BRITAIN'S NEW ARMY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2290, 26 October 1914, Page 7

BRITAIN'S NEW ARMY

RAPID PROGRESS IN TRAINING

A COLOSSAL UNDERTAKING

HUT BARRACKS FOR THE WINTER,

Two features ' stand out with great, prominence in connection with the raising and training of the units of Earl Kitchener's New Army, writes a correspondent of the "Morning Post," under date of September 18. One is tho rapidity with which the recruits ; pick up their drill and duties, and the other the astonishing adaptability of the various military departments in. coping with the extraordinary pressure caused by the sudden oreation or vast bodies of troops of all branches of the Army. When it is considered that the established strength of the Army has been already nlore than twice duplicated by tho raising in three weeks of the first half million of the New Army and that a second half million is being recruited at the, rat© of twenty thousand or more a ; day, the magnitude of the task imposed on the administrative branohes sf .the Army will be realised. Barrack Accommodation. Th 6 total barrack accommodation for troops in the United Kingdom at the outbreak of ; war was roughly estimated at one hundred and seventy thousand. One hundred thousand troops were occupying these barracks iin . times of peace, and with the calling up of 'the Reserves on the declaration of war, one hundred and fifty thousand more had to bo found room for. Then came the -departure of > the ' Expeditionary Force aud the raising of the first half million of the New Array,, and the, problems which confronted the Ordnance, Supply and Barrack Departments were at once Urgent, intricate, and colossal. Good 'sense, determination, and! sound organisation have supplied the key to all thesrf problems, and tho vast army is being fed, clothed, equipped, and housed with a suprising- absence of real hardship. Every available building in the barracks has been devoted to sleeping accommodation. The existing accom- • modation of barrack-rooms has been idoubled by. the simple expedient of with-, drawing the iron bedsteads and laying the mattresses on the floor as close a* possible. Garrison schools have been closed and married quarters taken over, which in the case of one centre alone gives barracks accommodation for twenty thousand more troops. , . Huge encampments have sprung up all, over the Kingdom, and a]s the wea- ] ther gets bad the troops, occupying ' these will be sheltered, in ranges of hut now in course of erection. m 'various training centres. By the early part of November the larger part of these new barracks will be ready for occupation, and if in the meantime the weather proves too bad for camping to he continued the troops_under'canvas will ,be moved at once into .billets,in . tho towns and villages nearest to their training centres. Problems of Supply. ■ So much for the accommodation problem. With regard to tie problems of supply the departments concerned are tackling their difficulties in a very practical manner. Food is the first consideration, and there has not been any shortage so. far as the training centres are concerned, there being a full and varied supply forthcoming, in spite of the sudden influx of thousands of recruits from day to day. Some of N the difficulties of supplying Tations can be realised from the fact that the strength of one command Las been increasing by 25,000 a week and now: stands at well over the hundred thousand, in spite of the- dispatch of many thousands to the Continent. It is anticipated that there .will be a garrison of 150,000 troops in 'Aldershot in a few days' time, and that this number will be maintained so long is the war lasts.• The task of clothing and equipping lihe.se great numbers has been a very severe tax on the resources of the Ordnance Department, but now that supplies of uniforms and boots are arriving from new sources in ever-increasing quantities the .difficulties experienced at'first are disappearing. Training the Troops. . With regard to the training of the New Army the work i 6 progressing with amazing rapidity and success in tho face of many apparently insurmount. able difficulties. Tho shortage of offio- < era and experienced non-commissioned ~ officers has been a great handicap to commanding officors entrusted with the task of training the new units, but this i lias been got over, and the new battalions are taking creditable shape and already showing a very good standard of efficiency. Each of the new service battalions of the New Army is organising and training side by side with ita extra battalions, so that when the time comes for the dispatch of another Expeditionary Force the battalions will leave behind complete units of their own, which will go on training and organising fresh units. Thanks to the fact that in the forces now raised and under training there is a very good percentage of ex-soldiers, ox-Volunteers, and ex-Territorials, the second Expeditionary Force for tho Continent will- bo ready for active service long before tho scheduled period. Musketry practice ia what they mostly require, and that is being given now day by day. In the meantimo there are still available a good reserve of Regulars at home iipim which to draw to maintain, at full strength the forces at the front, while all over the country are thousandsupon thousands of Territorials who have reached a very high standard of efficiency breaking their hearts to. be sent into the fighting line. That the authorities intend to maintain the splendid British cavaJiy at full strength ait the front i 6 shown hy the instructions given to raise the" strength of each of tho reserve regiments of cavalry at home to one thousand sabres, and there are fifteen of these regiments at the present time, while each of the Yeomanry regiments -have been directed to raTSe a dupScato regiment Co talie their plates in ca6e of their being ordered away on foreign or active service.