MECHANISED ARTILLERY MANOEUVRES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22308, 24 January 1938, Page 13

MECHANISED ARTILLERY MANOEUVRES

♦ WEEK-END CAMP NEAIi HALKETT The Ninth and Tenth Field Batteries New Zealand Artillery, held a combined week-end camp near Halke*:. 20 miles north-west of Christchum. . The first move from the barracks. w:;a i the personnel mounted on light recor.- • naisance vans and heavy trucks. w:« to the ordnance depot at Burnham. :» ; I collect the guns which had been undergoing a further operation in the process of mechanising the artillery. I The old iron-shod wooden wheels rie- I signed for the slower speed of hor.-e ' transport have now been replaced bv steel disc wheels with large pneurnav.e tyres, which enable the euns to be drawn by the lorries at 30 miles art | hour. From Burnham the batteries made a ' tactical advance in ihD direction oC the Waimakariri river, carrying out a brigade movement as part of their, training for the annual camp at Si: - .- ton. Central Otaeo. where three batteries and the southern depot of the Corps of Signals will engage in artillery brigade manoeuvres and lac.iral exercises. Late in the afternoon a meal w.»s prefaced by the battery personnel, and camp was pitched. A few tents had been brought, but most of the troo:>* preferred to improvise their sleeping accommodation under service conditions. Tarpaulins were used, and bivouac shelters were erected. On the following day after returning to Christchurch the training was concluded in the barracks, where intensive gun drill was carried out in pr~« paration for the annual live «h«Il practice next month.