EASTER CAMPS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13716, 5 April 1905, Page 3

EASTER CAMPS.

(By TRIGGER, in “Canterbury Times.”) In a fortnight the Easter mancruvres will bo upon us. Every corps in Canterbury is now busily engaged in making preparations, ana officers commandj ing are anxiously endeavouring. to . saj euro a record attendance. Tactics are i being seriously studied and freely discussed, Strategy will not be a feature of the manoeuvres, but .tactics will. Strategy _ applies to the proper manccuvring and disposition of an army to meet an opponent on the most favourable terms, .whether the operations ■ are in attack or on defence. Strategy is the art of handling an array to advantage previous to encountering an opponent. In the days of Wellington and Napoleon it was possible for those generals to initiate elaborate strateg'iS cal schemes and to personally supervise their carrying out; indeed, owing to' the moderate range of gun and rifle lire, it not infrequently happened that, from personal observation ' during ,a, battle, they issued 'ordertf'ttor a strate-' gical movement affecting the whole army. Nowadays a general commanding has to rely on information, and on the cohesion of his forces, in working out strategical problems, and we read that Field Marshal Oyama, who is responsible for the general plan of operations in Manchuria, sits in a room at his headquarters, wherever they may be for the time being, with his locality maps and position of both armies before him, and surrounded by telegraph and telephone operators, who hold communication with the Japanese forces in the field. The old style is certainly more romantic, but the modern is rendered necessary' 1 by the great evolution in gun and rifle fire. Strategy may bo dismissed from our minds so far as the Canterbury manoeuvres are concerned, for the plans of campaign have been arranged, the fighting forces have been evenly distributed, the ground of battle operations has been selected ; and, indeed, it may be said that the troops arc going to carry out a certain number of set exercises. The enemy is not to bo sought for, except in a known area, and hostilities will not be entered into by strategical development. But it can be said that tactics will be of paramount importance, and probably the military authorities are right iu calling upon our Defence Force to so operate that there will be need for a display of tactical ability. Tactics is that phase of operations which deals with fighting when opponents are in touch with ' each other. Of course tactics is largely allied to strategy, and some old-time generals are said to have been able to give tactical details to officers in the preparation of the strategical position of an army. But such a general must have | had considerable knowledge of his opponent’s forces, their disposition, the nature of the country where battle was to be given, and he must, too, have been enabled to force fighting when he desired to. Rival commanders not unnaturally endeavoured to_ fight under favourable conditions, and it would be a poor general who accepted battle in a locality unsuitable to his purpose. The successful commander was he who could so manceuvre his army strategically as to force battle upon an opponent whenever he so desired. In the case of the Canterbury Easter manoeuvres the locality and the groundhave already been chosen, each side knows the.“plan” of campaign, and the operations will resolve into a series of tactical exercises, in which the alertness of scouts, tile rapid transmission of knowledge gained of the enemy to the proper quarters, the initiative of company officers, and the individuality of their men, will have not a little to do with the success of the operations. One and all should remember that the manoeuvres are not intended to demonstrate that the Canterbury members of the colony’s Defence Force know how to engage in battle any more than they know how to march to the scene of action. What is really, intended is that, from the time military control is assumed at the drill grounds or other meeting-place, until the operations are concluded, tire whole force should recognise that proper discipline should be observed, and that all exer--cises and routine matters should be carried out as though the conditions were those of active service. The winning of the battle which will, uo doubt, take place, is of less importance than the manner in which the work leading up to it is done. Mobility would appear to be the cardinal feature of exercise operations of New Zealand’s Volunteers, for, in the ©vent of real hostili-' tics, our men would probably be required to concentrate, at points that may be widely separated, ui the quickest possible time; out it is not apparent that this phase will be severely tested at the coming manoeuvres, and everything seems to point to a

desire on the part of the authorities to deal with general duties leading up to an action. Of course, the engagement which will take place will be conducted on orthodox lines, and conclusions may be drawn from the character of the operations as to the real state of the fighting efficiency of the various units and of their fitness to take the field. Special attention is sure to be given to scouting and to outpost duties, and our mounted riflemen will no doubt show to advantage in the former, while the infantry, judging from the amount of instruction it has received, may be relied on to carry out outpost work with an intelligent appreciation of the difficulties attached to so responsible a duty. ' On active service mounted scouts are usually, towards nightfall, withdrawn behind the outpost groups, and, beyond the infantrymen who are told off to patrol the near neighbourhood in front of the outposts, there is nothing between a lurking enemy’s rifle and the silent sentry who, watching the nightclad country in his vicinity with eager eyes and listening with attentive oars for any suspicious sound, carries out his duty of securing the repose of the fighting and, perhaps, tired army in rear of the outposts. It is wellknown that this class of work is the most trying that a soldier has to do, and one has only to have a little Volunteer experience to realise that, on active service, the nerve strain on the sentry must be very severe. Outposts sometimes have to deal with surprise movements, and it is necessary that coolness and deliberation should be shown in critical situations. To acquire these desirable qualities, it is certain that practical experience must be gained by the soldier. If Volunteers who attend the Easter camp will enter earnestly into their various duties, especially in scouting and in outpost work, the expenditure by the Government will be more than warranted; but it must not for one moment he thought that the money is being provided for a Volunteer picnic.