'PAPERS RELATING TO THE MESOPOTAMIAN COMMISSION from SIR E. BARROW'S ROOM' [‎378v] (766/1386)

In September 1906 the Government of India, in their Despatch No. 79 of
1906, proposed the abolition of the Army Commands in India and llie
creation in their place of two Armies each under a General Officer whose
duties were to be those of an Inspector-General, in fact somewhat similar to
those exercised by the Inspector-General of the Forces in England, except
that discipline was included in their duties.
i his was sent to the Army Council for their observations.
Below, their replies are given in extenso. An extract from a note l v
General Sir Charles Egerton written in March 1907 is also added.
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for War.
I-'Oi’d Kitchener has not, as far as my observation goes, adopted the
principle which was laid down for the Army at home in the Bepcrt of Lord
Esher s Committee, the principle, viz., of separating as far as possible the
functions of Command and Training from those of Administration. The
question is one about which there is a good deal of divergence of view, but
for my own part, as far as I am entitled to express an opinion upon it, 1 not
onlj accept but agiee with the Esher Committee s Deport. However, Eord
Kitchener’s reorganisation appears to me, notwithstanding that he does not
form all} accept the principle m question, to ■‘accord with what seems to me
desirable in so far as practically he goes a good way towards giving elfe’ct to
the principle. As I conceive his plan, it is this :—He assumes a war on tl e
North-West Frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. as the real objective for which preparation must be
made in time of peace, and he proposes to organise in peace so as to make
the Army in India as effective as possible for the defence of the North-West
I lohtier. Supreme Command and control of at least a large part of
Administration, are centred in his own hands as Commander-in-Chief. They
aie decentralised at piesent to three Lieutenant-Generals of Commands, and
through them are still further decentralised into commands of nine Com
manders of Divisions in India proper. Ihc hands of these Divisional
Commanders are filled with the duties of command and training, on the
onejhand, and administration on the other. Lord Kitchener, as I understand
hh^t; seeks to organise his forces in two lines for different points in North-
Western India. These lines are made up, one of five Divisions, the other of
four, under the pioposed scheme. What he aims at doing is to eliminate
the intermediate Lieutenant-Generals Commanding, and to substitute for
them two Inspectors General, each of whom will command the Divisions
in one of the two lines in time of war, but in time of peace will simply
supervise and see to the nature of the command and training of the various
Divisions under his charge.
lo me this appears to be a recognition of the importance of concentrating
the attention of the possible commander in time of war upon the training
and preparation of his troops in time of peace, free from the distraction of
having to deal with administrative questions. For this reason I should
individually, be in favour of Lord Kitchener’s scheme. If the proposed
organisation into Brigades could proceed on the lines with which we have
recently become familiar here I should have been in favour of that also as a
further mode of more perfectly organising troops in time of peace for war,
and accustoming the Brigade Commanders to handle them. I understand
however, that the conditions are not analogous, and probably this is the
reason why the Secretary of State for India has not approved of this part of
Lord Kitchener s proposed organisation. I therefore express no opinion on
this point.