But in addition to the above responsibilities which fall on the General Staff, there are also Staff duties involved in assisting the Commander to keep his Command in a state of efficiency, which depends on the following requirements:
First, that its organization, discipline, health, and numbers be kept up.
Secondly, that its material wants be met.
These duties do not bear directly on the fighting, and so do not fall to the General Staff, but to the other branches.
THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S BRANCH (A.G.)
Duties under the first heading are undertaken by the Staff of the Adjutant-General, which deals with the following matters affecting the personnel of the Command: discipline, law, and police; pay, interior economy, and routine Orders; casualties and returns; appointments, promotions, and rewards; reinforcements, and organization of improvised units and local levies; the disposal of prisoners; collecting the wounded and burying the dead. All possible office work in connection with these matters should be done at the Base, so as not to burden the Troops in the Field with clerical work carried on under difficulties.
Since the Adjutant-General’s Branch is responsible for the health of the Force, the Medical Services are placed under its control in the British Service. In foreign armies they are administered by their own Heads at Head-Quarters of Divisions and Army Corps, under the control of the General Staff.
THE QUARTER-MASTER-GENERAL’S BRANCH (Q.M.G.)
The second heading (supplying the material wants of the Army) comprises, besides the duties of the Medical Services mentioned above, those of the Supply, Store, Transport, and other Administrative Services. The work of the latter is carried out in detail by the Heads of those Services, who are under the control of the Quarter-Master-General’s Staff in the British Service. In foreign armies, where there is no Q.M.G.’s Staff, they are under a Civilian Official called the Intendant, who works under the control of the General Staff in each Command.