MILITARY DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 3

MILITARY DEFENCE

WHAT THE EMPIRE NEEDS

AN EXPERT'S OPINIONS

AMATEUR. SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR.

We can be forgiven if we look round the Empire and feel a glow of pride and satisfaction' at the thought of its mighty deeds in the past, and of the almost limitless possibilities of its future, writes Lieut. iColonelßepington, in the "Daily Telegraph." An Empire like ours, of nearly 14,000,000 square miles, with a ■ population of. 450,000,000 •of people, has no parallel in the world's history. There is no continent and no sea where its people do not rule, and the' variety of its climates and territories accounts for the extraordinary richness of its productions, which are the envy of mankind:' It r i s a .world Empire, while Rome was a Mediterranean empire, and the sea unites it all by a finer thoroughfare than man ever made. was when many doubted whether the sons of the Empire, devoted as they were to peaceful occupations and ■ for the greater part untrained to arms, could take up a gage of battle thrown down to them.by some aggressive and virile Power and^ncet the challenge.force against force. That doubt vanished in the World War when nearly 10,000,000 men in the Empire sprang to arms and carried through to a victorious conclusion the 1 greatest war known to history without seeing a square inch of its territory trodden by a- hostile foot: We did not fight, as of old,, with a mere contingent of troops. The whole might of the EraEm eA^, aS £ rbu«ht t0 bear, and those. 3,----000,000 . heroe,s . who were killed and wounded m the struggle testify to the greatness of our share in it. r We sent.out from the Homeland some six and a _ quarter million men, whose deeds live m history, but we particularly remember the 1,600,000 men provided by the Dominions and colonies, and the similar number found by India numbers . which no one, friend °r, -enemy, could- have credited before the event. It was not the numbers alone. It is no exaggeration to say that the Dominion troops, without exception, became at least the equals of the^best troops in the world and made for themselves a name which will endure so long as history is ;written. The troops of India were found peculiarly fitted for Eastern campaigns, where they were in their element. Their good and hard service can never be. forgotten. A BREATHING SPACE. As we recall the glorious days of 1914----18 it is impossible for any citizen of the Empire to" credit that we can ever fear any external enemy. ; But those who look below the surfaced of" things, and particularly our various Governments, must take into account, first, that we have no longer the 1914 superiority at sea, and, secondly,: that- for the first twoyears of theiwar the brunt of the enemy'g attack was borne by the French, Belgians, Serbs, Russians, and Italians, whose sacrifices in time of^peace had.secured - trained' •.armieS^fcapablV; 6f - con-' fronting the Central Powers at their best. These Allies ,of ours, these glorious Allies, gave us the breathing space in which to create our armies,' and.it would be both unwise and unfair to forget the fact. Therefore, should 'our Empire bo called on. again to. fight; and perhaps alone, the problem may be to emulate the deployment of 1914-18, but to produce the troops iri a shorter time. . This aspect of defence has been largely neglected, though Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have different forms of personal liability to serve, amounting to compulsion. It is invidious for us to preach to the Dominions unless, we preach by example. We at Home have set a bad example, for we have much reduced our Regular troops, abolished the Militia,.cut down the Air Force, diminished the Territorials, scrapped all our >*ar legislation, and taken no steps whatsoever to prepare for the creation of a national army.

Before we can, any of us, mov-e troops oversea our navies must be consulted, and we must be sure that, wherever our Grand Fleet has to go, there.it must find; proper base 3, preferably those in British. Dominions. The burdens thrown upon us at Home make it necessary that all the Empire should share in naval defence to a greater extent than in the past. We must: have a complete chain of wireless-stations leady,. and the 'Air Service to supplement it, while the troops of the Empire, must remain organised, trained, armed, and equipped as far as possible in a similar manner. If we have no common fighting doctrine we cannot have combined and successful tactics.. The system of command and of staff duties, whether on land or sea, must be identical, and it is the business of our combined War and General Staffs, naval and military, .to secure these results by intimate and constant interchange' of officers and of ideas on the lines Tecomemnded »by the late FieldMarshal . Lord Nicholson in his memorandum of 7th December, 1908, which is still the governing doctrine in this matter. ■ -;. ' ■"..■-.:■: .- -. -| HOLDING TOGETHER, _The preservation of our Empire from external assaults cannot be guaranteed unless every part of. it is prepared to fight m quarrels Which may not appear to be its own. This is a hard saying, particularly m these days, when elich selfgoverning Dominion claims the right of deciding its own,destinies. Yet unless -all hold to. each other, and unless there is perfect loyalty to one another, in all times and in all places, the bond of union is shattered, and he who deserts" »his friend must in his turn expect to be

Thus Imperial unity becomes a primary object of .Imperial Statecraft, and at tS coming Conference in October,. after, a irank and free interchange of ideas, we hope to see maintained that unanimity angs._ The fruitful co-operation of ' the Empire m all contingencies that can be foreseen^requires sagacity, experience, and §ood judgment Jn iheir highest expression. The popularity of Lord Curzons survey of British foreign policy in 1921 was so marked that, we muit anticipate.that ,t will be repeated, but an incident of September last is likely to be passed under review. We do not seem even now to have thoroughly assimilated Dominion viewe that Imperial consultation must necessarily precede effective Imperial action.. Another defence question, of deep interest is that of the Suez banal which at present remains too indefinite to .be satisfactory. The safety of that Canal concerns profoundly all our possessions east of Suez, and is no less important to the Motherland. What is needed is that we should take ur> a firm position about the Canal, announce our policy to the world, and abide by it m peace and war. Our general military policy i a that each part of the Empire should be able as far as possible to protect itself on land and sea until, the whole strength of the_ Empire can bo brought to bear against an assailant. Therefore, it follows that no organisation can be satiataotoy which does not • contemplate of-

fensiye action, and that each part of the Empire should contain forces restricted to local defence and other forces available for the general service of the Empire a s a whole. What strength these latter should be depnds to a large extent upon a diplomatic survey of the political horizon, and to snpport this survey the necessary naval, military; and air memoranda will .be prepared in advance in London and be considered together with similar papers prepared in the Dominions and India. ■ Part of the discussion may be unsuitable for publication, but, in principle the more frank and open the avowal of British aim s the better for ourselvee, our friends, and our enemies: . It i s necessary to have the support of the people for every plan made, and no support can be ■expected for plans .which our^ople can not examine and discuss: Wo^nstWS up slowly and prudentl a , *™* penal defence, appropriate to U,e very special circumstances of the Empire and approvable by all our people. X in" ™rt, WOf k °n SetUe^ PrillciPles, making such changes or improvements at each future Conference, ai new facts and new needs may demand: