THE careful Report by General Willis on the Volunteer Manoeuvres at Easter, which we printed yesterday, will assuredly be read with much interest by every member of the Force, though we cannot say that there is much in it that is new. We seem to have heard before that the Volunteers are full of good will and energy, and that while their faults are these of inexperience, they would manoeuvre with greater accuracy if they had more practice in the formations used at the great gatherings. We are all agreed that Brigade Drill would be better performed at Easter if there were more Brigade Drills during the year. A more important question, though it is one that General Willis does not touch, is whether, seeing that there cannot possibly be anything like fair practice in large bodies, such as brigades, throughout the year, it is not a mistake and a snare to parade much larger bodies then brigades once in every twelve months, and expect them to work with precision, or even to gain valuable instruction. In other words, is it wise to allow the Volunteers to run before they can walk? The question cannot be answered off-hand, for the reply depends on many conflicting considerations. It is easy to say that the great gatherings at Easter teach nothing to the Volunteers, and are, to some extent, actually hurtful. But any one who says that is told in reply-that if there were no Easter Manoeuvres there might coma to be no Volunteers. This is hard to believe, and is probably one of these statements which would be disproved if tested, especially as the fact is incontestable that, after all, the Force which takes part In the great Manoeuvres is comparatively small, and is drawn chiefly from London and its surroundings. Volunteering flourishes in the North as vigorously as in the South, and the smaller drills and tactical manoeuvres carried out elsewhere are as interesting as, and infinitely more useful then, the big field-days at Brighton and Dover. Still, an improvement has been made, for which we may be thankful. The March-past has become a secondary consideration, and that other march -- the actual movement from London to the scene of the Review -- has bean utilised for tactical exercise which are at once the moat important in -themselves, and also the most possible of comprehension, and even execution, by Volunteers. This is no paradox. As General Willis truly observes, the greater manoeuvres in large bodies can only be learnt by practice in large numbers, and this is impossible without changing altogether the nature and organisation of the Volunteers. But the tactical exercises which are of most value in war can be practised on a very small scale. As far as infantry tactics are concerned, a single battalion can furnish means for all the instruction that can ever be useful to Volunteer regimental officers and men. Any of the great military nations on the Continent would laugh at the notion of allowing troops to practise tactics on a large scale till they had been thoroughly trained in small bodies. Not Army Corps of eighteen thousand infantry are required, nor even brigades, but battalions and companies. It is necessary to insist on this truth, for it lies at the root of all possibility of making the Volunteers useful in war.
General Willis in his Report passes lightly over the marching: manoeuvres of the Saturday, on the plea that the Duke of Cambridge was present at them. The only criticism he offers is that the Cavalry might have opposed a more active resistance to the Columns, This hardly affects the Volunteers, but it is a very serious charge, especially as there is some reason for anxiety lest an idea should take root in this country that Cavalry can do nothing against Infantry. Such a delusion would help to destroy the efficiency of a most valuable arm, and the tendency in that direction which is often displayed in the judgment of umpires is much to be deplored. Concerning the assembly of the troops on Easter Monday, there are some interesting remarks in the Report, though a few more particulars might have been useful. The arrival at the railway station was well conducted, and the discipline, as a rule, was good but the Force fell short of the number expected by more then two thousand men out of eighteen thousand. We need not be anxious on this point. If it has any significance at all, it is a welcome one, for it can only point to a certain reduction in the popularity of the big field days as such. On the other hand, there were last Easter some useful developments which had nothing to do with large or small numbers. Among these was the establishment of a base hospital for Volunteers, and some capital training for the Volunteer Medical Staff Corps, which is drawn chiefly from the principal hospitals and medical schools. Such an organisation as this, and practice such as the Medical Staff (and especially the bearers), had on Easter Monday, constitute a distinct increase in the military strength of the Empire: and that is, after all, the sole reason for the existence of the Volunteers as much as of the Regular Forces. Volunteer Medical and Post Office Stan Corps have already done good service in actual war, so that it may be said that we are getting1 on by degrees. Again, a local temporary Commissariat store was opened for the supply of blankets and general stores. It might be said that these stores ought to be where the Volunteers came from, and each man should have brought his own blanket with him. But Rome was not built in a day, and to issue the blankets at all in military fashion is a concession to the Volunteers, considered as soldiers. Thus it may be said that all went well up to the point of assembly, but an episode, related by General Willis with a frankness which is at least interesting, reveals one of the difficulties so frequently complained of by the Volunteers and by these who wish them well. Certain positions had been chosen for the different Brigades, the General had approved, the places were marked out by pickets driven into the ground, when a Staff Officer took upon himself to throw the whole arrangement into confusion and doubt by altering the marking out of the ground. It is one of the objections to these great gatherings that Generals and Staff, Commanders and men, are too frequently unknown to each other, are unaccustomed to work together, and the result is a series of contradictory orders which destroy both good work and discipline.
Standard, June 5, 1885
The Gordon Memorial
The Congo Valley
Table of Contents
Miracles of healing - Christian Miracles or Healing
History of Russia: Christian Versus Barbarian
History of Japan: Early Christian Martyrs
The Jesus of History
The Assyrian Origin of Devil Worshippers
The Christ Of Dogma
The early history of Constantinople
