NEW ZEALAND ARMY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 221, 12 June 1919, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND ARMY

THE TERRITORIAL FORCE IN WAR

VALUE OF PREPAREDNESS (By A.D.Q.M.) A revival of interest in the work of the Territorial.; and Cadets is taking place at the present time. The home forces necessarily were overshadowed by the Expeditionary Force during the war, and in many respects the training system suffered. A majority of the keenest officers and non-commissioned officers of the Territorials and Cadets were taken for service abroad, and this drain continued from 19U until the end of 191 S. But the defence system, as laid down in the Defence Act, 1909, was maintained during the difficult years, and the results that -were attained are worthy of attention. When the war began in August, 1914, the defence system had been in operation for three years. It had been estimated that seven years would be necessarv for its complote* development, so the scheme had not reached the point of maximum effectiveness. Some 29,000 Territorials and 30,000 Cadets were undergoing training and had reached various stage's of military instruction. The organisation and administrative arrangements had reached a higher degree or efficiency than tho training, and it was tho existence of this organisation that made possible the rapid mobilisation of effective forces. Tlio Samoan Expeditionary Force, well equipped in every respect and drawn almost entirely from the Territorials, left Wellington on August 15, eleven days after the outbreak of war, and the Main Body left on .October 15, a little more than two months after the declaration of war. The total strength of these two forces was, roughly, 0900 men, the equivalent of over 400,000 men for a country with the Great Britain. Tho prompt dispatch "of these, forces would have been impossible without pre-war organisation. The value of this organisation was proved, in the opinion of military experts, at every stage of the war. The Territorial ami Cadet Forces supplied officers, non-commissioned officers, nnd instructors, as well as thousands of men, for the two main bodies and for the early reinforcements. But New Zealand, after tho first big effort, was not embarrassed, as some other countries were, by shortage of trained personnel for the camps. Reinforcement camps were established and the necessary officers and instructors were drawn from the pre-war organisation. Tf tho Defence Force had been less efficient in 1914, many months would have elapsed before a reinforcement could have left New Zealand, oven if the Main Bodies had been able to get away. The Second lieinfnrcement actually left, on December U, 1914, and there was no break in the continuity of rcinforcemeut right to the end of the war. The strain nlaced upon the Territorial and Cadet; -Forces was very great. Not only .were these forces called upon to supply largo juimbeia of officers and other ranks for service abroad, but they were drained of many other trained, officers and nipn i'or duty as instructors in the training camps, A large proportion of the original 29.000 Territorials was rapidly absorbed into the Expeditionary Force, including a. majority of the m'ost efficient officers and n.c.o.'s. At the same limu rifles and other equipment wore taken from tho home units_ for thn Expeditionary Force! The training, in these circumstances, was carried on under conditions of exceptional difficulty. During tho war the Territorial Force provided not fewer than 1500 officers anil 40,000 othenraiiks i'or the Expeditionary Force. "" • Tlio Territorial Force, however, maintained an average strength of about 27,000 iiiMi in each year of the war, notwithstanding the fact that between 80(10 and 10,00(1 members joined the Expeditionary I'oreo annually. Tho vacancies in tho Territorial Force were filled from the. Cadet Force. The Cadets maintained a strength of roughly 30,000, their ranks being filled by the kids who attained tho ago of fourteen years and so came withib tho scope of the training scheme. Tho difficulties under which the training was carried on ran be illustrated by one fact— the number of serviceable i'illes in pos. session of tlio Territorial Force, with a total strength of 30,000, had been undet Hi per cent. ,, of 'the nominal roll, while the Cadet Force was practically without rifles throughout the war. A similar condition applied to much instructional equipment, while many units depleted of their original officers and n.c.o.'s had to train new ones during this period of abnormal effort. The fact that the system stood the strain is good evidence that its foundations wore sound. Tho present position is that New Zealand has not only sent abroad during the war (V isJ.'gor proportion of its men than any other Dominion or colony, but it l.as in addition maintained its normal defence system, a feat not accomplished by any other portion of the Empire or any nation. The advantages that now accrue are great. Each year over 8000 youths attain Territorial ago and aro passed from tin. Cadet Force to the Territorial Force. A similar number of lads attain Cadot age and commence their training. During the four years of the war somo 27,001) Cadets joined the Territorial Force, many of them subsequently serving at the front, while over 32,000 youths joined the Cadet Force and received training. Some other countries' abandoned thier normal SJTenco systems at the beginning of the war and arc now finding their mistake. Had New Zealand discontinued the train--ing of its Cadet and Territorial.. Forces it would now be confronted with the problem of arranging for the. training of between 50,000 and 00,000 youths and men, raw, and inexperienced, whereas the actual position is that the majority of these citizen soldiers are receiving training ami progressing/towards military efficiency. A lesson of the war, ns stated by high military authorities, is that preparation in times of peace is essential to efficiency in timo of wav. The Americans were tho most unprepared' of all the nations. They should nave been ready, on <the New Zealand standard, to send overseas well over a million men before tho end of 1917. but they fell very far short of that standard, chiefly because they 'had to create an organisation before they could build their armies. No nation can reckon safely on having timo to do this after the war has begun. The future lines of development of Now Zealand's defence system have still to lw laid down officially, but military opinion undoubtedly is strongly in favour of the maintenance of the principles laid down in the Defence Act of 1909.