UNREADINESS FOR WAR
CONDITION OF OUR REGULAR ARMY. | .In The Times of 18th December appeared a lengthy letter from Lord ■Roberts, headed "Unreadiness for War," in which the Field Marshal said:— "What is the condition of our regular army? 1 have no hesitation in saying that, in many most important respects, the .regular army is not fitted for war. Our rifle is very inferior to the rule with which the French and German troops are armed. It is proposed to provide a new bullet for it, but even with that bullet our men will be at a disadvantage. The point blank range of the French and German rifles is 800 yards, that of the British rifle at the highest is 600 3 T ards. The equipment of our artillery is scarcely more satisfactory. ] Our fuse and fuse-setters are not up to date ; our sights are not up to date; with the result tliat our gun is not an automatic firing gun. Again, in aviation we are behind other nations. That science is in its infancy, but it'll as already proved of the utmost ser-! vice in detecting the movements of an enemy, and thus in eliminating ito a great extent m military operations tha uncertainty which we are accustomed to call 'the fog of war.' Franco and Germany have recognised the supreme importance of the com maud of the air. The former already possesses a fleet of 200 aeroplanes. Germany proposes to spend this next year one and a half millions on aviation alone. In England there are only four aeroplanes fit to take the field; The Army Council has not even entrusted this most important military subject to the General Staff, and Lord Haldane and his associates assure us suavely that if we wait we shall profit by the success or failure of others, and eventually obtain information as to the best design- for a dirigible or an aeroplane. This assuredly is not the line of policy for.' a country famous' beyond all others I for its invention and enterprise, whe-J ther in peace or war. We may wait,' tout war will not wait. The idea is absurd';;* .it is of a 'with the other, unaccountable idea of.the Secretary.of State for Wa»r—that'it will.;be time enough to begin serious training- when war has been declared!
' 'This bring® me to the Territorial Force itself, and upon that subject I confess I find it difficult to write temperately. Under the- conditions of modern warfare two things are essential for a soldier; tie must have discipline, and he must be' able to shoot with' precision whether with rifle, or cannon., How is the ordinary citizen to acquire either this discipline or this skill, from a. few afternoons in the drill; hall and a.fartnigjht at the outcamp vear? The thing is 7* impossible;; the absurdity is so glaring that it is difficult for any man who cares for the safety and honour of, -;his nation and Empire to write of it with patience.,.
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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10546, 31 January 1912, Page 7
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499UNREADINESS FOR WAR Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10546, 31 January 1912, Page 7
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