BRITAIN’S ARMY,

Taranaki Daily News, 17 March 1921, Page 5

BRITAIN’S ARMY,

FORCE OF SIX DIVISIONS. NO USE FOR CAVALRY, NEW TYPE OF TANKS INSTEAD. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright * Received March 16, 5.5 p.m. London, March 15. In the House of Commons, Sir L. Worthington Evans (Secretary for War), introducing the Army Estimates, said the War Office was aiming to have an expeditionary force of six divisions, in. eluding fast and powerful tanks, which would be a substitute for cavalry, and several cavalry and yeomanry regiments would accordingly be disbanded. New and light tanks were being developed to assist the infantry. There would be fourteen companies of armored cars, each consisting of twelve cars. General Townshend appealed to the Government to withdraw its enormous force from Mesopotamia, which was a ghastly strategical blunder. We ought to hold Mesopotamia with one division. He had recently discussed tanks with Generals Mangin, Gouraud, and Castelnau, and all thought the day of tanks had passed. The Germans, at the end of the war, found an antidote by spreading mines in the path of a tank’s advance. Several members protested against the disbandment of historic regiments, including the 21st Lancers, heroes of the charge at Omdurman. The vote was passed.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.