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On war becoming imminent the following moves take place :-
Pag
Strength.
Corps.
From-
To-
Companies. Officers.
Men.
No. 1 Battalion
{
2
214
Cape Town
1
107
St. Helena. Mauritius.
"
No. 2
13
428
33
No. 3 No. 4 No. 5
28
864
"
Natal..
""
Cape Town.
13
488
""
England
244
>>
"
"5
33
On the completion of these moves there will thus be at each of the stations of the South African Command the following force of Imperial Infantry :-
Station.
Established Strength.
Corps.
Companies. Officers.
Men.
Cape
No. 1 Battalion No. 3 No. 4 No. 5
31
25
"
4842
16
436
28
864
13
488
6
244
Total
18
63
2,032
Mauritius..
No. 1 Battalion No. 2
1
3
107
8
28
864
Total
9
31
971
St. Helena
No. 1 Battalion
3
321
7. As regards the Cape it is evident that there may be an interval of time between the departure of the detachments which are sent thence to the Mauritius and St. Helena, and the arrival of the reinforcements from Natal and England. During this interval the only force of Imperial Infantry at the Cape would be:-
No. 1 Battalion
4 Companies, 16 officers, 436 men.
The Scheme should show the distribution of the troops during this possible interval, as well as the distribution after the arrival of the reinforce- ments. The Tables at pp. 11 to 14 profess to do this, but they erroneously assume that the following force of Imperial Infantry is present during the former stage, viz. :----
1st Battalion North Stafford
1st
East Yorkshire
**
2nd
York and Lancaster*
"
8 officers, 400 men.
2
81
"}
""
24
684
""
The last-named battalion is that which would be drawn in from Natal. 8. It is desirable that in addition to the present Tables, which show the distribution by sections only, a Table should be given showing the total garrison available, and its distribution by corps. The Table should of course include the local forces to be employed, and show their head-quarters and strength and the time after the receipt of their orders for mobilization when they might be expected to arrive.
9. It is observed that all the troops detailed for sub-sections 1 to 4 of Section I (Cape Town) are placed in tents. It would seem possible that in
This discrepancy is
* In the orders given on p. 21, the corps detailed for Section III (Wynberg) is the East Yorkshire Regiment, but on p. 14 the corps is the 2nd York and Lancaster. probably due to an oversight.
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