New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-11-27
THE CONTEMPLATE LITTLE AkM1
Britain Shows Strength Back of Her Crube' and
How the New Armies Have Been Formed
Bv ARTHUR GLEASON

n SLLfAOOi'
full expression in religion or poetry. II IS 10
humor where the English nature comes
through"
y Here is one Of the songs which Is popular
a. the front:
The bells Of Hell go tinz-a-ing-a-hnz
For YOU but not for
Tor me the angels sing-R-ling-s-ilns
They've got the goods for me.
0 Death. where is thy sting -a-ling-s-ing
o Grave. thy yictoree'
The bells Of Hell go ting-s-lins-a-iing
For YOU but not for me.
The following are few facts which have
been able 10 obtain a. to the British army;
The regiments in old days were recruited
by counties "A few regiments came from
more than one county, The unit OF recruit
ing is the battalion Of 1000 men. In the
original standing army and in the new armle,
the basis Of the system Is the regiments
local idea. This is strongly developed IN Ihe
English nature-a local patriotism. Devon
shire means something 70 LewdoWn man
that Columbia County, y. T.. does not mean
to a Hudson man He and mis- people nave
shot rabbits and ruled the sea from that VII
lage in that county for five centuries.
When the war began, and large numbers o.
recruits poured in, the old territorial force
system was extended and new service bat
italions were formed But the old regimental
svstem was maintained, and each new service
battalion was affiliated TO some old regiment
The first new units were the special reserves
a battalion or two for each regiment, CORE
spending to the old militia. not trained so
fully-say for term Of SIX months and
liable 70 be called up. Then there came pat
talions Of territorias. corresponding 70 inc
old volunteers. These territorals would be
chosen from the smaller districts. Then fol-
/ lowed the service battslons. Pernaps inc
county would take on FIVE new service bat
taions. largely from the district, but there
WAS no hard and-fast rule. London men, for
instance, were affiliated to regiments every
where.
Fairly Difficulties Met
/ In the - p. days Of the war IL was difficult
TO obtain al,pment and housing. So munich
palities would organize battalons in their
own locality and hand them over when the
army was ready for them. Men said they
would like to go with their neighbors and
pals. Clerks, sportsmen, football players, men
with the same interest in life, cnummed 20
gether. War was strange new job, leaving
the individual lonely. so ne wished to face Il
with friends. These pals bsttalOns were still
attached to the original regiment.
In both the service and the pals battslions
Kitchener wished reserves. So each battalion
added TO its one thousand FIVE hundred men.
making a reserve battalion. So there resulted
a reserve battalion of service battalions and a
reserve battalion of pals battalions.
[ Summing it up, We have two battalions Of
the regular regiment, two battalions Of special
reserves, five, for instance, of territorials. and
several service battalons. One regiment has
twenty-sx battalions. Thus, there is no unit
of numbers for a regiment A regiment can
have 1000 men or 10000 The only unit is the
battalion of 1000 men.
The first two new armies. Ki and K2 were
new service battalions from every regiment Of
the British army. The old army was thus
duplicated By the first two new armies. The
third new army, K3 was raised where recruit
ing was best, largely in the northern and
western sections; IA and rs were made up Of
pals battaions OF course, all the other arms
of service medical staff, engineers, artillery.
were raised locally and represented in these
units. This has been the method of increas
ing an army of 100000 to 100000.
Each regiment has ancient rights and privi
leges and points of local pride. The Honora-
Bile Artillery Company has the right to march
through London with fixed bayonets, and they
exercise the right. At the entrance of the
city they halt. unbucke the bayonet and
thrust ~ INTO place. mis- ancestral quality
to an army unit gives an esprit de corps
which the men inherit, and tradition of SER
vice which touches them to quickened service
1t is survival of the old linked battalion
system, which provided that there should be
two regular battslons, one normally abroad
and one in England. Overseas service and
peace had combined to create the system. II
gave an expeditonary force to guard India
and South Africa The old feeling was en-
tirely regimental. There has been an extern
sion of the scale of feeling corresponding TO
the vast area of the war. This extension has
resulted in making the division more impor-
tant than ever before, because OF the need Of
a larger unit. The battslons in a division
have been trained together. brought to-
gether after preliminary training. The di.
vision is the lowest self-contained unit in
modern army. The 29th Division became cele.
brated at Gallipoi and in France. The early
9Th Division OF the expeditonary force was