COMPARABLE WITH COMMANDOS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 292, 8 September 1942, Page 5

COMPARABLE WITH COMMANDOS

Average Infantrymen Of British Army MODERNIZED TRAINING (British Official Wireless.) (Received September 7, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, September 6. A description of the training in the British Army, correcting several mistaken impressions, has been issued by the War Office. Both those who place all emphasis on the training which is given to the Special Service Corps—the men who form the commandos—aud those who insist that “commando training” is now general throughout the army are said to be wrong. The first view is mistaken because there is as much to be said about the training of any infantry as about that ■ of the commandos. The second view is. wrong because the commands training is specially designed for men with a particular job to do, and therefore is not general. What is sure is that every unit of the field army today has intensive. and ruthless training in the most realistic, warlike conditions. In its ruggedness, m its call ou a man’s powers of endurance, the training of the average infantryman is comparable with that of the commando. Today this grim, searching training is conducted on a very large scale. All field units of. infantry, privates and senior officers alike, are passed through the new battle-training schools, which are now established on the basis of one to every infantry division. Two particular advantages come from this system: First, the initiative of all the troops is developed to the uttermost; and secondly, in the holding of largescale exercises in which a whole army corps co-operates, every man is taught the part which he will be called on to play during battle. Invasion Practices. These exercises are full-length affairs; they last several days, and they reproduce accurately the conditions in which, modern war is wagrtl. Tanks support infantry divisions, and and glider troops edme into play, and bombers, army co-operation squadrons, aud units of the Royal Navy take part. An aggressive spirit is fostered, and the troops are toughened by the invasion practices such as cliff-scaling, rockclimbing, swimming rivers in full • kit, aud marching set distances at top speed. Infantrymen show themselves at home with British and foreign maps; they have to destroy anti-tank mines and barbed wire, and master the arts of .assault, street-fighting, aircraft recognition, and camouflage detection. They double round a course bayoneting and firing at dummies hidden behind trees and bushes. Such displays of aggressiveness are often staged in realistic conditions. with live shells, grenades, and ammunition. The rigorous training Of the infantry differs from that which is undergone by the men of the special service units, but the way in which the men stood up to the ordeal at Dieppe shoulder to shoulder with the commando troops shows that the severity of the training is equal. Both seek to turn out men who will not falter or quail however perilous their task.