Remodelling the Army The changes in Army organisation and equipment
announced on Monday constitute what is perhaps. the most sweeping reform that our hind forces have ever experienced. None has ever been more necessary or more overdue. Those which affect the cavalry will attract the greater attention although they are not in themselves the more important. They will be received by many with feelings of relief mingled with regret. The regret is for the eclipse of the horse, who will survive only in negligible numbers for use with Divisional and Army troops. For all major purposes he is, or soon will be, dead. And inevit- ably. It would be disastrous if at a moment when the horse is being replaced by mechanical traction of one kind or another in every walk of civil life the army showed itself incapable of moving with the times. Light tanks, armoured cars and mechanised vehicles for the carriage of men and guns have revolutionised warfare, and the British army in particular must make up for lack of numbers by efficiency of equipment. But relief must for a time be tempered with anxiety, for it will be another four years before de reorganisation of the infantry is com- plete. They will need to be busy years, for experiment has proved that to exploit the increased mobility and fighting power conferred by the new organisation and equipment calls for a very high standard of intelligence and initiative in all ranks and for a considerable readjust- ment of ideas, both tactical and strategical.
