THE ARMYS SEVERE CRITIC

Evening Star, Issue 14529, 3 December 1910, Page 10

THE ARMYS SEVERE CRITIC

Colonel Gadke, < i ho distinguished Gorman military eritie, lias "one back to bis own country with a very poor opinion of the British Army, which he had boon studying at the recent military manoeuvres in England. Hero is his verdict; —

In its present composition and training it is nor equal to a conllic.t with a Continental army, and-is on the whole, apart from the smallness of its numbers, nulitted to play any part worth mentioning in modem war. As a laud Bower, Great Jlritain has (alien out of the ranks of first elass military Powers. In spite of this, her soldiers and the raw material which she can command in t!io form ol officers are exceptionally good, and second to none in the world.

Tito German expert corroborates what was said recently by Lieutenant Sutor, the English officer who was court-rnartialled lor writing a pamphlet in which he ridiculed the training methods of the British Army. “’I bo service of illo button, the pedantry ot pipeclay,” says Colonel Gadko,, “play an exaggerated role.” Ho criticises tho purely mechanical drill, tho training for sentry duty, tho church parade, the exaggerated value set on the men s uniforms —all of which, ho says, interfere in a most detrimental manner with tho proper training of the troops lor service in the Held, lie thinks the British soldier is pampered, and pampering “docs not make ior efficiency in war.” . . .

Still more damaging is his criticism of tho British generals. I'Toin the highest downwards, says Colonel Gadko, they did not know at the Army manoeuvres how lo begin to utilise their troops in masses, or how to combine and unite them in order of battle. In watching their manoeuvres ho was reminded of the Russian Army its disastrous battles in Manchuria. Even tho highest leaders seemed to lose their heads. Hut most astonishing of all, in Colonel Gadko’s eyes, was not tho awkwardness ol the troops or tho weakness of their leaders, but the sorry figure which, according to this critic, was cut by the umpires. Their decisions “were, as a general rnlo, as irreconcilable with what would have happened in a real combat, and so utterly in contradiction to the possibilities of warfare, that one can only ascribe Utterly unsound tactical theories to tho generals of tho British Army. Here, also, the resemblance to tho Russian campaign against Japan was unmistakable.” In short, Colonel Gudke concludes that tho British Army is not only too weak numerically to throw anv decisive weight on the scales in a Continental war, but is also deficient iu tho war training of its soldiers and in the understanding of its leaders for tho Task which a great modern war would impose on them.—Loudon correspondent, October 21.