ARMY TACTICAL EXERCISE

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27150, 21 September 1953, Page 3

ARMY TACTICAL EXERCISE

ENEMY “ATTACK” ON CANTERBURY

INFANTRY OFFICERS’ TRAINING

An attack on an imaginary enemy advancing on Canterbury across the Southern Alps was planned by officers of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 2nd New Zealand Division in a week-end “TEWT” (tactical exercise without troops) which finished yesterday. About 40 officers, mostly majors or higher ranks, went to Burnham Military Camp to attend the exercise. Nearly all of them served overseas in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The exercise was conducted by the brigade major, Major R. N. Grigu Visitors to Burnham tor the exercise included Brigadier C. B. Weir (representing the Divisional Commander), Major-General W. G. Gentry (Chief of the General Staff), Brigadier A. E. McPhail (Brigade Commander), and Colonel W. S. McKinnon (Divisional Headquarters Staff). A force from “Fantasia,” the officers were told on Saturday morning, had invaded the North Island, and a subsidiary landing had been made at Hokitika. A brigade group based on Greymouth was holding the enemy at Kumara, and was blocking the main route over the Alps. The possibility of the enemy assault being supported by parachute troops, dropped on the Canterbury plains, was mentioned, and the 2nd New Zealand Division was to be prepared to move at an hour’s notice in an anti-parachute role.

At the opening session on Saturday morning, the officers, formed into six syndicates, studied the problem of the order of march for the brigade in its advance towards the Alps to meet the enemy. Small-scale maps and aerial photographs of the country to be traversed were issued to each syndicate for the exercise.

Comment By Brigade Major Commenting on tne syndicates’ answers to this problem, Major Grigg said that the country between Christchurch and the mountains was ideal tank country, and that, this should be a major factor in deciding the disposition of any force. In the afternoon, a convoy of land rovers took the officers from Burnham to the main West Coast road. The convoy pulled into a side road beyond Darfield, where each syndicate was given an hour to find a solution to another problem. The brigade’s advance had reached this point, it was presumed, before striking any opposition. The brigade’s orders were to hold the invaders at Arthur’s Pass, if possible, or on the Canterbury side of the Alps. To this end, it was vital to overcome speedily any opposition from advance units of the enemy.

The first contact with the enemy was made at Racecourse Hill, where one of the brigade’s armoured cars was knocked out by a self-propelled gun. The crew, escaping from the vehicle, were fired on from a house ~»y small arms fire. Some of the brigade’s troops were held up by the enemy at Waddington, and aerial reconnaissance established the presence of other enemy forces in the area. Each syndicate was aske< to describe the appropriate action to be taken, listing all the necessary orders in correct sequence. Racecourse Hill “Taken” Racecourse Hill was finally “taken" in a night attack, and yesterday morning the officers visited the hill to discuss problems of organising and maintaining supplies to a brigade stationed in the area. Finally, back at Burnham, a cloth model of the area, which was particularly useful for explaining the use of artillery, was studied. The objects of the exercise were summed up for a reporter by Colonel McKinnon as: (1) the study of the grouping that a military force of the nature of the brigade would adopt in an advance; and (2) the mechanics of a quick attack by an advance guard.

“The integration of the various arms is basic in the training of an infantry division,” said Colonel McKinnon. “It is the infantry, primarily, who fight the battles, but ail the other arms are there to assist them.” A feature of the role played in the Middle East campaign in the last war by the New Zealand Division was its speed and hitting power, he said. The lesson learnt in those years had been incorporated in the plan outlined at this exercise.

Lqst year defence had been the theme of training for the division; the emphasis this year was on attack, he said.