Chapter VI: The Staff

HEAD-QUARTERS

Each of the various formations of Troops just described is completed by appointing its Commander and providing him with a _Staff_--that is, a body of Staff Officers to assist him in the duties of Command. The Commander and his Staff form what is known as the _Head-Quarters_ of every Command. Those of the Commander-in-Chief are termed _General Head-Quarters_, those of an Army Commander _Army Head-Quarters_, and so on, down to _Brigade Head-Quarters_.

COMPOSITION OF HEAD-QUARTERS

Head-Quarters consist essentially of the _Commander_ with his _Personal Staff_, and of the Staff Officers constituting the _Staff_ proper, which it is the object of this chapter to describe in detail.

The Personal Staff needs little remark. It comprises the officers acting as _Aides de Camp_ to the Commander, and in important Head-Quarters there is also a _Military Secretary_. These officers act as confidential secretaries to their Chief, carry his Orders, manage his household, and arrange for its movements. Their relations with their Chief are more personal than official, and they are not considered to be Staff Officers.

Besides the Staff, there are generally attached to Head-Quarters a number of other Officers, such as those of Administrative Services, and in some armies Officers of Artillery or Engineers. But these cannot be properly called Staff Officers, as they have only a limited sphere of action in the Command, while they perform definite executive and administrative functions in their own sphere. The action of _Staff Officers_, on the contrary, ranges over the whole Command, but they have no personal responsibility or executive functions. In fact they are useful appendages to each link of the chain of Command, but not actually links in it themselves.

In addition to _Officers_, there are always connected with Head-Quarters a number of subordinates, such as interpreters, clerks, police, printers, lithographers, telegraphists, signallers, cyclists, motor-car drivers, orderlies, and postal employees, as well as grooms, servants, cooks, and drivers for the wagons which transport the offices and baggage of the Head-Quarters.

Head-Quarters are therefore so large as to form virtually a Unit in themselves. This Unit requires a _Commandant_, or Officer responsible for its movement, quartering, and discipline, with perhaps a Quarter-Master-Sergeant to assist him. There would generally be with each Head-Quarters a small body of Military Police to maintain discipline, and Medical and Veterinary Officers to take charge of the health of the officers, men, and horses at Head-Quarters. The safety of Head-Quarters is so important that they must be provided also with Infantry to guard them, and Cavalry to form their escort when in rapid movement.

VARIETIES OF STAFF

The number and description of Staff Officers allotted to a Command depend on its importance, and on the duties they have to perform.

The duty of the Staff Officer is defined as follows in British Field Service Regulations: “To assist the Commander in the supervision and control of the operations and requirements of the Troops, to transmit his Orders, and to assist the Troops in carrying them out.” In the British Service these duties are divided among three Branches of the Staff--the _General Staff_, the _Adjutant-General’s Branch_, and that of the _Quarter-Master-General_.

The Staff has in foreign armies become differentiated into two Branches--the _Routine Staff_, which the Germans style _Adjutantur_; and the _General Staff_, which assists the Commander in all matters directly affecting the fighting. The Prussian General Staff is nearly a century old, and forms in general features a model of the General Staff more recently instituted in other armies. Its development from the Quarter-Master-General’s Staff is sketched in the historical part of this work.

A short analysis of the main duties devolving on these different branches of the Staff will now be given.

THE GENERAL STAFF

The purpose of the Commander is to defeat his enemy, and in endeavouring to effect this object he has two main pre-occupations:

1. To watch the movements and forecast the plans of the enemy.

2. To make his own plans, and to decide on the movements and distribution of his forces required to carry them out.

In order that the Commander may devote his whole attention to these vital matters, he should be as far as possible relieved from details, and these fall within the province of his General Staff.

We thus see that the main duties of the General Staff should correspond to those laid down for the General, and may be summed up under the following heads:

1. _Intelligence_, to enable the Commander to watch the enemy’s
movements, and make his plans.

2. _Operations_, by which his plans are carried out.

Each of these headings comprises an immense amount of detailed work, which cannot be here dwelt on further than to indicate its general scope.

