Our Army To-morrow The Future of the British Army. The

Problem of its Duties, Cost and Composition. By Bt. Major B. C. Dening, M.C., R.E. (Witherby. 10s. 6d.) On Future Warfare. By Colonel J. F. C. Fuller, C.B.E., D.S.O. (Sifton Praed. 12s. 6d.) On Future Warfare. By Colonel J. F. C. Fuller, C.B.E., D.S.O. (Sifton Praed. 12s. 6d.) MAJOR DENING, a contributor to these columns, writes with such an admirable lucidity that anybody can follow his argument. And the educated public should understand in what way development of the British Army is trending. Major Dening, who in 1924 won the Bertrand Stewart Prize for the best essay (reproduced here as a chapter) on the Com. position of an Ideal Modern Army Corps, holds that " the British Army is now probably ahead of that 'of any other

nation in its knowledge of the possibilities of mechanization." He advocates the extension of this, from experimental installa- tion to general, for three-fourths of the entire forces-106 battalions out of 136, 14 out of 18 field artillery brigades, and 14 out of 20 cavalry regiments. The residue is to be retained for service in regions where the mechanized forces would be unsuitable and where probable wars are against an imperfectly equipped enemy.

Thus there would be two types in the Army ; and the older would be of little of no value as an auxiliary to the newer, just as obsolete vessels only hamper a modern fleet. Un.: mechanized forces are to be retained for considerations special to an Empire which is widely scattered and diversified: But

for such service as the British Army did in Europe during the late War, only the new type is recommended by this expert.

The essential feature of the new type is that all com- batants shall- advance under protection adequate against rifle fire. Modern battlefields have been dominated, not by gas, nor by artillery, but by the aimed bullet. Against the con-

cealed rifleman—still more against the concealed machine gun:— the advance of unarmoured men is paralysed, almost irre- spective of their numbers. We are to have an Army whOse striking force will be tanks. Units to occupy and " mop up ".

the ground won will follow in protected " carriers." The number of combatants will be greatly lessened, and can be because the wastage from woundsi-or-from mere fatigue, wilt

be greatly reduced. In short, except for the necessity to hold the ground overrun, a modern army will operate much more

like a modern fleet than like one of the crawling hordes which swarmed over Europe ten years ago.

Owing to the reduction in numbers, since men arc dearer than material to maintain and to replace, there will be, on Major Denirig's estimate, some saving annually ; but the capital cost of re-equipment would be high. Let us hope that, if, war is contemplated, war will be contemplated on these lines. The ramming of masses of men unprotected into fire-swept zones was brutally unscientific. Above all, such wastefulness was criminal in the British Army of long-service men, few in numbers but carefully trained, who ought to have been more fully equipped and most carefully husbanded. NoW that protection is available there is no excuse for not pui- chasing it for the small body of men we hire and train.

But what will be the sequel ? If the British Army, in its new role of pioneer, leads the way by becoming armour-elact, how. long will possible antagonists leave us that advantage 7 We know roughly the sort of figures that a modern fleet rune up in costs. Armies equipped to depend on machinery will bankrupt Europe. Once the machine replaces man as' the Main thing, we are done, because finality has been reached in Mau, whereas every month a new machine will make the old one obsolete. This may indeed proye to be the reductio ad absurdum of war between civilized Powers.

But while war has to be contemplated, the Army should by all means, be encouraged in developing this new rationalism which will consider not only how to teach a man to kill but how to avoid being killed. In 1914-18 infantry attack was like a swordsman who could only thrust and -never parry. Also, from the moment it is realized that soldiers are the crew of machines, it is possible that there may be some abatement of the concentration on buttons, sloping arms by numbers, and parade-ground manoeuvres, which in decorative effect and archaeological interest rival the busby, and have the same

degree of value for modern war._ - - -

In discussing Colonel Fuller's arresting essays, we must disburden our mind from a number of hopes and prejudices; Among the hopes we would place the thought (ion of a Wish) that wars may cease: If international security be achieved through the agency of the League of-Nations, as we devoutly pray, then considerations as to their future conduct of was

would obviously be absurd. That time is not yet, however, and may never be, for while mankind is certainly not likely to tolerate slaughter on the scale of the last conflict, Colonel Fuller makes out a very reasonable ease for a different and more humane (but not more Christian) warfare.

