MILITARY TRAINING.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18608, 2 July 1930, Page 11

MILITARY TRAINING.

WAR MYTH EXPLODED. “FORGET ALL YOU LEARNT.” (Issued by National Defence League.) One often sees, quoted in newspapers throughout New Zealand, the statment that the first thing a recruit was told on entering the N.Z.E.F. training camp at Trentham was “Forget all you were taught in the Territorials” the inference being that the training given in the Territorial Force before the war was of little or no value. This would be a grave indictment of the Territorial Force if it were not for the fact, now so much overlooked, that a recruit received similar advice at each stage of his journey to the front e and in each phase of his training. At Sling he was ordered to forge v everything he learnt at Trentham. At Etaples he was informed that the methods used at Sling were already out of date, while on his arrival in the line he had impressed upon him the fact that this was “the war” and that his military education was now about to begin. Similarly at each of the above stages in his progress zo the front the recruit’s training was divided into various subjects, each in the hands of a specialist instructor. Naturally each specialist, perhaps imbued with an exaggerated idea of the value of his own subject, impressed upon him its par&moijint importance to the exclusion of everything else. The difference of opinion In regard to the value of the various stages of training and of the different weapons was, in short, entirely psychological. The plain truth was, of course, that these various stages in training, as exemplified by the passage through succeeding camps and the instruction in the handling of various weapons, were equally essential to produce the finished article—the trained soldier. A further contributory factor to the spreading of this legend was the natural superiority felt by the man nearest the enemy over all those who were further away. Thus, those in France looked down upon those in England, and so on, until the last lirix in the chain was reached at the source of supply—the Territorial Force in New Zealand. Again it has to be remembered that Territorial training in New Zealand during the Great War was handicapped by so many of the Permanent Staff and best Territorial officers and N.C.O.'s having been already absorbed in the Expeditionary Force and New Zealand training camps, so that the training given in the Territorials then suffered in proportion; also that reinforcement drafts entering camp were composed of both Territorials and nonTerritorials who had to reach the same standard of efficiency. Thus the partially-trained Territorial, although that partial training was immensely valuable, had to begin again at the beginning, and by reason of his previous experience, by example and otherwise, helped his wholly-untrained neighbour to attain a standard of efficiency more rapidly. .Indeed, in the training camps the partially-trained Territorial could always be picked by the instructor by reason of the better wav in which he carried out his work, and thereby won his way more quickly into the N.C.O. class. To him, in fact, the training camps were very much like advanced refresher courses—courses of instruction in which both officers and N.C.O.'s in all armies of to-day frequently indulge, beginning again at the beginning and so freshening themselves up. It is also important to appreciate that the scheme of training, as originally laid down for the Territorial Force in New Zealand, was prescribed by no less an authority than the late Lord Kitchener himself, and that Field Service Regulations, which governed the training of all New Zealand soldiers, Territorial Force and Expedit ionary Force alike, were drafted by the late Field Marshal Earl Haig, and remained throughout the war the standard upon which all the British Armies at Home and overseas, were trained. The value of the Territorial system j of training up to 1914 and during the .

War proved conclusively by the record * of the N.Z.E.F. from which it sprung. To-day the Territorial Force in New Zealand is largely officered and N C.O.’d by N.Z.E.F. officers and N.C.O’s who, with the remarkable adaptability of New Zealanders to learn, can be relied upon to produce, and do produce, the efficiency required. These being the facts, the military qualifications of those who dispute them may well be asked for.