This article explores officer capability and culture of the Australian army before the First World War, in particular those officers who held infantry battalion commands. Although the men who served in Australia’s part-time citizen army as infantry battalion commanders showed dedication and enthusiasm for soldiering, they were under-developed as infantry commanders, owing to time constraints and general under-investment in officer education and training. Officers who became battalion commanders were also relatively old, and their rise through the ranks was facilitated more by social position, rather than competence or experience. As a result, those Citizen Forces battalion commanders who enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force largely failed to carry out commands effectively in wartime, an indictment on the state of the Australian Army before the First World War.

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在主要比赛之前：第一次世界大战之前的澳大利亚公民步兵营指挥官

本文探讨了第一次世界大战之前澳大利亚军队的军官能力和文化，特别是担任步兵营司令部的那些军官。尽管在澳大利亚兼职国民军中担任步兵营指挥官的士兵表现出了奉献精神和对兵役的热情，但由于时间紧迫以及军官教育和培训的总体投入不足，他们的步兵指挥官发展不成熟。成为营长的军官年龄也相对较大，他们晋升的原因更多是社会地位而不是能力或经验。结果，那些在澳大利亚帝国军队中入伍的公民部队营指挥官在战时很大程度上未能有效地执行指挥，