British]
ARMIES
As a rule this is a scale which corrects itself to some extent, since, if promotion has for a time been very slow, many men in the senior ranks have to retire, and more rapid promotion is given to the juniors. The effect of a war on so large a scale as that in South Africa is to upset this condition. Large numbers of officers in the senior ranks are relatively young. The accession of the immense number of subalterns of the same age as those much senior to them will force these junior officers out of the service in large numbers. The circumstances for some years, therefore, will be very exceptional. As regards the general question of the supply of officers, it must be realized that one of the exceptional advantages of Great Britain as a military power is that it possesses a larger class of the type from which effective officers can be drawn than any other country. What restricts the supply for war is solely that, as a question of economy, the policy of Great Britain has always been during peace time to reduce to a minimum the number of officers actually employed. Many posts are occupied by officers who are borne on the strength of their regiments and counted as if they were effective. The result of not maintaining during peace time the staff appointments required for war, and of filling a considerable proportion of those that are maintained with officers who are thus counted twice, is obviously to leave a very small proportion of the men who might be utilized available for war. Very large numbers of officers are 11 specially employed ” in all parts of the empire. These cannot be recalled for a war in a particular part of it. They are borne on the lists of certain regiments as subalterns or captains, and after a time they are “seconded,” that is to say that, their names being placed in italics, their places are filled up by the promotion of other officers. They retain their position in the regimental list, and may or may not at some time or other be brought back into the regiment. The demands of the staff in such a campaign as that in South Africa are so enormous that the same process has necessarily been applied to fill it. The effect is that there are many regiments of which the nominal establishment is, say, twelve captains, which actually bear on their lists twentyfour, of whom twelve are thus “ seconded.” The whole subject is undoubtedly one that requires immediate attention. Since 1870 enormous reductions have been made in the numbers of the higher ranks of the army. Thus, excluding the Indian army, which had its own list in 1870, and the Indian Staff Corps, which as to officers was the corresponding body in 1901— The Generals have been reduced from 71 to 10. The Lieutenant-generals ,, 115 ,, 25. Major-generals ,, 188 ,, 74. At the same time the pay of all the higher appointments in the army has been greatly reduced. In the first place, the colonel-commandantships (worth per annum £1800 for a general from the Household cavalry, £2000 for a general from the Foot Guards, £1000 for infantry, £994 for the Artillery, and £990 for the Engineers) have all been abolished. These formerly were held in addition to the pay of the higher appointments. The actual pay of the higher appointments—commander-inchief, adjutant-general, quartermaster-general, governors of Woolwich and Sandhurst, &c.—have all been reduced by many hundreds a year each. It will be seen, therefore, that from the increase of the army contemporary with these reductions in the higher ranks, the transference of expenditure from the higher to the lower ranks has been large, and that, actuarially, from the great increase in the number of junior officers, the prospects held out to an officer
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of reaching the higher ranks have been greatly reduced. A royal warrant, which came into operation on 1st January 1901, still further reduced the higher ranks. From that date no promotion from major-general to lieutenant-general was to take place except as a reward for distinguished service in the field or to fill an actual appointment. As the number of appointments held by lieutenant-generals had been much reduced, this further reduced the number of lieutenant-generals to fourteen. It follows inevitably from the fact that officers, other than regimental officers, have not hitherto during peace time been employed in the positions which they will occupy in war, that they have not nearly all been trained in the specific duties of those positions. The staff is trained at the “ Staff College ” as far as that is possible without the discharge of the actual ° functions that have to be learnt. The number of officers that gain this functional training is very small. There is a great standing camp at Aldershot which normally in peace time has had the staff for one cavalry brigade, for three infantry brigades, and for one “ brigade division” of horse with two of field artillery, besides the standing staff of the district. These numbers have been usually increased during the drill season, partly by bringing in from other stations regular troops, and partly by the addition of large bodies of militia and volunteers. All branches of the service go through a regular course of regimental training each year. This is specially designed to give each company-commander of an infantry battalion, each squadron - commander of a cavalry regiment, the opportunity of working up his unit before the whole are brought together for work under the lieutenant-colonel commanding the battalion or regiment. The several battalions, regiments, batteries, companies, and squadrons are inspected by their commanding officers and by the generals under whom they are serving. There is also a special technical inspection for the Cavalry and Army Service Corps by the inspector-general of Cavalry, and for the Artillery by the generals of Artillery at Aldershot, Woolwich, and Portsmouth. Musketry instruction has of late years been given under the general superintendence of musketry instructors and the supreme regulation of the head of the school at Hythe, but in detail by the captains of companies. This has been a great improvement in the training of the officers themselves. The competition between battalion and battalion and between company and company has been keen. Between each rank, from subaltern to captain, from captain to major, up to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, an officer is required to pass an examination before a board of officers, who have to certify that he is fit for promotion. The examinations involve answers on paper and also the handling of troops on ground. As a rule, all the paper questions are only such as an officer might actually have to deal with when in command of troops. Thus the system of “training,” apart from special arms, has consisted rather in ascertaining that officers have trained themselves than in any very systematized method for giving them that training. The “ Staff College,” the “ Ordnance College,” each train special classes of officers. Officers on the staff are detailed for “ garrison instruction,” but in the main the training has depended on battalion commanders, the effect being afterwards tested. The training of men is mainly involved in and connected with that of the training of officers; but it is necessary to add that, in the recruit stage of late years, the most important change has been the large development of gymnastic instruction on a methodical system, devised for the development of the several parts of the body. The tendency has been S. I. — 8i
