*
2
THE CHINA MAIL, SEPTEMBER 20, 1939.
ROYAL CORPS IN CLOSE SUPPORT OF COMBATANT UNITS
Into such .open
scandal had the Scutari, combined with the burning tion and subsequent distribution. But whole care of casualties degenerated zeal for reform exhibited by Florence for generations its organisation lagged by the time of the 1794 war in Flan- Nightingale, served to set the or- sadly behind the lines,
ders that an officer, having been ganisation of the Army's medical ser- The great Marlborough was the dragged to the operating tent while, vice on the road to final reform, and first to improvise a reasonably still unconscious, could later write expansion. The Great War. found it. adequate system of field service. Suc- home, ". and I am relieved to say as magnificent in accomplishment as ceeding efforts, however, to put the that, despite medical interference, my it was unfailing in resource. whole business on a sound basis were wounds now show some sign of heal- persistently hampered by the fact ing."
Napoleon observed that "an army with the function of their concentra- marches on its stomach." Had he commanded a modern army he might have added that it marches over roads kept in constant repair for it; in boots repaired or replaced as the case may be; in a condition of phy- sical fitness for which remedy is im- mediately available should it show signs of deterloration; dependent materiel whose exhaustion is punc- tually made good as it arises.
on
Thus, to maintain one fit, well-fed, well-shod, adequately supplied fight ing man in the firing line demands the services of from three to seven
fellow-soldiers labouring in his sup-
port.
Of these vital ancillary services the Engineers are certainly not the least important. There have been engine- ers, of a kind, in our fighting forces since the days of Edward III, when a small body of masons, smiths, car- penters, miners and "engine-workers" were paid at rates of from 3d to 10d a day, while their chief, Henry of Lancaster, received 6s 8d a day.
Kad
The steady, untrumpeted work of that "supply," implying the disburse- At last, when three so-called doc- the Royal Army Ordnance Corps- offshoot of the venerable. Board of ment of large sums of money, was tors appointed to the Walcheren ex- a business in, which the Treasury, pedition in 1809 were discovered to Ordnance, itself almost as old as the is rarely jealously refused to permit the mill- have stayed snugly at home, punctu- history of British arms tary Command to interfere.
ally drawing their stipends the while, given its just measure of considera- Wellington's armies, for example, during the entire absence of the field tion. Yet without it the wants of the were "found" in all their daily essen- army overseas, reform was seriously soldier would go at least 50 per cent.
For unsatisfied.
the men of the tials by civillan contractors; or com- taken in hand. With the impetus
Ordnance provide the Army with all those "non-perishable" necessaries— from a pocket-knife to a full set of harness for a processional elephant, from a two-inch nail to a telephone switchboard--not accounted for by the R.A.S.C.
By REGINALD
to
of
HARGREAVES
With the Royal Veterinary Corps to look after the sick among its rapidly diminishing quota of horses, and the Pay Corps to deal masterfully with its complicated system. of accounts, the British Army can regard its skill- ed technical services as the ever- reliable background without whose support its fighting efficiency would in no sort of way be possible.
missaries. These were under no dis- given it by Frederick, Duke of York, a ciplinary restraint and only answer- proper medical service for the troops HARDY ENGINEERS
able to an authority so remote from undoubtedly succeeded in making
as how their sphere of activity This auspicious beginning,
be some headway. when It was, however, under that splendid ever, experienced remarkably slow practically inoperative. Even
Ave companies were scraped together medico, James McGrigor, stoutly sup- development. Indeed, while con- temporary foreign armies could boast to form what was hoped would prove ported by the Duke of Wellington, properly organised corps of "Sappers & properly-constituted military sup- that something of the present scheme and Miners," so
the ply service-under the title profound, in
the of regimental doctors, with a chain of military sense, was the Englishman's Royal Waggoners--matters were in fleld and base hospitals behind them, nick- first took definite shape. That, with dislike of the spade that to be dele- no way improved. Promptly
But it is, indeed, by virtue of that the "Newgate Blues" the Crimea, gated as "an abject pioneer" was re- named
these innovations had same whole-hearted co-operation be- garded in Cromwell's "Army of the. -blue from the colour of their uni- fallen sadly away from their initial tween each and every arm, which is New Model" as indubitably in the form and Newgate in recognition of promise must be attributed not to any the key-note of the Service, that the wherefrom they inherent flaw in their provisions, but British Army stands forth as the sure recruited-their to the stagnation imposed on all mill- friend of those who repose their trust tary matters by the sluggish after- in it, as it must ever be the-foe of math of Waterloo.
those who would disturb, the peace over which it watches as a vigilant of and unwearying sentinel..
nature of a punishment.
of
that sinister gaol
TRANSPORT WORK Experiments with, successively, Land Transport Corps, for whom the demands of the Crimean campaign proved altogether too formidable, a
Redvers
None the less, by 1741 a School of had mostly been Military Engineering had been suc- disbandment soon proved inevitable. cessfully founded which, by 1759, had produced an establishment of 61 officers, with a company of "Miners" just over 200 strong. But it was in tribute to their distinguished service in the Crimea that officers and men military train-commonly known as were united under the title the "Moke Train"-and a Commis- the Corps of Royal sariat and Transport Corps, culminat- Engineers; and to their many ed, in 1888, in the formation, under other duties they presently added the the Inspiration of Gen. Sir heavy and hazardous responsibilty of Buller, of the Army Service maintaining the system of communica-
on much the same lines as we know tions by which all orders were trans- it to-day, though narrower in scope. mitted throughout the Army.
