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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 145902, 8 August 1917, Page 2

We were, recently informed that the 2nd British Army, under General Piumer, was engaged in the battle of Messines and it is practically certain that it is the same force that is fighting now in the area round Ypres. In the British Empire we are not very familiar with the use of the word army for a single unit under a general’s command and therefore it may bo of jnteregt, to indicate the -meaning- of,

Bam© ,of the commoner military terms now in use. We all know that the Dominion has a division at the front and that recently a brigade has been added, bnt the-vrolations between these two bodies are not always clearly understood. A division consists of three brigades and each brigade contains four battalions. A battalion contains about 1000 men, so that a division will have 12,000 infantry, but artillery, transport, and other necessary departments raise the number to at least 20,000. An array corps contains two divisions and is. supposed to be the largest body of meui that can use a single road and in one day be brought into position for action. The. relations between an army corps, division, brigade, and battalion in tlio British army are easy to remember as they arc represented by the figures 2,3, 4, that is an armycorps is two divisions, a division three brigades, and a brigade four battalions. An army is a still larger unit than an army corps and contains as many army corps as can conveniently bo commanded by one general. The number must obviously depend on the closeness with which the troops are packed, and it is possible that in France an army may include three or even four army corps. The army corps to which the Now Zealanders belong probably also includes an Australian division, since Now Zealanders and Australians were both engaged on the same ground at Messines and in the neighbourhood of La Basse Vilie the other day. Sir Alexander Godley is in command of this army corps, and we may suppose that General Birdwood commands another army corps, in the neighbourhood of Bullecourt, which contains two more of the other four Australian divisions. How many British armies are in the lino in France has not been stated, but five have recently been mentioned. These wore commanded by Generals Piumer, Allenby, Gough, Horne, and Rawlinson, but General Allenby has since been appointed to command the force in Palestine to succeed General Mur-

Jf the statement made in the House last night by tile Defence Minister on the subject of the Reinforcements and the Second Division had been made a" little earlier a great deal of argument at cross purposes might have been avoided. Those who have urged a reduction of our reinforcements have done so on the ground that experience had proved that New Zealand is sending more men than are really- necessary to keep up tlio strength of the division we have undertaken to maintain. Sir James Allen and others have, however, wrongly assumed that it was desired or suggested that Now Zealand should retire from the field or at least cease sending men to repair die wastage of her fighting force. We cannot recall that any- such suggestion has been made by anyone, certainly we have not hinted at such a tiling ourselves, our contention being that more men than necessary to keep up the strength of tho division were being sent and that the Dominion cannot spare tlio men unless they are urgently required. Now Sir James Allen has conceded the point, as the result of communication with the War Office, which has notified that 12 per cent, per month will suffice instead of 15 per cent., the rate hitherto maintained. This means that instead of having to send 2400 men away monthly wo shall have to send only 1920, or, put in another way, that 9600 men will suffice for five months instead of four. This will defer a little the calling up of the Second Division and also to some extent relieve the situation with respect to labour on tho land during the coming summer. With regard to the Second Division, Sir James Allen said he was unable to, make a statement yet because Parliament would be asked to consider the question this session. He did tell the House, however, that he was hopeful there would be no ballot until November or December, and that it would not be necessary for any Second Reservists to go into camp before January .or February.