"THE CREAM OF THE ARMY."

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17419, 1 April 1922, Page 3

"THE CREAM OF THE ARMY."

(from our own correspondent.) LONDON, February 17. Earl Haig, in unveiling a war memorial at Camberley, to graduates oi: the Staff College, said: "1 can leave others to discuss British generalship, but I am entitled to speak of the work of the Staff that served mo in France, and I say, with profound conviction, that from start to finish th© trained British st.ff officer proved equal to his task, and that at the end of tlio war mid for many long months before it ended we had in France as lino and as efficient a staff, both general and administrative, as could be sl.iown oy any army in the field, whatever a nation may dc, it is a mistake to imagine that any army can muddle through a great war and* reach victory at the end against an efficient and highly-trained enemy. The handicap we started with from the sinallnoss of our imlitary forces could never have- been ovortakon if the pre-war training of our Ifcegnlar Army, tlio military education of it» officers, and its system of organisation and command had not bean all on Uh.o right lines. It is no small consolation to feel and know that the work done in those old pre-war days has been .amply vindicated. Let those who write ignorantly of the safe and easy life of tha Regular staff officer come and study this memorial, and remember that this is not the full talo of officers who held staff appointments and gave their livea in the war, but only the heavy deathroll of that comparatively small body >( men whose ability and interest in their profession brought them to this College. One sees here in the terribly Ion"; column for\lll 14 part of the price paid for our national unpreparedness. These men were the cream of the Army, tho, pattern, example, and inspiration not only of tho Ke<jul»r Army aJonc, but of the great citizen army we built lip during the war. Nearly sixty fell in 1914, men who could ill be spared, vilhose death in those early days cost tho lives of numbers who cannot he reckoned of the brave but inexperienced civilians who came out half-trained to take their place. Wo cannot lexpeet—our national character and national circumstances being what they are—that tho experience of the war will result in the maintenance of a . numerically moro powerful Army, but at least there is room and opportunity to apply the lesson of the extreme value of sound staff training. Tho Staff College, Camberley, has come through the first great war with high honours and new and splendid traditions. No prouder list than this is to be found in any place in the Empire. I have unveiled tliis memorial to old comrades and gallant gentlemen with great feelings of pride and thankfulness, in the hope that their memory will bo an example and an inspiration to all succeeding generations who tread in their footsteps in this College to the greater glory of the British Army!"