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3. Chapter II (page 3) divides the defences into five commands, viz. :-
(1.) The Northern.
(2.) The Bandra.
(3.) The Thana. (4.) The Bombay.
(5.) The Forts.
The first three are practically infantry outposts watching the coasts and protecting valuable bridges and water-mains. They are to be commanded by the Senior Officers of the troops told off to them. The fourth consists mainly of the infantry Reserve to the fortress, with three small detachments and the submarine mining company, told off to lay a mine-field across the harbour. It is under the direct command of the G.O.C., Bombay, who also commands the whole fortress. The fifth command--that of the eight coast Forts and Batteries-comprises the artillery and the infantry told off to assist in manning guns, and is to be commanded by the O.C.R.A. These commands would appear to refer to troops, and are not mainly territorial like the Sections into which certain Home and Colonial fortresses are divided.
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In Chapter IV, however, the Commands are treated as territorial, their areas being defined. In Chapter III "the Forts Command is subdivided under Action to
23 into << be taken by the O.C.R.A.," a Harbour Section and 2 Western Section," the former comprising the five batteries firing over the harbour and its entrance, but not the mine-field; and the latter, the three at Malabar and Mahaluxmi. Again, in the same Chapter, under "Action to be taken by the C.R.E.," the whole defences are divided into an Eastern Section," and a "Western Section," corresponding as regards the Forts Command to the artillery subdivision, but extended to include R.E. works, except submarine mining, that may be required in the other commands. There is no allusion in the Scheme to Fire Commands, but the artillery subdivision is practically one into two Fire Commands, and appears to be a wise one. The general arrangements as to "Divisions of Command" appear, however, to require some slight modification.
It seems advisable that the term Command, which in parts of the Scheme has been given a territorial significance, should disappear from those portions of it which deal with the infantry distribution, and that the troops now told off to the northern, Bandra and Thana Commands should be treated as detachments or outposts from the main body in Bombay, thus practically doing away with a sectional organization of that fortress. No particular area within the defences should be placed specially under the G.O.C. Bombay, who, as Fortress Commander, is responsible for the whole, though no doubt he will usually be with the main body as laid down in the Scheme. The O.C.R.A. should be on his Staff as provided for in the Special Army Order of the 10th December, 1895, to direct artillery operations for him. There should be two Fire Commanders under the Fortress Commander-one at Colaba looking after the five eastern forts, and one at either Malabar or Mahaluxmi looking after the three western ones. The officer told off as C.R.E. is correctly placed in the Scheme on the Staff of the Fortress Commander. Presumably it is intended that he should be the inter- mediary through whom the Fortress Commander's orders to the Officer Commanding the Submarine Defences, as well as to the other R.E. officers, will be delivered, though this is not specifically stated.
4. The distribution of troops, which will be more readily seen from the Table opposite than from the Scheme (pages 3 to 5), allots six companies of native infantry and the available cavalry and infantry Volunteers to the outposts to the north, while the British infantry, except those required to assist the artillery in the forts and to man the moveable armament, the Marine Battalion, and the remaining two companies of the native infantry regiment are told off to the Reserve and to guards in Bombay itself.
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