ARMY REFORM

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 7, 8 July 1931, Page 18

ARMY REFORM

ORGANISATION CHANGES

MACHINE-GUNS OR MEN.?

One of the most significant features of'the. new'scheme for remodelling the British infantry is ;tho proposed organisation by "threes" instead of by "fours." In.each p£ tho suggested pattern battalions the company would consist of three platoons, and tho platoon of^ three sections, says the "Daily Telegraph s military correspondent. ■While, this would mean a change of British custom, it would fulfil the.idea which Napoleon, as tho result of his experience,'considered to be the ideal. Organisation by threes : has been adopted more' and more generally by .Continental armies since the war. The French have even adopted the practice 'of marching in threes. Tho three groups that form their platoon (called by them the section) march, alongside each lothor, each in single fllo. Thus they :can shake out instantly if tho unit comes- under fire. A further advantage of marching in throes is that they occupy less of the road, so facilitating Itho passage of staff cars and mechanised vehicles. . From my observation, the result has certainly been beneficial in .the French iarmy, and ono would like to see it adopted in,ours.. .Marching in fours has many practical drawbacks, especially in these days, when an infantry unit on the march may be suddenly attacked :by tanks or aircraft. • COMPLETE REFORM. Marching by threes, however, would bo even more novel than organisation by threes. And I gather that quite a number of the higher officers, consulted by the War Office on the pro-' posed new model, have urged for tho retention of four sections in the platoon. On the other . hand, there seems to be general agreement among Isoldiers that a section of four light machine-gunners and sixteen riflemen, as proposed in one of the two model schemes, is tod large to bo handled in battle. ' ' . ■ On another issue opinion seems to be divided. Some would prefer an even higher proportion of light machine-guns to riflemen, and suggest a battalion of 500, men endowed with abundant firepower as tho ideal. Others still talk of tho need for plenty of "bayonets." But against a modern machinegun defence an over-abundance of "bayonets" is merely an over-abund-ance of corpses. As the present Chief of the Imperial General Staff was one of the first among the higher command to give full emphasis to the .fact that the machine-gun dominated the modern problem of attack, it is unlikely that any "volume of bayonets" solution will be adopted. - .■ ; One marked strati of comment on the provisional patterns of battalion -is that the timo has now come for more complete reform. Officers are doubtful of tho possibility of combining mechanised and foot-marching subunits. . It is suggested that the whole battalion needs ■ now -to be given a mechanised basis for movement, even though part of it will fight on foot. ...