NEW TOMMY ATKINS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21414, 11 February 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

NEW TOMMY ATKINS

LATEST TACTICS IN WAR- ' STALKING MACHINE-GUNS A new American debt is being attracted —by the British .nArmy. More exactly, it might be termed a.retjaiu : oa Britain's original investment, in America. Or it may be a fresh compensation for the loss of the American Colonies. The Army this year is going to revive "the profitable lesson it learned, to its'cost, in.fighting against the 18th century backwoodsmen. The infantry are to be trained, says, the military correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, above , all, as stalkers and marksmen. That is to be the keynote of their work in 1933. The tf^hd ll ? is to match the new clothing. Each, it is .hoped, will react bene-ficiallys-on the other. FnidoM of movement and adaptability are. to , b.® developed, and given full scopo. Skill and craft in using ground to conceal inovement and sufprise the enemy are to be the objects of special attention. When the American backwoodsmen gave the British Army the original lesson, they made their enemies pay heavily ;for it In one case. they inflicted over 3000 casualties on a British force, while them* selves losing.a bare score! Their marksmen, skilled in taking cover, repeatedly found a superb target in the rigid and stiff-drilled formations of their antagonists. ; ; . . But the lesson was invaluable. For it helped Britain to win the war against Napoleon. The seed from which grew the famous light infantry of Moore and Wellington had *been planted.,in , America. It was by the skill in - using ground and fire that the deadly answer to Napoleon's supposedly invincible masses was found. • To-day the problem is to find an answer to the machine-gun, which dominated the battlefields of 1914-1918. The answer is the tank. But this does not cure the helplessness of the infantry. They are left with a servile role. So they are setting out to develop an answer of their own. , The primary aim of the training .this year is to create a body of infantry that can challenge the machine-gun by its own craft. With this aim riflemen are to be specially trained in the ways of stalking machine-guns, arid'taking them unawares. .... - For such training the wooded and broken country round Aldershot offers good opportunities. When they have the new kit and lightened equipment, they should have an aid toward the . necessary nimbleness and activity.