British Army's Vital Part In Western Union Defence

Chronicle (Levin), 11 March 1949, Page 5

British Army's Vital Part In Western Union Defence

(N.Z.P.A.-

—Reuter,

Copy right)

Received Friday, 10.35 a.m. LONDON, March 10. "It will be a vital part of British Army p'lanning and an equally vital part of British resources to fill its allotted role in the Western Union defence, both in the provision of equipment and in the arrangements for concerted emergency fiction, " stated. the Minister of War, Mr. E. Shinwell, in submitting the Army Estimates in the House of Commons today. He added: "The needs of member nations are so urgent that it may be necessary to draw substantially on our owri reserves." :

Mr. Shinwell said that the most yaluable contribution to the Western Union was the provision of the most up-to-date equipment for the British forces, and by pushing on research and development to ensure the Western Union forces every advantage of modern science and production. In the present disturbed conditions no lesseninp- of commitments could be assumed, continued the Minister, and he comd not foresee any substantial reduction in the demands the Army would have to make on the country's manpower. He said: "Should mobilisation be necessary now or at any time in the immediate future, we shall have available a substantial number of men who served in the war and who are now on the reserve. Later, when national servicemen pass into the Territorial Army, we will have reserves of well over 500,000 always available and trained and up-to-date." Replying to criticism of the ajleged lack of divisions in the Army, Mr. Shinweli said: "If the sole task of the Army was to organise itself now as an expeditionary force in divisions, I can assure the House that mathematics would produce the right answer, and that the necessary equipment is, by and large,

available to arm the manpower in that organisation — and a good deal more. If there is an emergency, the organis,ation is there to pour into the existing moulds the reserves available. Provided we can proceed with the plans, I see no reason for alarm; "We have no sinister designs or .thdughts of aggression. On the contrary, we beueve the country can prosper best in the framework of peace and friendship with all nations, but we cause no threat to others if we remain determined to pursue our own way of life and are resolved to employ the means to retain it." .Brigadier A. H. Head said that if the national service method of forming the Army continued indefinitely, Britain would have a thoroughly bad Army at a very high price. The s^stem of calling up everybody meant taking on more national servicemen than were needed. The defence of Europe would be settled in the event of war in the first few months. The Army Britain was now designing could never be up to a very high standard. He urged the stimulatiolb of voluntary recruiting by an overall increase of 25 per cent on the 1946 pay code and suggested that the ceiling of the Regular Army should be 300,000.