Its work in South Africa, despite than pettifogging interference, more the addition, in due justified its subsequent expansion, and course, of 2 mechanical transport wing.
In the Great War it was one of the most strenuously worked formations the old "Mudlarks" bears the title of in the whole of the forces.
Its un- the Royal Corps of Signals.
ceasing labours were eventually re- the warded by the right to assume honourable prefix Royal.
en-
With the Great War years this last-named responsibility 90 ormously increased in scope as sub- sequently to justify the creation of
to separate service
its efficient working. This offshoot of
a
ensure
10-MINUTE CROSS-WORD
a
SUPERB WAR RECORD The scandals of the hospitals.
OUR
2
4
5
6
8
10.
11
12
13
Corps
14.
16
17
18
19
20
22
24
25
26
27
28 29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39 140
41
42
[43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
151
52
53.
54
$5
What the Army owes to the minis- trations of the "Linseed Lancers”-----
SAYINGS OF THE SAPPERS "Sappers," as the saying goes, "are all mad, married, or methodist." Which is the typically English me- thod of disguising, under an indul- as the Royal Army Medical Corps has termed only gently mocking phrase, the real tribute affectionately been whole-heartedly rendered to them by those who have been through their But fellow-wearers of the King's uniform hands can adequately testify. to their zeal, reliability and systema- the admirable medical service at the tic approach to any job that happens disposal of the soldier is a thing of the comparatively recent date; and to come their way.
The extent and variety of their high standard of skill and considera- work, apart from "a-diggin' up of ton it brings to its work to-day only holes and a-stickin' in of poles, and serves to throw into sharper relief a-buildin' up of barracks for the the scandalous treatment meted out soldieree," range from the hasty con- to the sick and wounded prior to its struction of a bridge to pass a batta- inauguration.
lion over a river, to the punctual de- livery of that same battalion's letters once it has debouched on the
CARING FOR THE WOUNDED Cromwell's
for army,
example, two other possessed exactly
"Physicians with
untrained side. Indeed, the "Mounted Brick- General," layers," as they are sometimes termed "apothekers" to lend them an
a
few
un-
battle or fallen by the way showed remarkably small Improvement.
a corps of which Lord Kitchener skilled hand. For the next 150 years was proud to be a member-have the lot of the soldier struck down in every right to share with the Artil- lery, as they do, that most compre- hensive of all mottoes, "Ubique” Everywhere.
cen-
own
Surgeons in mid-eighteenth tury and for many a long year after were appointed by the Colonal of the regiment and paid out of his pocket. They occupied a position of than that little greater importance enjoyed by the regimental clerk.
al
was
SUPPLYING THE TROOPS Hardly less adventitious than the story of the Engineers is that of the Royal Army Service Corps. Without a perfectly organised service of sup-
So indifferent were their profession- ply an army would be unable to keep
qualifications-Influence the fleld, under modern conditions, for the Inside of a week. So, when pur- known, on occasion, to obtain the chase replaced pillage as the method appointment of men holding no quali- of maintaining the essential flow of fications whatsoever; that the one commodities to the troops en ambition of the wounded was to avoid campaign, the need soon became ap- the death-traps of hospitals at all parent for a special corps charged costs.
HORIZONTAL 1 Oral
6 Clip closely 11 A truit 12 Examining
official
14 Conjunction 15 Golf club
(pl.) 17 Preposition 18 Arm of. crane 20 Glittered 21 Queen of fairies
22 Employs 24 Female
sheep
25 To moderate 26 A termagant
(pl.)
28 Barley cakes 30 Reverential
fear
31 Man's
nickname.
32 Regard.
35 Turn of duty
(pl.)
38 Hastened
39 Consume
41 Bench
42 Bushy clump 43 Provides
food
45 Petition 46 Comparative
ending
47 Inorganic
49 Prefix: down
60 Describe 52.Click-beetle
54 More
rational
55 Cut
VERTICAL
1 Louisiana
county
2 Indefinite.
article
3 To knock
4 Burden
5 Carpenter's
machine (pl.)
6 Parts of
play
·YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
FAT 310 STEAL RUINID CORNET
ORZORISONS/VE OF FULL: BRIX TS
QATENTEID/YE
PAG DIGSŹBANED LO7ZNAUNGRENO EVOEWDROPGND)
MOUBERID/RL KORHBRAZILED 2R823 EL ABA
7 At this place
8 Abstract
being
9 Conjunction 10 Circle
11. Counterfeit (slang)
13 Dressing gowns
16 To haul
19 Scolded
21 Cloaks
23 Stitched 25 Pierces 27 Tiny
29 Top 93 Ether
33 Single-celled
bodles
34 More con-
temptible
-35 Cuble
meters
36 Praised 37 Guide
40 Goddess of mischief
43 Quote
ฟ
44 Large room 47 Equip. with
crew
48 Rule
01 Note of scale 53 Symbol for
tellurium