It is in contemplating these possible future wars that we must rid ourselves of most of the ideas we have acquired about strategy and tactics, if we are to follow the author. Military history, he tells us, goes in cycles. Until 400 A.D. we had the big citizen army ; then armour was invented and the cavalry cycle of Genghiz came on the scene. This lasted until 1400 A.D., when gunpowder introduced the great infantry epoch which has lasted to the present day. Now petrol has made new armour possible and the artillery or mechanical cycle is about to dawn. Armies will be smaller, and more expert and professional ; slaughter will be less—brains will score one more victory over brawn. • , The time of the tank is at hand, with aeroplanes as its cavalry. Both tanks and cavalry will rely on gas more than high explosives. Here Colonel Fuller very rightly shocks us into considering whether our dislike of gas is not mere conser- vative stupidity. If fighting there must be, are not some forms of gas more merciful than blowing men to bits ? Gas, as a matter of statistics, has an infinitely lower percentage of killed to disabled than any other lethal weapon. In future war, moreover, the author suggests that the last thing we shall want to do is to kill our enemies. That would not only be crude, but highly uneconomic ; the real object is to frighten them into submission. If, in 1914, we could have somehow imposed our will on five million Germans, would not that have been better (even in the most basely material sense) than in having caused them to be buried ? With a dead German there can be no trade. A live submissive enemy is the ideal of future wars, whose commanders will attempt to strike terror to the nerve centres of a community, not slaughter its com- batants. We shall attack the brain, rather than the body of a nation. The consequences of this new orientation of war are not pleasant to contemplate. But they should be contem- plated by every thinking man and woman who is still inclined to say, " You cannot abolish war without abolishing human nature."

For small wars—and as long as the British Empire remains custodian for primitive peoples, an expeditionary -force will be necessary—the speedy mechanization and " gasification" of the Army would appear to be a matter of urgency if we are to save not only the lives of our own soldiers, but those of our temporary enemies. Colonel Fuller" has a good simile' of our Expeditionary Force as the doctor of Empire, who can only visit a limited number of patients on foot. As soon as he buys a car, his range is enormously increased. If he is called in to attend to some Arab sheikh who has temporarily lost his reason, does he creep up to the patient and brain him with an axe ? Surely that is too drastic a remedy, especially if (as frequently happens in bombing operations) the weapobs employed hit innocent as well as guilty. The good doctor calms the patient, or puts him in a strait-jacket if necessary. He does not kill. Our Empire has been founded on pacification, not conquest. Hence Colonel Fuller arrives at the startling (but we cannot think unsound) conclusion that what it required against recalcitrant tribesmen is a flying anaesthetist followed by a winged Black Maria.

Having read thus far, this reviewer was prepared to find that the suggestions from the author as to dealing with the North-West Frontier of India would cause him to chuckle, for he happens to have spent more years than he cares to remember there, and Colonel Fuller confesses to just one month's motor- ing on the metalled roads between Quetta and Peshawar. However, Colonel Fuller is perfectly right in his main ideas as to frontier defence. If his plan were to be adopted (but it takes a cataclysm to awaken Simla !) it will save untold hardship and misery amongst the holders of the perimeter camps and blockhouses of that desolate region which separates India from Afghanistan. We who sit in the seats of the comfortable find it easy to forget the price of Empire—the wracked nerves and sweating bodies, the danger of heat-stroke by day and of sniping by night, of those who guard the marches of India. The safeguarding of convoys should be greatly facilitated by whippet tanks.