Britain's Land Forces
It was proper that little should be said about the British Expeditionary Force to France until the operation of trans- porting our first contingents was completed. Mr. Hore- Belisha in the House of Commons was able to draw the veil from this now accomplished fact—the transportation of the first 158,000 men to France and their arrival at the fighting position allotted them. The strength of this force cannot be judged by its numbers alone. It is mechanised as no British army has ever been before, and such is the machine power to be operated that only 20 per cent. of these troops are infantrymen. This force demands 25,000 vehicles (including tanks), or one to every six men. It is probable that this advance force of the British Army is, for its numbers, the most efficient in respect of training and equipment of any body of soldiers in the world. On the other hand it is well that our Allies should understand the nature of our contribution to the war on land in numbers as well as machines. This country already has at the dis- posal of the Army, including Territorials, Reservists and Militia, about a million men. If to these we add the large numbers of men serving in the Navy and the Air Force, it will be seen that, though many men still await their calling- up orders, our contribution in men alone is already formidable.
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