TERRITORIAL ARMY. The end of the nineteenth cen tury saw a situation very similar to that at the end of the eight eenth century. The possibility of Great Britain's being engaged in a major war, and fear that an enemy would attempt an invasion of the British Isles. Like so many British institutions, the army grew with its own momentum, encouraged in differing degrees, its organization not proceeding with its growth. The Royal Com mission of 1904 laid stress on the fact that organization for war was almost non-existent, and concluded with the unanimous opinion that from these and other defects of education and train ing, the force was not qualified to take the field against the troops of a Continental army (Report of Royal Commission on the Militia and Volunteers, 1904, paragraphs 57, 58).
The military forces of the Crown in 1906 comprised the first line, or regular army; the second line was provided by the Militia; the third line consisted of the volunteers and yeomanry. The third line was separately organized from the other two, and owing to a disbelief in its value was given no permanent place in any scheme for using the available military resources of the nation in the event of war.
Such was the situation which faced Lord Haldane and his ad visers in 1907 ; how well the reorganization was done may be shown by the words written by Earl Haig on the fly-leaf of a copy of War Despatches given by him to Lord Haldane on Peace Day : "In grateful remembrance of his successful efforts in organizing our Military Forces for a war on the Continent." The reorganization of the Army of 1908 retained the regular army, reorganized into six Divisions and four cavalry brigades and the necessary army troops as the first line; changed the militia into the "special reserve" with the duty of finding and training drafts for the first line, the territorial force becoming the second line.
The Territorial Force was for home defence, but within itself contained a "special service section," men of which volun teered to occupy posts outside the United Kingdom vacated by the regular army, or to serve within the United Kingdom for purposes of defence whether the territorial force be embodied or not. The T.F. was organised on a county basis, and of neces
sity additional units were raised to complete the new arms or services, whilst redundant units, particularly infantry, were either disbanded or reconstituted into units of a different arm.
Before 1908, the universities and many public schools had volunteer corps attached to the local volunteer unit. These were transformed into an "officers' training corps" administered direct by the War Office, a far reaching change, as the World War proved.
Administration and Training of the territorial force were separated, officers commanding units being no longer personally responsible for the finances of their units. County territorial force associations for each county were formed under the presi dency of the Lord Lieutenant, consisting of representatives of the county and borough Councils, the territorial units of the county and certain co-opted members. The duty of these asso ciations was to raise and equip the men, provide accommodation, and generally relieve the units of all details and other responsibili ties outside training. The Under Secretary of State for War was given the direct responsibility for this side of the work, and a territorial directorate was established at the War Office under his direction. The training remained the responsibility of the military authorities.
The Fear of Invasion.—Six months of training were consid ered necessary after mobilization before the force could take the field overseas, and liability for service overseas was not insisted upon. The possibility of an invasion of the British Isles was always in the mind of the nation ; the functions of the territorial force were therefore to supply garrisons for naval and other fortresses ; to repel raids ; and, by voluntary agreement to furnish units for the expansion of the Expeditionary Force.