STRENGTH OF FORCES

Grey River Argus, 5 June 1942, Page 6

STRENGTH OF FORCES

Training and Command A series of articles has been prepared by Lieutenant-General Puttick, the Chief of the General Staff for the purpose of giving the public such information regarding the Army in New Zealand and New' Zealand defence problems and plans as may safely be published. In the following article which deals with the strength of the forces, training, and higher command, the strength of forces is confined —for information given regarding the reasons of security—to a survey of the forces available in 1938 as revealed in the Army List of that date, and to some broad observation of manpower and equipment. The Chief of the General Staff suggests that as the public as a whole would have no definite object in making a survey of this nature, the information available from it and the inferences to be drawn would not be within their knowledge, and that without giving anything away to the enemy, it is possible by the means adopted, to give the people a bettei appreciation of the position.

Strength of the Forces, Training and Command. With the entry of Japan into the war, the possibility of hostilities in and around New Zealand increased very considerably and the public were naturally apprehensive as to the state of the armed forces of the Dominion and their preparedness to meet an attack on the country on a far heavier scale than was possible hitherto.

During a war it is an extremely difficult matter to keep the public informed on such matters and at the same time give nothing away to the enemy. There is a natural tendency to say nothing at all and this leads to the people being kept in almost complete ignorance regarding the fighting services and the general preparations that have been and are being made to defend the country. There is a good deal of information, however, which has always been available to anyone, including foreign countries, regarding the armed forces of any country. This is contained in publications such as Army Lists, official Gazettes, Year Books, and the daily papers. Since the outbreak of war, however, new Army Lists have been treated as secret documents and the information contained in Gazettes and newspapers regarding the constitution of new forces, appointments and promo- ' tions of officers and so forth has been published in such a way as not to disclose important information. The peacetime organisation of the forces, however, as disclosed in Army Lists gives a fairly good idea of the minimum forces likely to be available in war. Prior to the war, the public as a whole had little interest in the details of the forces or, as the i information is somewhat technical, i do not now remember it. I think it 1 would serve a useful purpose at the present time in order to remind the public that the forces in the country are of considerable strength, to set cut such details as may be of interest and which are all obtainable from the sources mentioned. Since the date of the last peacetime Army List there have been, of course, numerous changes. Names of units and formations have been altered, additional units formed, and in certain respects the organisation varied, and this information cannot be published. From the 1938 Army L’st the following information is available: Northern Military District: Headquarters, Auckland. Regular Troops: New Zealand Staff Corps, New Zealand Permanent Staff, Royal New Zealand Artillery w th field, coast and anti-aircraft artillery cadres, Army Service Corps and Ordnance personnel. Fortress Troops: Heavy Artillery group, Antiaircraft group, Ist Battalion, Auckland Regiment. Field Troops: Three Mounted Rifle Regiments; Artillery Brigade group consisting of four field batteries, a medium battery and a light battery; one company of Engineers, one Signal Depot; three # battalions of infantry; one Company Army Service Corps, one field ambulance.

The 'Central and Southern Districts are shown as having similarforces. It is common knowledge that .shrce 1938 these forces have been greatly increased. The Army List shows further that three officers are graduates of the Imperial Defence College, London, nine are graduates of the Staff College, Camberley or Quetta, and three have obtain-

ed certificates of the Gunnery Staff College or long service artillery course in England. The strength of the Regular Forces was shown at 114 officers of the Staff Corps and Royal New Zealand Artillery, 121 New Zealand Permanent Staff instructors, 73 Royal New Zealand Artillery warrant an.d non-commis-sioned officers, and 90 gunners, and 20 Army Service Corps. From the names of the officers in each Territorial unit the number of Territorial officers on the active list can be ascertained, while a list of the numerous Defence Rifle Clubs throughout the country is also shown. An enemy studying this list would get a fairly good idea of the capacity of the country to expand its armed forces, especially as earlier Army Lists contain the names of the very considerable number of officers on the reserve and retired lists. It might be possible to get some indication of how many of these officers proceeded overseas with the Expeditionary Force but with the large increase in the number of officers granted commissions' since the war began, it would be difficult to determine the distribution of these officers as between the Expeditionary Force and the home forces. It is not difficult to calculate, in respect of any country the number of men of suitable age and medical fitness available for the armed forces on a maximum basis without regard to exemptions for essential services. Assuming the years of military age to be 18 to 45. and the average life at 60 years, 28-60th or 7-15ths of the total population are between those ages, amounting approximately to 800,000 people. Half of these would be women, leaving 400,000 men, and of these it would be assumed that half would not be of the necessary physical or medical standard, thus leaving 200,000 men as the maximum number available in the country. From these would have to be deducted the number estimated as required for essential industry and key positions in civil life, and by a. deduction of the numbers who have proceeded overseas the men available for home defence can be ascertained with reasonable accuracy. It would be necessary, however, to know how many men are on the strength of the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force in order to determine how many would be available for the Army. The enemy also would not necessarily know exactly what age limits have been adopted for the armed forces because of numerous voluntary enlistments Which might or might not include ages above the normal military age. He would know that use is being made in the National Military Reserve of men from the last war and that a Home Guard of considerable strength exists; but the numbers would be very difficult to obtain. He could, however, form a very reasonable estimate of the manpower likely to be available for the armed forces.

