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8. Page 13 (a). Divisions of Command.-The organization of the Cape Peninsula as a fortress divided into three sections, given under this heading and the sub-division of Nos. I and III Sections each into three sub-sections embodied in Chapter IV of the Scheme, was discussed in War Office letter 57/Cape/5514, dated 31/7/96, and it was there proposed that the sectional and sub-sectional organization should be replaced by a division of the Cape Peninsula command into-
(i.) Table Bay defences; (ii) Simon's Bay defences; (iii.) Wynberg field force ;
the whole being as now under the general control of the General Officer Commanding, who would order reinforcements between the three commands as required.
The General Commanding the troops in South Africa in his letter dated 18/10/96 has stated that while prepared to do away with the rigidity of sub-sectional organization, he is of opinion that some allotment of portions of the defence line to troops and Commanders is necessary over such large areas as are involved, and he asks for suggestions as to how this should be done in accordance with present usage.
The arrangements for the Cape Town and Simon's Town sections now embodied in Chapter IV of the Scheme place one or more batteries or posts and a few troops for general duties under a Sub-section Commander, and three sub-sections and a central reserve under a Section Commander. The Sub- section Commanders are responsible (vide p. 9 of Scheme) for watching the coast of their small territorial commands, and for occupying outlying field- works barring lines of distant approach. The control of artillery fire is to remain in the hands of the Section Commander through the Fire Commander, who is to communicate direct to the Battery Commanders without the intervention of the Sub-section Commanders.
In place of these arrangements, the Colonial Defence Committee consider that the troops in each battery, including any infantry attached to the R.A. for working armaments, should be under the Battery Commander for all purposes, and that the Battery Commanders should be directly under the Fire Commander, and through him under the Commander of the Table Bay or Simon's Bay defences as the case may be. All troops not told off to work in batteries or to the Wynberg field force should be formed into two movable forces, one for Table Bay and the other for Simon's Bay, and these forces, which correspond somewhat to the central reserves of the Scheme, should also be under the Commanders of the Table Bay and Simon's Bay defences. On these Commanders the work of watching the coast and lines of approach, and of occupying any field-works barring defiles, &c., will fall, and for these purposes they will throw out such detachments and outposts as may be considered necessary, bearing in mind that it is unadvisable to unduly weaken the forces at their disposal to resist hostile landing parties by keeping troops permanently in positions to meet contingencies which it is recognized are not likely to arise.
If the above suggestions with regard to organization are carried out, the Committee consider that the Scheme will be considerably simplified, and that various difficulties which now exist will be removed. To take one instance, it is observed that the same officer is told off to the command of Sub-section I and of one of the two batteries which it includes. He would therefore be responsible for preventing a landing near, and guarding the approaches to both batteries with the infantry force at his disposal, as well as for directing the fire of his own battery. This is obviously inconvenient.
9. Page 14. Imperial Forces.-This Table will require revision when Her Majesty's Government have decided the question now under reconsideration of the permanent garrison to be provided for the defence of the Cape Peninsula, In the meantime the Committee recommend, for the consideration of the War Office and Colonial Office, that two of the British infantry battalions now in the Cape Colony should be looked upon as available for the garrison of the Cape Peninsula in the event of war with a Maritime Power, that the battalion now
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