the villagß in question. Usually the matter is smoothly adjusted between the Camp Commandant and M'sieu le Maire, who acts as intermediary for the v age folk, but even tho Mayor cannot cntnely piotect the officer from the vociferous a*saults of elderly peasant ladies, whoso hens have been put off their setting of eggs or whoso barns have been used as shelters to the detriment of the straw the provision of suitable horse standings and stabling for the Divisional Mounted Troops also comes under the Camp Commandant, as do alt matters relating, to the use of Staff motor-caTS. If'his billeting area comprises a town or village of considerable size ho lias also to provide a systfem of baths and laundries for the troops. Usually a brewery is commandeered, and Tommy enjoys a soak in the hot-water cauldrous and tubs usually sacred to the infusion of malted hops. Laundries, on the other*hand, are generally established in convents, under command ot a 'businesslike Mother Superior wlio provided with" the necessary soap and i.uel bv tho A.S.C., conducts a genuine, work of mercy—for cleanliness in the trenches is not only next to godliness, but saves the body from septic wounds. To the Camp Commandant also come < all peopn; applying for. passes and Passers for inhabitants, and all matters con, cerning tho licensing of estammets to sell light beer to soldiers, while he has in addition authority to. enforce the clo»in<* of anv ill-conducted houses in the town Whatever is needed i either by militaiT or by inhabitants, be it. room for a new soldiers' institute or Y.M.UA. establishment, or a strons-ioom for tlie field cashier, application is made to the Camn Commandant, who sends out his subaltern and interpreter to spy out tho land and find tho necessary accommoila- } tion. ... The Man Who Wants Something.

Day in and day out the Camp- Commandant is besieged by all kinds of people asking for all kinds of lmpossib.e things, and his office .calls for the exercise of tact, good temper, and inordinate patience. To these qualities -in camp commandants we largely owe tlio excellent relations between civilians and military foVces that are such a marked feature of the Expeditionary Force, and arc one of the redeeming aspects of tiie war The French people "have learnt to 'rely upon the sound justice and common sense of "la commandant, and he aua the'local mayor-between them succecd in achieving the impossible m housing problems, without inflicting any hardship upon the inhabitants. As the size of the British Army in tho field has increased, the work of the Camp Commandant has become more arduous, yet more svstematised, and now he is looked upon as just. a local official of the first .m----wrtone'e. Tn the devastated areas from which the Hun has been driven there Is little l>UMln& accommodation lelt, but, even so, tlie ground is now all marked out in areas, each under its town mayor, and the "to.wns" themselves are extemporised hutments springing up under the skilled hands o 'fthe pioneer bal-f-llions A few refugee peasants are coming filmvly hack to view their refined land, and till again the war-torn soil Thev, as civilians, come under tho rule of the town mayor, and it is he. who will oversee the first early attempts at reconstruction of the shattered homesteads, granting permits for transport of material along the roads of the military imne For the moment the civil powei i, in' abeyance, lint the peasant does not differ The military police replace the eandarmes, and the town mayor is practically a major. In their hands law am; order are established, and secure ill their guardianship the ueasniit works at his rebuilding unhindered by the surroundin- turmoil of the war and perfectly assured that the soldiery will respect his unguarded belongings.