The Southland Times SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1942. Younger Armies?

Southland Times, Issue 24877, 17 October 1942, Page 4

The Southland Times SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1942. Younger Armies?

STATEMENTS on the expansion of the United States Army were printed yesterday in a cable message from Washington. The Secretary of War, Mr H. L. Stimson, quoted impressive figures, and went on to emphasize the importance of lowering the draft age to 18 years. “All the major wars in which the United States has been engaged in the past,” he said, ‘‘have been carried through by men under 20 years. The fact is that they are better soldiers, and never in history have we so much needed exceptional soldiers.” All the experts agree that this is a young man’s war, although opinions vary on the effectiveness of the different age groups. British and Dominion officers who have seen service in the Middle East are inclined to agree that men between the middle twenties and the middle thirties stand up most successfully to the strains of modern battle. They are not likely to support the American view that the hardest fighting can be done by very young men, and in British countries there is a general reluctance to send youths under 21 into the battle zone. But British opinion should be in close agreement with American opinion on the military value of older troops. Mr Stimson declared that “the army was getting too old, with too large a percentage of men over 40 years who ought not to do the kind of fighting American armies are doing now.” The same point was made by the Chief of the General Staff, General George C. Marshall, who said that “the average age of the combat army had risen to a point unacceptable to the War Department.” He added that he was “investigating the possibility of releasing older draftees from the army after drafting the younger men.” It is to be hoped that these statements will be brought to the notice of official circles in New Zealand. The decision to call up men up to 45 years of age was not followed by any public discussion; but everybody knows that it has been widely discussed in private. There is, of course, a distinction between overseas and home defence. Men over 41 are not to be sent out of the country. Indeed, when the Minister of the Armed Forces and War Co-ordination made his statement on August 27 he explained that “the effect will be to create a pool of man-power which can be called upon as required from time to time, whether for the armed forces or for industry.” Up to the present, however, the reservists have been drafted exclusively into the Army, and there is no sign that the process is to be checked. A Changing Situation

Many persons are beginning to ask if the point has not been reached where the use of man-power should be related more closely to the total needs of the country. New Zealand is not fighting this war alone. Her contribution, proportionate to population, is certainly as great as that of any other country in the British Commonwealth, and is greater than most. This effort has to be supported by a dwindling civil population. The question must be faced, sooner or later, whether it is better to turn older men into second-rate soldiers, or to leave them where their skill and experience can be of greater service to the community. If New Zealand were faced with the grave dangers that threatened in the early months of this year there would be only one course to follow, although even then it could be pointed out that many thousands of men over 40 have had a Home Guard training which fits them to bear arms in an emergency. The problem has been obscured, to a certain extent, by the general desire to reach an equality of sacrifice. Men who are working strenuously as members of depleted staffs, and on top of that are devoting their Sundays to the Home Guard, have some reason to feel that they are playing their part in the country’s war effort. Labour difficulties are increasing in every trade and industry. If older men, who cannot be expected to train on equal terms with their juniors, are drafted into the Army, the national economy will be progressively weakened, and the loss in productiveness will not be offset by an increase in fighting efficiency. In America the official opinion is that an army’s efficiency is impaired by a rise in the average age. If that is true of America it should be equally true of New Zealand. And if the emphasis is placed on numerical strength it should be pointed out that the largest force this Dominion could place in the field must remain very small in comparison with modern armies. A smaller, fully trained army will always be more valuable than, a larger force diluted with a personnel that cannot keep pace with younger men in the rigorous training needed for present-day warfare. If that army is supported by a civil population which includes thousands of men who are Home Guardsmen as well as workers the country will have preparedness without economic disruption. This view of the situation leads to a question which deserves expert attention. Are the older men, who in any case will remain in the country, more useful as full-time soldiers or as workers, taxpayers and Guardsmen? The answer must depend on the adequacy of the Home Guard as part of the Dominion’s defence system. If the recommendations of the War Council Committee are carried out the Home Guard will be placed on a Territorial basis —except that, unlike the Territorial Army, it will not be mobilized for full time service. Recent call-ups have already depleted the Home Guard, and further ballots must weaken its efficiency. The question, therefore, is whether the time has come to consider the position of older reservists —not as men who should be exempt from service, but as men who might serve best partly in a civilian and partly in a military capacity. Nothing must be done to weaken the country’s defences. If the War Cabinet is convinced that older men are needed in the Army the present system should remain unaltered. But there is at least a case for reviewing the man-power situation more thoroughly and realistically than has yet been done.