New-York tribune., 1901-03-25
IMPERIAL DEFENCE.
. SCHEME OF MILITARY REORGANIZA-
TION NOT BASED UPON SOUTH
AFRICAN EXPERIENCE THE
WAY OPENED FOR
CONSCRIPTION.
CONSCRIPTION.
London, March 13

THE new scheme Of military organization may
ns roughly described as the halfway house 10
,onscription 1t involves the development of
che existing system of voluntary enlistment and
auxiliary services under conditions which pre-
c,ude reasonable expectation Of success. When
.be experiment has been tried and the results
are found unsatisfactory, the way will be opened
Car compulsory service. The War Office will
,ben be in a position to assert that everything
was done under the voluntary system 10 provide
an adequate army for the defence of the empire.
but that men were not forthcoming and that an
elaborate paper scheme proved a failure. The
onlv alternative. from the official and military
nont Of view. will be compulsory service The
military experts, who have been contending for
wears that conscrption was inevitable and that
the empire could not he defended without it,
unite in pronouncing Mr.. Brodrick's speech a
mastery performance. That is because they
nerceive the trend Of an exceedingly artificial
attempt to provide 125.000 new troops and to
organize six army corps in many districts.
for constant training and annual man9uvres.
Mr.. Brodrck himself spoke like an official who
was condemned for political reasons to make
bricks without straw. and had little confidence
IN the voluntary system.
The reorganized army will consist Of three
army corps Of regulars with headquarters at
aIdershot Salisbury Plain and Dublin. and
three army corps Of auxiliary forces at Colches-
Yer. York ana in Scotland. with sixty hattalions
Of militia and volunteers. a considerable body
OF Imperial Yeomanry and twenty-one volunteer
field artillery batteries. Each corps will have
,ts own staff. transport and stores. and he wiz
tually self-administrative. There will be no
great increase of regulars. although from thir-
teen to eighteen hattalions will be gained by the
of he Medi nd Oial
garrisons and by the transfer of Indian troops
To tropical posts and placing coaling stations
under the control Of the navy; but 10000 will
he added 10 the militia, the yeomanry will be
recruited 10 81 600 and in one way another
over l25 900 fresh troops will be brought under
.raining in six districts All these changes are
made in order 10 keep three army corps in readi-
mess for foreign service in an emergency. yet TO
leave three army corps behind to provide for
home defence: and whether the troops are dis
matched abroad or held in reserve, every corps
will have its own organization, cavalry. artillery
and transport, and be systematically trained
.or modern warfare. The scheme looks effec-
five on PAPER: the chief practical difficulty is
promptly suggested by French, German and
Austrian critics. How can the men be obtained?
What magic can recruiting have in the future
which it has lacked in the past? There is no in
there are no additional attractions in service
which fs 10 be rendered more arduous than ever
before.
Mr. Brodrick in his elaborate speech began
with the lessons Of the war in South Africa. and
ended with an eloquent peroraticn on the duty
ot establishing a thoroughly effective army as
a memorial 70 the services OF thousands or
brave soldiers who had either perished or been
disabled on the veldt; but between the opening
and closing passages there was little TO fit in
with the practical experience OF the last eighteen
months His elementary proposition was that
six army corps. each with its own staff and
plant must be completely organized in six dis
tricts This may be necessary in order 10 bring
the British army into line with European
armies; but il has nothing to do with the expert
ence OF the commanders in the field in South
Africa one army corps of three divisions was
dispatched when the Boer ultimatum was sent
in October. 1889, but # was Immediately broken
ND into three or four columns; subsequently
Lord Roberts rnassed an army corps Of three
divisions when he opened his campaign but ii
was not long before il was broken up. Although
first and last a force equal to six army corps
was recruited for service against the Beers. the
divisional organization was abandoned and bri-
gades were substituted for IL. with a few flying
columns Of mounted troops for active work The
army corps organization was not Of the slight
est value in South Africa. and either broke down
under its own weight dispensed with as
an unsuitable encumbrance. The transport SER
vice was reorganized by Lord Kitchener; special
mounted forces were recruited in England.
Canada, Australia, NewZealand, Cape Colony
and Natal: naval brigades were extemporized.
and the army was gradually adapted 10 the work
IN hand by the simplest brigade methods and
with lisr1a nd a c
bic. These are familiar facts Of recent military
history yet the Secretary for War at the close
Of the campaign considers il nece=5ary to estab-
lish six army corps with staff equipment and
transport as a safeguard for imperial defence!
NOT JUSTIFIED BY RECENT EXPERIENCE.
There is an easy method of testing. in the
Hight Of recent experience. the value of the pro-
posed organization for such emergency as
the South African campaign. One has only to
suppose that six corps had been in existence in
six districts each with its self-centred organi-
cation when the war broke out. Only one would
have been sent when the ultimatum was issued.
for Lord Woseley, Lord Lansdowne and the
Cabinet paid no heed 10 the precise information
supplied by the Intelligence Department re-
specting the number Of Boer combatants and
their ornaments. One army corps would have
been considered sufficient for the holiday march
originally planned from Cape Town 10 Pretoria.
and when IL reached South Africa It would have
been split up. Another army corps would have
followed, and from time TO time four more. and
all the elaborate arrangements now planned for
deoentralized administration would have been
OF no utility. The corps would have been broken
up the divisions separated into brigades, the
transport reorganized and the generals and
their staff officers sent home. This form of
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