OUR RIFLEMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 60, 12 March 1926, Page 3

OUR RIFLEMEN.

GKOtJP FIRE DEMONSTRATION.

MACHINE GUNS IN ACTION;

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) TRENTHAM, Thursday.

The third day of the army rifle meeting brings the shooting near the end. Unusually fine weather all the week enabled the programme to be got through ■without a hitch", and nothing remains to be -done but the firing for the King's medal, open to the hundred highest aggregates in the championship series. I Fine as was the morning, this afterInoon was even better, practically "wind;less, with a steady bright light. Apart : from the teams' matches and the battle practice match for territorials, the most interesting feature of the afternoon was a demonstration of the effects of grouped I rifle fire and different types of machine!gun fire. Groups of figure targets were I placed on the hillside behind the ordinary 'target line. A party of 16 riflemen had '2yo. 1 "enemy" group, the "Hotehkiss [gun team No. 2,' the Lewis gun team ! Xo. 3, and the Yiekers gun team No. 4. ■On their right flank a staff officer and 'all men not shooting were in the target i trench, from which a view of tfie target 'groups was obtainable, and the effect of the fire was observable. The riflemen fired first, and in the opinion of men of wide experience who I were watching the target group, it is J doubtful if anything better has been done [by any similar team anywhere in the I world. The fire was well maintained.and distributed over the area occupied by the j ''enemy" and the rattle of the bullets on ; the wooden figures as the firefs trai versed their guns from side, to side, was !like hail on a roof during the period bf one minute.. The Hotchkiss, ' LewisT and Vickers teams brought their pieces to bear successively on the other "enemy" groups, and in each case the target figures and the ground in the. vicinity were subjected to a species of '•friglitfulness" that brought back to ex-service men memories of stirring incidents with Fritz in the : field. To others it was ah eye-opener as to what "the boys'' so often facexl when they went so blithely '""over the top." i ; General Young and the other officers were highly pleased with the demonstration a<l a whole, and the general took the opportunity on the spot in the trench to impress on all observers the lessons to be learned from what they had seen. •On returning to the firing mound he congratulated the gun parties. Northern Team's Win. Immediately afterwards- the Northern Command "team scored a smart win over the Southern Command in a- tile competition at 200 yards. The Northerns had all their ten tiles down in less than lOsecs, !and their opponents left only two standing. It was a remarkable performance. To-night 15 Vickers teams carried out a. match in the dark. Each team leader before dark had" noted the bearing of the "enemy's" position and marked a place for his gun. At the appointed time after dark the teams took station, and, aided only by a small aiming lamp, placed some ! distance from the firing position, the men ■in turn fired 50 rounds each at the enemy wrapped in the darkness. Some were 600 yards aiSray.' Everything was done in the darkness, but the guns were j working well, and although it was the first time the match had been fired, the [men were keen, and quickly fell into the jrun of the game. It was an interesting' 'piece of work, although lacking the spectacular-effects of last nisht's competition. The results will not" be known until morning. Territorial battle practice, on the same lines as the cadets in the morning, was completed in the afternoon, and created a good deal of interest. The results were :— Northern Command, 453 points, £9. Southern Command. 3G2 points. £4 10/. Central Command, 3GO points, £4 10/. The Regimental Teams. The Regimental Teams Rifle Hatch, for teams of eight, resulted : Permanent Force (Central Depot), G32 points. £10. 1; Ist Battalion Wellington Resriment. 60?. points Sl2. 2: New Zealand Naval Division, 590 pqiurs. £10, 3 ; Ist Battalion Auckland Regiment. 3ST points, £S. 4; Ist Waikato Regiment, 56S points, £6. 5 ; Permanent Staff (Southern), 559 points, £4, G. Twenty-four teams competed. . Viekers Machine Gun. Match Fire, with movement, three bursts of one belt each time while traversing the ground from 600 to , 300 yards, Vickers Challenge Trophy — Bth Mounted Eifles (Marlborough),' 91 points, £10 and trophy; Ist Mounted Rifles (Canterbury), 71 points, £7 10/; Ist Battalion Hawke's Bay Regiment (Napier), 64 points, £5 5/: Ist Battalion Auckland Regiment. 62 points, £2 10/- Ist Wellington-West Coast Regiment, 60 points Sixteen teams competed. Services Match, teams rifle match, eight, men a-side. Challenge Shield.—New Zealand. Permanent Force, 660 points. £ S and shield; New Zealand Naval. Division, I SSS points. £6; Northern Command Territorials, 54S points, £2. Six teams comI peted. ] Command Cadet Teams' Match. ei<*ht ! cadets and leader, C.A.C. Shield I Northern Command No. 1, 542 points k 4 10/ : Northern No. 2, 514 points. £2 5/ ■ Southern No-. 1, 467 points; Southern No' 2, 465 points; Central Xo. 1, 459 pointsCentral No. 2. 454 points. Stafford Challenge Shfeld, for best aggregate in three, machine gun matches Ist Battalion Auckland Regiment 758 points, 1. ' ' °