GERMS AND GASES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19786, 9 March 1927, Page 9

GERMS AND GASES

THE NEXT WAR MECHANICAL FORCES BRITISH ARMY EXPERIMENTS ELIMINATING INFANTRY AND CAVALRY (By Telegraph—Pt t Press Assn.—Copyright.] Received March 8, 11.20 p.m. LONDON, March 8. Sir L. Worthington Evans in introducing the Army Estimates into the House of Commons said they amounted to £41,565,000, a reduction of £935,000 compared with last year. He pointed out that the figures did not include any expenditure on the Shanghai defence force. They were unable at present, he said, irrevocably to decide the kind of force which would take the place of cavalry, which lacked mobility and fire-power. There was at present being formed at Tidworth an army in miniature, composed entirely of mechanised units, designed to provide the Army Council with practical information. The force would consist of a tank battalion, an armoured car company, a field brigade, Royal Artillery, a pack battery of artillery, a field company of engineers, one infantry battalion equipped with 36 machine guns and six regiments of cavalry with mechanical transport, each regiment having eight machine guns mechanically carried. Mr Arthur Greenwood (Labour) moved that in the interests of peace economy, confidence and security the Government, in the preparatory commission for the forthcoming disarmament conference, should initiate proposals to secure an international agreement On the reduction of land forces. He said it was reasonable to ask “was the world prepared to accept similar disarmament as enforced on Germany?” Despite Treaty obligations, a l ' powers would use gases in the next war, which would make modern armies most futile. If they were also going to add bombs and disease germs, it seemed ridiculous to discuss the future of territorials and cavalry in view of the greatest revolution in warfare the world had ever seen.

Captain King, replying on behalf of the War Office, said Viscount Cecil was going to the disarmament conference to secure international agreement in the reduction of land forces, but powerful nations would not be represented at the conference, such as Russia, with a standing army of 650,000 and subsidiary forces totalling 9,000,000. Mr Greenwood’s amendment was rejected by 235 votes to 108.