ARMY REORGANISATION

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1925, Page 16

ARMY REORGANISATION

GENERAL NOLLET'S SCHEME FOR

FRANCE.,

The plans for the reorganisation of the army on ■which General Nollet, the Minister of War, has been at work for several months are now nearing completion, and it is probable, that Parliament will begin to deal with them this mouth. In an interview published in the "Matin/ General Nollet stated that he hopes to submit the two most important sections of his vast reorganisation scheme—those dealing with the general organisation of tho army and with recruiting. He hopes soon to complete other sections relating to effectives and cadres, armaments, and mobilisation. As indicating the immensity of the task to bo accomplished, the General nientioned that the last mobilisation plan meant an expenditure of 1,500,000 francs for printing and paper alone, Asked for an indication of the general idea of his scheme, he said it was essential that a country should be able on the day of mobilisation to muster and direct the whole of its resources. The present army organisation was defeotive in that it was unwieldy. It mnst be made more supple. For rapid mobilisation the resources of tho country must bo better grouped than they are today, so as to correspond with the economic activities of tho different regions. The mining basin of.the Nord, for instance, was a region which ought to be mobilised under special conditiqiiSj, and the same thing applied to the industrial districts in the centre of lfrance. Training, top, ought to be considered as an operation quite distinct from the mobilisation arrangements. Training centres would, have nothing to'do with the ordinary mobilisation, which' would be carried out by inobjlisat.iou centres, whosp function would be to group and place on a war looting the whole resources of a particular region. As to the cover for such mobilisation, this defence essential to national security would not be enfeebled, but rather strengthened. The organisation of cadres was to bo radically different from that which now obtains, except in the oase of the covering army aiul the training establishments, and special advantages wore to bo offered to oflicors and technicians who had completed fifteen years of service.

Reduction of the term of military service, General Nollet explained,- was not tho aim, but would be a result oi his schemo and could b« safely aehioved, thanks to the new organisation. They hail no vight to retain under the colours a day longer than was necessary men whose strength and brains were indispensable to the nation. Their task Was tomalie the army an instrument appropriate to its purpose unhampered by old formulas and profiting by the lessons of war, while making a minimum demand upon the forces which were essential to the economic life oi- tho country. The change would be made by steps, and, ii the work seemed slow, said the General, it was because it must be carried out in such a fashion that there should be no intermediary period between the old and new regime during which the nation would find itself deprived of both. .

The Italian Tii.irist Bureau has publisher, statistics of touris! t.raffio in 11.-iy curing IM* British tourists Wd the liie v.ith Us.OOO, ilwn nimo dio l-Vonolt Ainoric:aus. iiiui German,!, with tho Ri'i-'.'-Manr. and 11,-.!,-.-,I 1,-.!,-.-, „,, ill., bottom of ilio \i t '< Iwo and a half rnilHard* ,-,f ]iro inrH-fj-nl J720.000.0O0) were spent' iv tuo cciuilrj bf touriits.