LOST LEGIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2966, 2 January 1917, Page 3

LOST LEGIONS

THE OLD ,ARMY DEATH AND RESURRECTION, ' "Tho British Army which loft our shores for France in the fateful August of tho year 1914 was one of tho most perfect instruments for battle of modern times," writes tho London "Times" military correspondent. It was under distinguished command. It was well staffed by/ trained officers. The infantry weie admirable in physique und training, as good in attack as in defence, and possessed of a body of regimental officers without their equals in the world, as well as non-

commissioned officers of exceptional merit. The cavalry were mobile, supple and dashing, at home in the saddle and on foot, and led by the 6ame brilliant young colonels and "brigadiers who had been instrumental in tho reorganisation of the arm during the years preceding the war. The artillery were , always the artillery, with their mixture of science

and conservatism, their professional character and their imperturbable, steadiness in battle. The engineers were ready to, become the stay and support of other!arms as they had always been, -while the medical, army service, and ordnance branches were very well manned and most proficient in their duties. Thanks to tho army reserve and the special reserve there stood behind this army enough men to maintain strengths for soino months, while the \ofh'cers training corps had the young men in. it to supply the wastage of thelower commissioned ranks. \'es, in its way and for its' numbers it was a, perfect thing apart, and'the noiseless rapidity with which it was carried across the Channel and concentrated in fighting trim, without a word of warning to the enemy, was a very remarkable feat. The British army of tho postCrimean war days was shaken lip and rejuvenated by the hard warfare of South Africa, but it Lad begun to reform itself ten years previously. Lord Wolseley. at home and Lord Roberts in India had set the example of professional effort, and all,that was best ia-tho corps of officers had sat at their foot and had profited by their teaching. Old traditions died hard, and in the late eighties our officers were still indulging in steady brigade and divisional drill in the dust of tho Long Valley, some in strapped overalls and Wellington boots, in choking tunics and absurd head drosses of all types. These steady drills and ceremonial parades were the tests by which officers were judged, and it was much too rarely that they were able to train yieir men in more useful work.

Tho cbange came when first squadron and then company training were introduced, giving tho same personal responsibility: to young officers' of cayalary and infantry that tho artillery had always enjoyed, i A great change camo over the army. Officers awoko to the fact

that they had something serious to do, and that i was -worth doing. Ascot and Goodwood; Sandown. and Aintree, the moors and the coverts, tho hunting'field and the ballroom, became no

longer the primary interests that they once seemed. All tho life of officers gradually changed. Expensivencsses were out of fashion, and with them went gambling and drink. Unconsciously officers becamo professionals, and the wholo tone of tho army changed. .They wont to tho Staff Col-, lege if could' got there, and for two years immersed themselves in

learning their business. Gradually and little i by little the professional spirit spread, and permeated not only the corps of officers, but tho. cadres and tho men. with, whose interests officers became identified, and whose life, work, and amusements they- shared. It .was a golden timo for tho body and the mind.

Nobody* in particular noticed that be-

tweeu 1878 and 1902 tlio British Army added to the Empire an area of territory equal to thati of folio 'United

States, 'but the British soldier naturally noticed it because he did it. In tho mountains' that girdle the Northwest Frontier, amidst the rocks of Afghanistan, through the swamps and forests of Burma and Africa) ou the veldt, in Egypt, and. in the deserts of the Soudan, an Empire was carved out by the old army in a quiot, unostentatious, but methodical sort of way. In these ware there was no great fighting in tlio modern sense, though there wero many warm corners, but tho experience gained by all ranks of men and things, the overcoming of inconceivable difficulties with small means', and the training of. new levies, produced a volume of experience and a. strength' of character whioh gave to the cadres of the army an exceptional value. . •

The path of Empire was paved with tho bones^of the fallen of the old army, but enough good men remained to assist, Lord Haldane between the years 1906 and 1912 in creating the "perfectj thing apart" which kept the flag flying with honour . in the present war whilo the new leves wero being raised, fashioned, trained, ajid eventually armed. Most Ministers and the public as a whole were utterly indifferent, if they were not secretly hostile, to the work, and they gave less money in a year to create this instru-ment-than they spend now in six days of.war.-_ Theintellectuals sheered and stood aside; not one statesman warned us of th'e.i.coming danger; we were held to be in Europe, but not of it; and a section of the Press called those who regarded Germany 'as a menace by every disrespeotful adjective in tho dictionary. The voter was taught to regard his material comfort as the only thing that mattered; the politicians one and all pandered to him., jSverybody refused to see-; but tho old army went oh gradually reforming itself, and through its cadres'preparing tKe Dominion troops and the Territorials—that once much-abused force—to be the invaluable support of the Regulars which this war has shown them to be.

