BRITAIN’S ARMY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19884, 10 March 1939, Page 5

BRITAIN’S ARMY

HOME DEFENCE NEEDS PRIORITY RESTORED FIELD FORCE STRENGTH. OVER 19 DIVISIONS (Elec. Tel. Copyright —United Press Assn.) (British Official Wireless.; Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Mar. 8. The Secretary for War, Mr. L. Hore-Belisha, in his speech in the House of Commons on the army estimates to-day made a survey of the military purposes for which the British forces were maintained and the manner in which they were being discharged. Mr. I-lore-Belisha recalled that the foundation of British strategy had been to maintain land forces which, in conjunction with sea-power, would be sufficient to safeguard British territories. He showed how developments in the air had restored home defence to the first place, which it

had always occupied until 1905, when Lord Balfour on the basis of material accumulated by the newly-constituted defence committee, relegated the role of the army in home defence to limited proportions. As a result of the decision announced last year to restore home defence to priority, the number of officers and men in the anti-aircraft units had been nearly doubled in the last 12 months, said the Minister. Five divisions had replaced the former two and now two more would be added. Corps headquarters, which were set up during the year to control the anti-aircraft divisions would be made into a command. Some measure of the further expansion intended could be seen in the fact that in the new financial year the number o£ batteries would bcincreased by between 50 and 100 per cent. Tlie new batteries would be formed forthwith and would receive their training quota of equipment. The production of the 3.7 in. gun from the new factory would begin in the autumn. Overseas Garrisons Turning from home defence to overseas garrisons, Mr. Hore-Belisha questioned whether, in recent years, there had been an adequate realisation of the extent to which the country’s sea-power depended upon the army’s defence of naval bases, which themselves were encompassed by a new peril. The principle upon which they were proceeding and which he had announced a year ago was, in fact, a reversion to the doctrine laid down in 1882 by the Carnarvon commission that far distant from the United Kingdom in close proximity to those of foreign Powers and liable to sudden attack must have their garrisons kept at war strength. In following this out they were, wherever possible, enlisting local personnel. In Malta for example, the Royal Maltese Artillery was the oldest established regiment to the regular army. The population was most anxious to bear a fuller share of Imperial defence, as demonstrated when, on the addition of 1100 to the existing establishment of Maltese gunners, 300 recruits presented themselves at once. Malta was thus making a greater contribution than ever before to the defence of the Empire. He indicated that similar measures were in progress in Cyprus, Singapore, Hong Kong, Ceylon and :*isewhere in the Empire.

They no longer intended to rely upon "a single strategic reserve situated at the centre of the Empire. They had accordingly in the current year formed the nucleus of an additional strategic reserve in the Middle East which included two divisions stationed in Palestine. Forces in India

Mr. Hore-Belisha came next to the contemplated reorganisation of the forces in India which he had announced on last year’s estimates and referred to the recent visit to India of the Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, Lord Chatfleld, as head of a committee, the report of which was now before the British Government. He hoped shortly to be able to inform the House of the agreed proposals which would have a great effect upon the efficiency and dispositions of the country’s military resources as a whole.

Until then, it was impossible to present a complete picture of the strength, composition and the intended disposition of the British Army but he stressed that neither the maintenance of these strategic reserves in India and the Middle East, nor the strengthening of overseas garrisons would result in a diminution of the size of the strategic reserve in the United Kingdom. From that strategic reserve was drawn the field force, both regular and territorial —for by a recent Government decision the territorial part was now being prepared, trained and equipped for emergency —in event ol war in a European theatre. Mr. Hore-Belisha stated that the dimensions of the field force as four regular and nine territorial infantry divisions, two regular and one territorial armoured divisions, three motorised territorial divisions and, in addition, two territorial cavalry brigages and a number of unbrigaded units, regular and territorial, making more than 19 divisions in all. This compared with seven divisions of

Lord Haldane’s expeditionary force in 1914. In describing how every lighting arm of the service/had been remodelled, Mr. Hore-Belisha said that such was the degree of mechanisation that all the ammunition, equipment and half the total personnel of all the infantry divisions of the field army could be carried at one time.

Referring to recruiting, he said they would have taken 40,000 recruits into the regular army in the current financial year, compared with the average annual intake of 29,400 before the South African War and 24,200 before the Great War. With recruiting at slightly better than the present level, the shortage of 16,000 on the present regular establishment would be wiped out and the proposed increase in the establishment met in the course of the next financial year. They had now 77,000 recruits in 13 months during which the demands of the various artillery forces had increased 500 per cent and this was an all-time record for the territorial army.