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Show Make a Record for Efficiency New British Armies Perfectly Organized Or-ganized and Fitted Out for Business of War. HIGH IDEALS ARE FOLLOWED Standard Set by Gallant Force Which Went Out to Mons Closely Fol- lowed in Training Thousands Thou-sands of Recruits. Loudon.- Great Britain's new armies are now so perfectly organized and fitted fit-ted out that one may be likely to lose sight of the greatness of their creation and the unexampled difficulties that had to be surmounted. There was a sorry tatterdemalion stage, due to shortage of boots, uniforms and so forth. The tiny army that went out to Mons in August, 1914, was probably the best-trained best-trained body of troops in Europe for Its size. Its high standard was that which those training the new armies had before them as an ideal. The first 17 months of the war was the difficult period. Nearly all the efficient instructors instruc-tors had gone abroad with the men, who added another laurel to England's military record in the great retreat from Morvs. At the outbreak of war the accommodation accom-modation available for single men in barracks In the British isles was hardly hard-ly 175,000 units. Hosts of recruits poured in. It was difficult to get timber, tim-ber, labor, inspectors; to all the camps water and gus or electric light had to be laid ; old roads were repaired, new ones made, and speclar lines of railroad lold to all the largest camps. Civilian Clothing Used. In -fhe flothlng dilemma, while the dozen makers of khaki cloth were being be-ing expanded to two hundred, civilian overcoats were bought up and served out to soldiers. When war started the country had fewer than 800.000 rifles, of which only the authorized reserve of 150,000 remained re-mained after the original force, mobilized mobi-lized on August 4, had been armed. And at that time the weekly output of rifles In the United Kingdom was under un-der two thousand. Of guns there were at the outbreak of war only enough for eight divisions, with the authorized reserve re-serve for wastage. U . The greatest difficulties arose from lack of officers to train the new armies. On-the eve of starting an order came to the expeditionary force from the war office that every battalion should leave behind one captain and one subaltern sub-altern to assist In training. That helped greatly. Some two hundred of the Indian army, home on leave, were retained for training purposes ; retired officers ("dugouts") were appointed In large numbers ; many civilians over the age of twenty-five received their first commissions as lieutenants or captains. The wisdom of providing a method of rapidly expanding the commissioned ranks by means of the Officers' Training Train-ing corps became apparent. Within the first year of the war Oxford university univer-sity O. T. C. provided more than 2,500 officers for the army ; Cambridge University Uni-versity O. T. C, more than 2,000 ; three northern universities more than 1,000, and Inns of Court O. T. C. more than 2,500. New Army Off After Nine Months. Only nine months after embodiment the first new army was sent to the front, closely followed by the second and third. Even some divisions of the fourth and fifth were fit to go to the front barely a year after they had been raised. And none of them gave a bad account of themselves. The secret of the great triumph over difficulties lies chiefly in the magnificent magnifi-cent spirit of all ranks. If any special rank is to be picked out, It Is undoubtedly undoubt-edly true that the backbone of these new armies was the junior subalterns. Mostly untrained, or half trained, they came to learn their work with their men, and had no false shame In telling them so without any prejudice of discipline. Not content with the exacting labors of the parade ground, they sat up late preparing their work for the next day, studying military textbooks, practicing problems of strategy and tactics; at mess hardly any Junior subaltern talked anything but "shop." They put posers to the majors and the colonels, which these as willingly tackled. They were, in fact, all keen and on their mettle, and as on the whole they had been well chosen for brain power and aptitude to command, thoy taught themselves and their men, too, as they went. The same tribute Is applicable In greater or less degree to all ranks. There was everywhere a detormlnnllon to overcome difficulties somehow and to get on with the work. i |