The old army went as far as it could with sparse means amidst the profound indifference ■of Parliament and the country.' It wanted to graft national training upon the Territorial stock. The army believed in Lord Roberts, Lord Curzon, , and Lord' Milner when they preached national service, but both great parties in tile State stood nervelessly aide, and the- war engulfed us-before the best men of thoold army could achieve, the realisation of their aims. It was the deluge.' The old army wont out, fought gloriously, and died. Not- once, but many times, some of its units completely renewed, officers and other ranks: and the. hardest thing of all .was to find tho trained officers and the n.c.o.'s of the old army who had been far afield when tho war broke out. India, gave us many; every dug-out was in khaki. The bounded officers helped; and this flotsam and jetsam of the old army set about to inspire the new armies with the traditions, the manners, and customs, and the spirit of the old. They did wonders. They worked and slaved at the task. They had tho advantage of working on famous material. ■Every man of spirit joined up, and every class, profession and trade supplied its best. The old army died a glorious death, but its spirit survived in the (first hundred thousand, and in tho second, and tho third. In their

hundreds of thousands they filled up the depleted ranks of tho old regiments and created the new. From tho ashes of the old army their arose, Phoenix-like, these armies of to-day, the glory and tho panoply of the Empire.

Tho old_ army gavo tho note of in;enso regimental feeling which distin-

guishes tho pew troops. It trained these troops after its own fashion, implanted in them tho sense of discipline, a«d set them an example on the field of battle. It still has almost a monopoly of the higher commands and staffs, not because it has a different class of oflieer, but becauso of its greate>- experience. It is not difficult for civilians after two years o7~war to master trench warfare and tho control of troops up to the battalion at least. There are men now in command of battalions who joined as privates at the beginning of the war, and though promotions and appointments Lave necessarily _ caused some jealousies and heart-burnings, it cannot be said that merit lias not been recognised wherever found. But the leading and control of all tho great mass , of troops is still, and always will be, the business of professionals, wlho have brought to their work the Lard study of years, and are then not at a loss for expedients when difficulties arise 5 . The old army retains the command of the new because it deserves it, and for no other reason, but as the war goes on we shall see the civilian of August, 1914, in high places, and it is from the ranks mainly that officers are now drawn.

The old array was a caste. The' new army is tlio nation. What sura of toil, * sacrifice, and devotion the old army lias given in this war, and what splendid returns it lias obtained, the records of the deeds of theso armies, old and new, prove to us every day. There is onTy one army now. It is lard to distinguish, in the field an old regiment from a new. The training has gone on behind our lines concurrently with the fighting, and the general tendency has been' to bring -'standards of efficiency lo a common level. If, in some respects, the standard has been lowered, in other respects it has been raised, and best of all is the fact that the spirit of. the fighters has never wavered, andi that the cheeriness, invincible good humour and determination to succeed vwhich were H?ho hallmark of the old army have been preserved amidst tho changes of the war. A sublime confidence- in themselves distinguishes our armies, and while tho morale of tho enemy is still respectable as a rule, that of our armies is decidedly superior. Wo we beating the enemy in all elements, with bayonet and rifle, bomb and bullet, -with guns and mortars, with machine-guns and gas, in the air and under the ground, and we are showing the most stubborn and powerful enemy that we have over encountered what it costs to have England 'and her Dominions for an enemy.

If tho instrument is the nation in arms tho workman is the old army which created the new, watched" over its birth, endowed it with ita spirit, and still presides over its fortunes. In the old' manner of Chatham, while turning tho balance of the. Continental war to our side- by helping our Allies and striking hard in Europe, we have not been ■unmindful of our Oceanic Empire, and, the million square miles of tho Gorman empiro is a thing of the past. Tho legions which set out for France havo vanished silently and arc a memory now, but their soul remains, and will remain for ever, in the great national army of tho Empire which will ever adorn tho present generation, and tho history of our times with, an aureole .of glory imsurpassaiblo in brilliance even by legendary P.ome.