CO537-4998 — Page 149

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TOP SEC ET

ENEMY TROOPS.

12.

13.

(a) It is probable that if a War Lord attacks the Colony he

will have a proportion of Artillery and a large number of ill trained infantry. He is unlikely to have many, if any, armoured vehicles.

(b) He will undoubtedly be assisted by subversive elements

within the Colony who, by use of intimidation and other means will endeavour to disrupt the essential services and tie down troops and Police who would otherwise be The unrest within the employed against the "ar Lord. Colony is likely to start before the attack from outside.

Deductions.

(a) All the artillery available will be required for employ-

ment against the var Lord. It should therefore be relieved of infantry roles as far as is possible and kept intact as a Regiment.

(b) We cannot relieve the Artillery Regiment of infantry

Internal Security duties by using Regular troops, since three infantry battalions represent an inadequate number of trained infantry for operations in the NEW TERRITORIES. (c) The four H.K.V.D.C. Rifle Companies, when fully trained,

will form a useful Reserve in the hands of the G.0.C., but should not be used in this role until their state of training is satisfactory.

(a) The Auxiliaries should be used to relieve the Military

and Regular Police of static Guard commitments.

On

(e) However thorough the preparations may be, it is impossible

to forecast the trend of events in advance. The external threat may be more serious than the internal trouble. the other hand it may be the other way round. The situation may change from day to day. For this reason it will be important for a mobile reserve to be held under command the G.0.C. in such a location that it can reinforce where and when required.

(f) The Commander KO LOON Brigade should NOT have command of the reserve, since his task will be to deal with the threat from outside and NOT get involved in appreciating the relative dangers between the outside threat and the internal one, which in any case, the G.0.C. will be in a far better position to judge. Nevertheless the Brigade Commander will be responsible as always for holding his own reserve.

POLICE.

14.

In

(a) The Police have adequate forces to deal with normal

small incidents which may from time to time occur. the event of major unrest within the Colony and the threat of aggression from outside, firstly, the Police will probably require reinforcement by Police Reserves and support from the Military. Secondly, Police Posts on the Frontier will have to be withdrawn, since they are neither tactically sited, nor capable of standing up to artillery fire.

(b) The Police have a sound intelligence system.

....../(a)