The Territorial Army in Peace and War
Past services cannot determine future policy, writes Brian Bond, but the record of the Territorial Army suggests that the force has always given returns out of all proportion to the small amount invested in it.
The territorial army lies under the threat of suspended execution. If, as now seems almost certain, the reorganisation announced last summer by the Minister of Defence and approved by the House of Commons in December by the narrowest of margins is carried out, all the existing T.A. divisions and brigades and 127 units will disappear, and 73,000 men, or 67 per cent of the present force, will no longer be required.
The “T.A.” has suffered many drastic reductions and enforced amalgamations of units in the past, but it is difficult to see how it can survive the ruthless cleavage of the Healey axe. It is therefore an appropriate, if melancholy, time to survey and evaluate the achievements of this characteristically British military organisation.
Although the Territorial Army of today owes its creation to Richard Burdon Haldane in 1907—it officially came into being as the Territorial Force on April 1st 1908—it is only the latest in a long tradition of voluntary formations. The earliest was probably the Guild and Confraternity of St. George which received its charter in 1537 and is better known as the Honourable Artillery Company.
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