OCR Text |
Show BRITISH TROOPS ON FIRING LINE Three Hundred Thousand in North of France Under Gen, Sir John French. MANY SEASONED MEN Kitchener Training Million New Soldiers for Spring Campaign. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) Paris, Oct. 20. No fewer than 30f,-000 30f,-000 British soldiers are under theN orders of Field Marshal Sir John French on the firlnp lines. Added to these, there were many auxiliary troops on duty at the transport and I suppiy base. This army acts as a I complete unii in conjunction with the French under command of General Gen-eral .Toffre. The British base is near a port on the English channel and the field of action of the British troops is near the Belgian frontier and in Bel-glum Bel-glum itself. Virtually all the British Brit-ish soldiers in the field are men of considerable service, many of them having had from 10 to 12 years training, train-ing, and having participated In Great Britain's "little wars" In various parts of the world The gaps In their ranks are filled by re-enllsted men who have hastened back to the arm at Lord Kitchener's call Large Bodies of Territorials Ready. By December 1, when it Is expected ex-pected lare bodies of British territorials, terri-torials, who have volunteered for foreign service, will have been train ed sufficients to take the field, it is estimated that the force at Sir John French's disposal will have reached 500,000 men These will in elude the British and native troops from India and portions of the garrisons garri-sons at Malta and Gibraltar By that time, also, many of the Austrian. Canadian and New Zealand detachments will have joined tho forces for-ces on the continent. Lord Kitchener's New Army. The bulk of Lord Kitcheners new-army new-army of 1,000,000 men now coming Into being will not. according to an expert military view, be ready for service In the field until next spring In the new army, according to authoritative au-thoritative circles, there are nearly 200,000 old soldiers, who have served In the British regular army for periods peri-ods ranging from 7 to 12 years and these assist In training the new recruits. re-cruits. According to officers recently arrived ar-rived from England, all weakly men among the new recruits have been rapidly weeded out and mast of them are developing into fine shots |