Mounted Infantry, &c.
A glance at the latest accessories to the Army in the shape of Mounted Infantry, Machine-guns, and Cyclists, may not be out of place here.
The authorities consider that a force of Mounted Infantry (i.e., Infantry with rifles on horseback) will be of the greatest use to the Army in case of war. Accordingly, a force is being trained, little by little, which would be available to act as such on active service.
For the past two or three years 2 companies at Aldershot, formed of volunteers from the different Infantry battalions quartered there, and 1 company at the Curragh, consisting of 150 men each, have been trained during the winter months to act as Mounted Infantry. On the conclusion of the course, the men are sent back to their regiments, and a fresh lot come on the following winter. These companies are intended to be formed into battalions when required. The duty of this force on service will be to act as Infantry, but with a rapidity of transport from one place to another unattainable by ordinary Infantry. Thus they may be pushed forward to attack a village, to hold a defensive position till supported by other Infantry, to assist the Cavalry, or to perform a hundred other duties of Infantry far in front of the real Infantry.
It is proposed that every battalion of Infantry and regiment of Cavalry should in future wars have a Machine-gun Detachment of 2 machine-guns, worked by 1 officer and 12 men, attached to it. A large number of men have been trained in this work, but there are at this moment but few complete detachments in existence.
Corps of Cyclists, chiefly Volunteer, have also lately been started, but it seems very questionable whether they would ever be of any use in a hostile country except to carry messages to and fro along good roads.
Army Corps.
Finally, mention must be made of the recent apportioning of the British Regular Army into Army Corps. Serious difficulties have arisen in organising this matter, for, since regiments are always on the move from point to point at home, or between home, India, and the Colonies, it is a very difficult task indeed to arrange so that even one Army Corps should be ready to take the field at the shortest possible notice. It has, however, been done, and the 1st Army Corps is an accomplished fact. The 2nd is on the high road to completion, though as yet it is badly off for horses.
The above gives a tolerably fair idea of the strength and constitution of the Army of the British Empire. The Navy, it is true, is still our first line of defence, as it has been for hundreds of years; but although the best in the world, it is not yet large enough for our needs. Our Regular Army has also been shown to be barely large enough. It is, therefore, doubly necessary to keep the Army at a high pitch of efficiency, and fully supplied with everything needful, in order that if we ever come into collision with one of the colossal European powers detailed in the following pages, we shall not be found wanting.