CAB38-17 — Page 122

Page 122

Page 122

ד

3

The establishment of an Australian fleet unit, based upon Sydney, will to a certain extent alter the situation. As a naval base the value of Sydney as a strategic objective to an enemy will be considerably increased. It is therefore considered that, in determining the standard of fixed defences of Sydney, the contingency of attack by armoured cruisers must now be taken into consideration.

As regards other Australian ports, the Admiralty adhere to the view that their strategic importance is too small to justify, in the opinion of a naval commander, the employment of armoured vessels in attacks upon them; for such operations, even if successful, would exercise no decisive effect on the result of a maritime war.

The only form of naval attack that need be provided against at Australian ports, other than Sydney, is therefore raiding attack by unarmoured cruisers.

6. As regards the possibilities of attack by a military landing force, the following particulars of the naval ports and the available military forces of Powers having possessions in the Pacific serve to indicate the relative capabilities of each Power to dispatch a military expedition against Australia :-

(a.) France.-The French fortified port nearest to Sydney is Saigon, 4,620 miles

distant.

The peace strength of the garrison of French Indo-China is now 25,000 men, of whom 11,690 are Europeans. In the event of war 16,000 to 18,000 native reservists and 8,000 gardes indigènes would be available, besides about 7,000 Europeans who have undergone military training. The native troops are indifferent and the military position is still considered somewhat precarious, although the internal conditions of the country are improving.

(b.) Germany.-The German fortified port nearest to Sydney is Kiao-chau

(“T'sing-tāu "), 4,970 miles distant.

The establishment of the garrison of Kiao-chau is 2,240 men. There are also about 400 reservists, who can be called out when required. (c.) Russia.-The Russian fortified port nearest to Sydney is Vladivostock,

5,120 miles distant.

The Russian Siberian troops were reorganised in 1910. They now consist of the Ist, IVth, and Vth Siberian Army Corps in the Pri-Amur Military District, with headquarters at Khabarovek on the Amur, the IInd and IIIrd Siberian Army Corps in the Irkutsk Military District, and the 11th Siberian Rifle Division in the Omsk Military District.

(d.) United States.-The American fortified ports nearest to Sydney are Kavite in

Manila Bay, 3,880 miles distant, or San Francisco, 6,430 miles distant.

The strength of the United States garrison in the Philippines is about 12,000 regular troops and 1,300 Marines. There are in addition 5,000 Philippine Scouts, commanded by American officers, and 6,500 Philippine Constabulary, officered by Americans and Philippinos.

(e.) Japan. The nearest base in Japan is Nagasaki, 4,140 miles distant from

Sydney.

Japan has a standing army of nineteen divisions complete and fit for service in every detail. A division at war strength is about 20,000 men. With the addition of certain reserve brigades and of her national army, Japan could probably place over a million men in the field.

7. Having regard to the comparative weakness of their naval and military forces in the Pacific and to the remoteness of their bases from Australian territory, it is to the last degree improbable that either France or Germany could bring against Australia any military landing force more formidable than the present defences are calculated to meet, viz., a maximum landing force of 1,000 men. While Russia, in spite of her great military resources in Eastern Asia, owing to her naval weakness appears for the present to be precluded from undertaking serious operations oversea.

8. In view of the limited military force available in the Philippines and of the remoteness of the contingency of a war with the United States, it is not necessary, in calculating the standard of the local defences required in Australia, to take into special consideration the scale of attack that could be brought to bear by that Power.

9. As regards Japan, the existence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance has, up to the present time, relieved us from the necessity of considering the scale of attack that

Page 122

Page 122

Page 122