Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-12-22
VOLUNTEER VS.. PROFESSIONAL
TROOPS.

VOLUNTEER VS.. PROFESSIONAL
TROOPS.
The man unfamiliar with military
affairs may have been struck with
surprise in reading in the newspapers
that Lord K%itchener's army Of volul-
teers would not be ready for service
till next spring.
Light is thrown on this circum-
stance by a British military expert,
in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. He
suggests. the necessity of long train
ing for volunteers in a comparison of
professional and unprofessional
troops. Says this authority:
Even the baldest and, briefest dis
cussion of the vast subject of war
would be incomplete without some
reference to the relative merits of
professional and unprofessional SOL
diers. Voluntary service still holds
its ground in the Anglo-Saxon states;
and both the United Kingdom and
America will have to a great extent
to rely, in case of conflicts which tax
all their resources, on troops who
have neither the practice nor the dis
cipline of their standing armies.
What will be the value of these am
ateurs when pitted against regulars?
Putting the question of morale
aside, as leading us too far atield, it
is clear that the individual amateur
must depend upon his training. If,
like the majority of the Beers, he
is a good shot, a good scout, a good
skirmisher, and, if mounted, a good
horseman and horsemaster, he is un-
deniably a most useful soldier. But
whether amateurs en- masse, that is,
when organized into battalions and
brigades, are thoroughly trustworthy,
depends on the quality of their Off
GERS. With good officers, and a GER
tain amount of previous training,
there is no reason why bodies of in.
fantry, artillery or mounted infantry,
composed entirely of unprofessional
soldiers, should not do excellent ser
vice in the field. Where they are
likely to fail is in discipline; and it
would appear that at the beginning OF
a campaign they are more liable to
panic, less resolute in attack, less en-
during under heavy losses and great
hardships, and much slower in ma.
noeuver, than the professionals.
"To a certain extent this is inevita'
BILE; ans. it has a most important bear.
ing on the value of the citizen sol
der, for the beginning of a campaign
is a most critical phase. In short.
troops who are only half-trained or
have been hastily raised may be a
positive danger to the army to which
they belong; and the shelter of stout
earthworks is the only place for them
| Yet the presence of a certain number
of experienced fighting men in the
ranks may make all the difference;
and, in any case, it is probable thai
battalions composed of unprofessiol
al soldiers, the free citizens of a free
and prosperous state, are little, if al
all, inferior as fighting units to bat
talions composed of conscripts. But
it is to be understood that the mer
possess the qualifications referred tt
above, that the officers are accustom
ed to command and have a good prac
ltical knowledge of their duties in the
field. A mob, however patriotic, car
rying small4bore rifles is no more like
ly to hold it's w today against we'll
He'd regulars than did the mob carry
ing pixies and flint locks in the past
"A small body Of resolute civilians
we'll armed and skillful marksmen
might easily on their own ground de
feat the same number of trained sol
diers, especially if the latter were
badly led. But in a war OF masses
| the power Of combination, of rapit
and orderly movement, and OF tactic
al maneuvering is bound to tell
The teaching force in the CrosD!
schools will be increased after thu
holidays.