AUSTRALIA, CANADA, SOUTH AFRICA and NEW ZEALAND. Also NEWFOUNDLAND (no military force).
The government of the British army is vested in the Crown. The command is placed in the hands of the army council, who also administer the regular forces. The territorial army is administered by county associations, excepting when in training camps or on actual military service. The war office includes (a) the army council; (b) departments; (c) the selection board for selection of officers for promotion to lieuten ant-colonel and higher ranks; and (d) the judge-advocate general's office. The army council includes the chief of the imperial general staff, adjutant-general, quartermaster-general, master-general of the ordnance and financial secretary, with the secretary of State for war as president, parliamentary under secretary of State as vice-president and permanent under-secretary of State as secretary.
The British regular army at home is distrib uted in 6 commands (Aldershot, Eastern, Northern, Southern, Western and Scottish) and 4 District commands (London, Guernsey and Alderney, Jersey and Northern Ireland) . The general distribution of the units in the three principal arms in the field army, including Household Cavalry and Foot Guards, is shown below:— Cavalry Artillery Infantry (Regiments) (Batteries) (Battalions) At Home . 13 127 66 Colonies, etc. . . . .. 17 9 Rhine I 4 7 Egypt and Sudan 3 6 8 India . 5 65 45 The Territorial Army units are distributed over the military commands and districts, one or two divisions in each.
An Imperial Defence College has recently been established in London for senior officers of all three services. The Army educational establishments, the Royal Mili tary academy, Woolwich, for artillery, engineer and signal corps cadets ; the Royal Military college at Sandhurst for cadets for cavalry, infantry and the other arms ; the Staff college at Camber ley for the staff, and the senior officers' school at Sheerness for senior regimental officers; the school of equitation at Weedon; artillery riding establishment at Woolwich; school of artillery at Larkhill; coast artillery school at Shoeburyness ; school of mili tary engineering at Chatham; of electric lighting at Stokes Bay on the Solent; anti-aircraft defence school at Biggin Hill, Kent; school of signals at Catterick; Royal Tank corps central schools at Wool, Dorset; small arms school at Hythe; anti-gas school at Porton, near Salisbury; Royal Army Service Corps training college at Aldershot; Royal Army Ordnance Corps school of instruction at Hilsea, near Portsmouth; Royal Army Veterinary school, school of farriery, and physical training school, all at Aldershot; Royal Military school of music at Kneller Hall; boys' technical school at Beachley; Royal Military school for soldiers' sons at Chelsea; and the Queen Victoria school. Courses at these establishments vary in duration. The course for cadets at Wool wich and Sandhurst now last for about eighteen months. Those for the engineers then go to Cambridge, those for the artillery to Larkhill for further training. The course at the staff college at Camberley for staff officers lasts for two years. (See further OFFICERS and TRAINING CORPS, OFFICERS') Special Armament and Training Doctrine.—While the armies of continental military states can be trained for some pre determined task, in country of which every detail is known, the British army may be called upon to fight against many types of opponent over different terrain in most quarters of the globe. For this reason there is a need for elasticity, both in training and in armament. This elasticity is reflected in the various training manuals which lay down general principles for guidance, rather than rigid instructions. Generally speaking, the principal new di rection in which special armament and training is being directed is towards the employment in the field of "armoured forces." These have been rendered possible by the invention of the internal-combustion engine, and of caterpillar-track, semi-track and six-wheeled vehicles capable of cross-country movement, and of weapons capable of developing rapid-fire power while provid ing bullet-proof cover for the personnel. For purposes of experi ment, a force containing such "armoured fighting vehicles" and others, such as artillery tractors, or dragons, and cross-country lorries for infantry which provide no cover from bullets, has been assembled at Tidworth on Salisbury Plain. The main lesson learned in the training season of 1927 was that "a division of all arms of the old type could be rendered incapable of movement in proximity to a hostile armoured force in open country, over which such a force can manoeuvre." The trend of new development is in the direction of standardizing armoured fighting vehicles, of pro viding a mobile anti-tank weapon for all arms, including artillery, of practice in firing from vehicles in movement, of providing spe cial anti-aircraft artillery, and of changing a proportion of cavalry regiments into armoured-car units, a plan previously adopted with yeomanry.
Great Britain contains no land fortresses. Portsmouth, Ply mouth, Chatham and Rosyth in the Forth are provided with fixed defences, as, on a smaller scale, are certain other harbours and some of the mercantile ports. "Army co-operation squadrons" are attached to army formations by the Royal Air Force, an inde pendent body.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Bibliography. Statistics of the Military Effort of the British Empire—Ipr4-2o (War Office, March 1922) General Annual Report on the British Army 1928. (H.M. Stationery Office Cmd. 3030. 1928) . Army Estimates for 1928 (Do. Cmd. 3036 etc.) . League of Nations Armaments Year Book (Geneva 1928) .
G. A.)