But the enemy would know that manpower alone does not constitute an Army. There is the very .important question of equipment. He would know that after the. last war the whole of the equipment for one complete Division and a good deal of the equipment for a second Division was brought to New Zealand, and that although a certain amount of this equipment would either be worn out or have become obsolete a great deal of it, especially items such as machine-guns, field and medium artillery, web equipment and . rifles, would still be of great value. It would also be known that there have been considerable importations of ammunition of all kinds, artillery of various natures, tanks and numerous miscellaneous items, shipped since the war began, and it ‘would be expected that every effort would be made to increase to the utmost the quantities of warlike stores in the country. Thus it can be seen that a good deal, of information regarding the armed forces of the Dominion is available to the enemy from th>? sources I have mentioned. The general public in New Zealand with no direct object in view would probably not have such a clear picture as would be obtained by enemy agents or by the General Staff of the enemy country. But a little thought, combined with the local knowledge which the public generally must have, should give a reasonable indication as to tiie strength of the local forces. There are many gaps in the above survey which obviously I cannot fill for security reasons. I cannot publish, for instance, what our reserves of ammunition are, how many modern guns have recently arrived in the country, how many machine-guns we have, the number of tanks, our petrol reserves, nor the quantities of such warlike stores which are on

their way to New Zealand or awaiting shipment from various countries abroad. I can say, however, that the quantities are very considerable, that the situation regarding equipment is under almost daily review, and that every possible step has been taken and is being taken to expedite the delivery of equipment to New Zealand.

The next point to consider is training. This is proceeding at the moment with great intensity and is a matter of the utmost importance. There is no lack of information regarding the latest developments -of modern war. This information arrives in great volume from England, Middle East, and until, recently from Malaya, and covers all theatres of war. It is distributed to all units, Army and District Schools, and to the Staff College where it is closely studied and training methods adapted accordingly. New text books and training pamphlets are constantly arriving from overseas, and in many cases are re-printed in' the very considerable numbers required for distribution in New Zealand, at the Government Printing y Office.

In addition, a good many officers and non-commissioned officers and men from the N.Z.E.F. have returned to New Zealand from one cause or another and all of these who are physically fit and who. are suitable for instructional work are so employed, thus ensuring that the experience gained overseas in recent fighting is made full use of here. The Home Guard has not been overlook-ed—-some 3,000 officers and noncommissioner officers of that, body having been given courses of instruction at Army Schools. The New Zealand' Staff College is playing a very important part, it was established nearly six months ago and is staffed by a very competent staff including a Commandant from India, specially selected by General Wavell a General Staff Officer from the instructional staff of the Staff College, Camberley, England. and four officers selected from the New Zealand Division by General Freyberg. This College has already completed two intensive courses for commanding officers and staff officers, and is now engaged on a further course for staff officers. All officers who have attended the courses speak of them in the highest terms, and in its effect upon the efficiency of the New Zealand Army the Staff College is certainly one of the most important military activities in the Dominion.

The training arrangements naturally require most careful watching in order that trained men shall be available in the country, as otherwise there would be avoidable delay in manning this equipment on its arrival. This has necessitated in some cases the despatch of selected personnel overseas for instruction in equipment not hitherto available in New Zealand, and on their return these men are employed to teacfi other instructors and so provide for the training of the men.

The forces now mobilized are undergoing hard training to make them both technically and physically fit to meet the severe necessities of war, should it come to New Zealand. A careful watch is kept on the health of the men by the medical officers in each unit, and while some men may have found training rather hard in the initial stages’" there is no indication that it is overdone ; the necessity for training' should take precedence over practically’ everything else, and it .is only when this training has reached a satisfactory state that attention can be devoted to other important phases of military activity. Turning now to the question of higher command and co-operation between the three fighting services, there is the closest co-operation, goodwill and personal friendship between the Chief of the Naval Staff. General Staff and. the Chief of the Air Staff. These officers meet almost daily to discuss questions of general interest to the three services and to arrange cooperation lower down in the chain of command. At the District Headquarters and in Fiji, where New Zea... land has considerable forces, officers of the three services meet and work in much the same way, while in addition officers of the three services attend courses in co-operation ana whenever possible practice operations involving the three services are car-, risd out. These, it is hoped, will increase in the near future when the advanced training stage has been reached.

In the Governmental sphere the same close accord obtains. The throe Chiefs of Staff are in the closest possible touch with the War Cabinet, where all questions affecting the defence of New Zealand, as well as strategical matters affecting the

conduct of the war as a whole, arcmost frankly discussed and there is very complete co-operation and almost complete unanimity of views between the political leaders on the one hand, and the military leaders on the other. The Chiefs of Staff have also addressed the members oi both Houses of Parliament on service matters and given them full details of the defence situation in New Zealand, the opportunity also being giv- , en to ask questions on any subject. Similar action has been taken with editors of newspapers and with deputations to the War Cabinet. The War Council has also been kept fully informed and have discussed numerous defence questions with the Three Chiefs of Staff. Practically the whole of the activities of the country are in one way or another concerned with or affected m defence questions, and heads and rpresentatives of numerous Government Departments are frequently h close consultation with the Chiefs c Staff. In this connection, lor c; ample, a great many of the Enn gency Precautions Scheme an ments have been discussed by representatives of the Emergency Precautions organisations with the Chiei of Staff, who in conjunction witn the Department of National Service have reviewed these arrangements and given advice on numerous questions connected with the precautions that should be adopted. . Personally I am very satisfied with the relations that exist between the War Cabinet and t-\-Chiefs of Staff, between the Chiefs of Staff themselves, and between the Chiefs of Staff and the various Governmental and civil organisations that are concerned with defence measures. There is a spirit, of co-opera-tion and intense desire to do the right thing and to do it quickly, ana to do the utmost possible that wifi increase the safety of the country and its readiness for wap, on the part of all those I have mentioned.