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The Army League, Conscription and the 1956 Defence Review

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The Army League, Conscription and the 1956 Defence Review The Army League, Conscription and the 1956 Defence Review David John Mitchell PhD University of East Anglia School of History November 2012 ‘This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and the use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution.’ 1 Abstract This thesis examines the role of Leo Amery as a military commentator and his decision to create the Army League in 1937. The League went on to argue for the introduction of conscription prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1948 Leo Amery decided to resurrect the Army League and use it publicise defence issues at the beginning of the Cold War. Leo and Julian Amery attempted to shape defence policy in the late 1940s and early 1950s by using the Army League as a pressure group to influence Government policy and public opinion. It focuses particularly on the League’s report, The Army in the Nuclear Age, the culmination of several years of work by a small study group which included a considerable contribution from Basil Liddell Hart. The League published its report in November 1955 seeking to ‘educate’ the public on the key defence issues of the day including the impact of nuclear weapons on strategic planning and the need for a reorganisation of the Army. At a time when Britain was involved in two major counterinsurgency operations in Kenya and Malaya and a third was beginning in Cyprus the report also attempted to make a strategic case for retaining the remaining colonies and overseas bases at least until the end of the Cold War. However, on the contentious question of the continuing validity of National Service the League was ambiguous, proffering a solution based on utilising colonial manpower to make up any shortfall in recruitment and a reorganisation of the existing army manpower back into a small professional force with a limited conscript element. The report arrived as the Government was discussing the future of conscription and commencing a long- term defence review which meant that the League’s proposals were studied in detail by the War Office and Ministry of Defence at the behest of defence ministers. Therefore the report and the Government’s response to it add to our understanding both of the formation of defence policy immediately prior to the Suez crisis and of an alternative policy based on an aggressive response to further decolonization and anti-colonialism based on national security concerns. 2 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter One: Leo Amery Military Expert ................................................................................ 17 Military History or Selective Version of War ............................................................................ 25 Army Reform ............................................................................................................................ 35 Chapter Two: Creating the Army League ................................................................................ 75 Munich ..................................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter Three: The Army, Home and Empire Defence League 1945-1951 ......................... 107 The New League .................................................................................................................... 120 Chapter Four: From Study Group to Pressure Group ........................................................... 144 Suez Canal Base ..................................................................................................................... 156 African Army.......................................................................................................................... 159 Chapter Five: Army League Report 1955 .............................................................................. 172 Auxiliary Service Corps .......................................................................................................... 187 An African Army .................................................................................................................... 192 Foreign Legion ....................................................................................................................... 193 Structural Reorganization of the Army .................................................................................. 194 Air Transport ......................................................................................................................... 196 Simplification of Equipment .................................................................................................. 201 Commonwealth Cooperation ................................................................................................ 202 The Kind of Army We Need ................................................................................................... 203 Imperial Gendarmerie .................................................................................................. 204 Chapter Six: The 1956 Defence Review and Sandys White Paper ....................................... 206 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 224 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 227 1. Archival Sources ......................................................................................................... 227 (i) Government Records .............................................................................................. 227 (ii) Private papers ......................................................................................................... 227 2. Published Sources ...................................................................................................... 228 (i) Government Publications ....................................................................................... 228 (ii) Parliamentary Records ............................................................................................ 229 (iii) Newspapers ............................................................................................................ 229 (iv) Books and articles ................................................................................................... 230 3 Introduction In 1937 Leo Amery Member of Parliament (MP) formed The Army, Home and Empire League (Army League) to campaign for rearmament and the introduction of conscription. Leo Amery a former Cabinet minister and journalist had spent many years campaigning for Army reform and the introduction of national service before the First World War. He was veteran pressure group campaigner with many years of experience publicising military and imperial issues to the public and the government. The creation of the Army League in 1937 was his response to appeasement and what he considered to be mismanagement of the defence effort. The League’s activities in the late 1930s included the publication of A Policy For the Army in 1937. In 1938 the Army League became the Citizens Service League and campaigned for the introduction of conscription prior to the start of the Second World War. The pre-war League had an active membership of several thousand. The League in the 1930s produced a monthly pamphlet and held meetings and a national rally. The activities of the Citizens Service League were suspended in 1939 at the start of the Second World War. In 1948 Leo Amery decided to restart the League to campaign for better conditions of service for the Regular Army. In 1950 a study group was formed under the leadership of Leo Amery to write a report to highlight post-war defence issues and the impact of nuclear weapons on Army. The study group included Julian Amery and Basil Liddell Hart, who is considered to be one of greatest military thinkers and historians of his generation, both of whom were its most active contributors. In November 1955 the Army League published the Army in the Nuclear Age: An Report by the Army Study Group.1 Both reports were designed to inform the public and influence Government opinion concerning the Army and defence issues. The League’s 1937 report was intended to promote the Army to the general public. The 1955 report attempted to articulate a British Army strategy for the nascent ‘nuclear age’. The report also attempted set out a plan for a reorganisation of the Army to reflect the ‘modern conditions’ of the mid 1950s. However, the report did not influence Government policy and must be viewed as a failure. This thesis seeks to explore Leo Amerys association with the Army League and the preparation and publication of the 1937 and 1955 report’s. The League was comprised of a group of distinguished ex- Army officers, serving Members of Parliament from both sides of the political spectrum, including several ex-Cabinet Ministers and contemporary experts on military affairs. They represented a substantial amount of expertise
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