The Press THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1942. Training to Beat Japan

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23745, 17 September 1942, Page 4

The Press THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1942. Training to Beat Japan

Newspaper comment in Australia on the fighting in New Guinea continues to emphasise the need for new military methods if tne Japanese are to be beaten. The Japanese, in Malaya, in Burma, and in NevGuinea, have successfully used methods which their opponents have not been trained and equipped to counter or to turn against them. They have managed to by-pass or penetrate supposedly impregnable natural and artificial barriers; and they will continue to do so, however bravely and resolutely tney are opposed, until their opponent) themselves discard rules of training which have proved ineffective in all the campaigns so far fought on land against these tricky, unorthodox foes. Four of the points made by the war correspondent of the Sydney “ Daily Telegraph ” (Mr Osmar White) should be accepted and developed in the training of New Zealand soldiers to fight a possible campaign against the Japanese on their own shores. Our men [says Mr White] must be trained with almost fanatical thoroughness in \1) personal camouflage and concealment; (2) silent movement in all types of country both by day and by night; (3) the art of living on and in forest country with complete self-confidence, so that a week or a fortnight in the bush without fighting can be regarded as a rest; (4) close quarters sniping, involving the greatest patience and ability to keep still for many hours in uncomfortable positions. Here in New Zealand New Zealanders must be taught, and taught quickly, to adapt themselves to the type of fighting best suited to the terrain in which they will have to resist any attempted Japanese invasion of this country. They have, or should have, the overwhelming advantage in the first place of knowing the country over which they will have to operate; and they have further, if the military authorities are ready to exploit it, the advantage of being able to use the brains and experience of many men who have used the outdoors for their pleasure or profit over many years. Naturalists, mountaineers, deer stalkers, and pig-hunters could all contribute more to the instruction of soldiers in the art of fighting over their own country than they can learn on the parade ground or in the books on manual training and text books on fleldcraft. It is for them and for the country far more important that they should know how to shoot, how to aim off for wind and movement, how to move silently, swiftly, and unseen over all kinds of country, how to ford rivers, and how to subsist on what is available when army stores are far away, than that they should be able to go through parade ground evolutions or arms drill with faultless precision. The Japanese have taught us the invaluable lesson that tough, self-reliant, disciplined troops can be made without elaborate parade ground exercises. Many of the men who may have to fight are too old to become smart parade ground soldiers; they are not too old to acquire—and many already have—expert knowledge of field and bush craft and thorough command of the rifle. It is time to forget the outmoded notion that the parade ground is the only place to beget discipline and co-ordination of movement, and to set vigorously about the job of turning the splendid material at hand into tough, rugged, and resourceful fighters who can shoot to kill and who can outmanoeuvre, outwit, and outfight the most dangerous enemy that may come against them. In the words of the Sydney “ Sun,” “We “ must overhaul our entire concept ‘ of waging war against the Japanese. We must beat the Japanese at his own game—out-scheme, “out-infiltrate him, and always try “ to get in the first blow.”