1. _Intelligence_ means collecting information about the enemy and
the theatre of war, from every possible source, and arranging
for its transmission to Head-Quarters, to be examined and
collated, and then laid before the Commander. This subject
also includes everything connected with maps and topographical
information, as well as Press Censorship, and provision of
interpreters and guides.

2. _Operations_ include:

(_a_) Working out details of dispositions and movements of
troops, as to their _units_ and _numbers_, with especial
attention to _place_ and _time_, and attention to the security
of the troops in movement and at rest.

(_b_) Embodying the Commander’s plans in clear and concise
“Operation Orders.”

(_c_) Transmitting these Orders with certainty and despatch.

(_d_) Watching, and ensuring, their due execution.

The services of _Inter-communication_ must be carried on under the control of the General Staff, so as to ensure the rapid transmission of Information to, and Orders from, Head-Quarters.

But in addition to the above responsibilities which fall on the General Staff, there are also Staff duties involved in assisting the Commander to keep his Command in a state of efficiency, which depends on the following requirements:

First, that its organization, discipline, health, and numbers be kept up.

Secondly, that its material wants be met.

These duties do not bear directly on the fighting, and so do not fall to the General Staff, but to the other branches.

THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S BRANCH (A.G.)

Duties under the first heading are undertaken by the Staff of the _Adjutant-General_, which deals with the following matters affecting the personnel of the Command: discipline, law, and police; pay, interior economy, and routine Orders; casualties and returns; appointments, promotions, and rewards; reinforcements, and organization of improvised units and local levies; the disposal of prisoners; collecting the wounded and burying the dead. All possible office work in connection with these matters should be done at the Base, so as not to burden the Troops in the Field with clerical work carried on under difficulties.

Since the Adjutant-General’s Branch is responsible for the _health_ of the Force, the Medical Services are placed under its control in the British Service. In foreign armies they are administered by their own Heads at Head-Quarters of Divisions and Army Corps, under the control of the General Staff.

THE QUARTER-MASTER-GENERAL’S BRANCH (Q.M.G.)

The second heading (supplying the material wants of the Army) comprises, besides the duties of the Medical Services mentioned above, those of the Supply, Store, Transport, and other Administrative Services. The work of the latter is carried out in detail by the Heads of those Services, who are under the control of the _Quarter-Master-General’s_ Staff in the British Service. In foreign armies, where there is no Q.M.G.’s Staff, they are under a Civilian Official called the _Intendant_, who works under the control of the General Staff in each Command.

The British Staff Organization, which concentrates these Administrative Services under the Q.M.G., is no doubt a better arrangement. It relieves the General Staff of pre-occupation regarding their working, and minimizes any failure of adjustment between the Field Units and the Services on the Lines of Communication, by charging a special Branch of the Staff with their co-ordination.

STAFF OF SUBORDINATE COMMANDS

The above description of Staff work refers in its entirety only to General, or Army, Head-Quarters, but a similar organization of Staff is applicable on a smaller scale to Head-Quarters of Subordinate Commands. In small Head-Quarters the same Staff Officer may have to undertake more than one set of duties.

IMPORTANCE OF THE STAFF

The importance to the Army of a competent Staff can be judged from the above account of their duties. The Staff forms the nervous system of the Command. The better trained the Staff, the more free will the General be to concentrate his attention on the situation, and his Subordinate Commanders to carry out his plans with co-operating intelligence. Good Staff Officers, it has been well said, are eyes, ears, and hands to their Chief.

NUMBER OF OFFICERS ALLOTTED TO THE STAFF

In organizing the Staff of any Command it is desirable to keep the number of Officers at a minimum, as not only does every appointment to the Staff weaken some fighting unit, but a better selection is possible if there are only a few appointments to fill. There will be also less difficulty in finding accommodation in the field for a small Head-Quarters, and less delay or confusion in moving it. It should not be forgotten, too, that there will not always be enough work for a large Staff to do, and that, when men are not fully occupied, mischief and friction are apt to arise.