Great Britain has gone through the entire course of inducement to make Europe peace ful. We set an example by disarming and no one followed our lead. We then tried a policy of general. appeasement and every nation said, "Yes" but went on arming faster. Our' third policy is thus foreed on us of taking part in the defence of Europe to save the independence of nations and preserve civilization from being cast back into the jungle. What it has meant is a call to raise the Territorial Army {o half a million men and a compulsory call to raise the Regular Army to war strength, Dealing with the TT. A. first we have dup-Hieated its field force to 300,000 men and valsed the Anti-Aircraft Command to 100,000. The Coast Defence Branch has gone up in numbers and at the moment of: writing the general strength of the T. A. is over 400,000. The estimate is that July will see the half million reached. One would be safer to say August but as 150,000 men have come forward in the last eight weeks the War Office optimistic about the July date. Here is how the position stands:—Field Fore 300,- 000, Anti-Aircraft 100,000, Coast "Defence 10,000, and the total of 410,000.
The Territorial Field Divisions with Corps Troops within their areas stand as follows with June recruiting untouched East Anglian 22,000, Home Counties 21,000, London 22,000, Northumbrian 19,000, West Riding 25,000," Highland 25,000," Lowland 22,000, South Midland 20,000, Wessex 20,000 'Welsh' 19,000, West Lancashire 30,000 and East Lancashire 21,000, The pre-crisis strength was an average of 9,000, The Regular Army will be brought up to 280,000 in July by bringing in 50,000 Militia men for compulsory training. They go to the regimental depots for two months and then to the home units for four months.
All Regular recruits will be cleared out of the Depots in July to make room for the Militiamen. The former will complete their training with the home battalions, and we shall thus see units at 1,000 strength as the Militiamen join and thereby the Army shor~ tage is disposed of, Each 50,000 trainers will be succeeded by another 0,000 at the end of six months so that while maintaining the Army at war strength, its reserve will bbe added to until 200,000 men have gone through training. Speaking only of the Field Force for European service we have to visualize it in the following strength Regulars 280,000, Territorial 340,000, Army Reserve 140,000 Militia Reserve 200,- 000, Supplementary Reserve 60,000, making 4 total of 1,020,000.
The situation to be faced is to prevent the absorption of the eastern states of Europe. To do this we have drawn a potential defensive line from the Baltic to the Mediterranean which runs across Europe from Danzig to Salonica, The line against aggres sion is Poland, Rumania, Greece and Turkey.
tenet held, eaept loboly, and never will be unless the' dictator powers invade. Then it is a matter for the General Staffs to aid the coal armies as quickly as possible, Looking fat such a situation it would seem that the Turks could reinforce most quickly and what military students hope for is Turkish ald for the southern part of the line and Russian for northern part.
The situation is complete because Russian aid endangers relations in the Mediterrancan where we hope to win both Italian and Spanish ce-operation towards a peaceful Middle Sea along which we have to move to India and the Far East. Then there is the Polish distrust of Russia, but she has to weigh this against German aggression. Things have changed for Poland with her old enemy assuming the first aid role for her against the new enemy in the west threatening to rush the Cornidor and looking to the grain fleas beyond Poland in the Ukraine. The dislike of Russia must go in the face of the newer menace and the Soviet authorities do now know that the British people want them to come in and are no longer hostile on the Score of Bolshevism, because the greater menace lies in the international banditry which is destroying nations and enslaving peoples, The home Depots of battalions in China will {ake in 150 Militiamen each on July 1, as the home battalions take in during the year 300 Militiamen and some Army Re-Servists the Ist East Surrey, 2nd Seaforth, 2nd Durham, 2nd Middlesex and Ist Royal Scots will be raised to war strength. 'These Dattalions will have recruit companies and will train the ordinary recruits instead of the Depot doing it. In order to accommodate the extra men the parade grounds at Alder~ shot, Sobraon Barracks in Colchester, Mary-hull' in Glasgow, Inkerman Lines at Woking and Gosport Barracks will have hutments built round them. Anyone coming home from the China battalion will drop into a big "mob" and many will do so as instructors are badly needed, New dining rooms and institutes are to be provided in hutments and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.