LIVE SHOOT AT TEKAPO

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28805, 28 January 1959, Page 10

LIVE SHOOT AT TEKAPO

Exercise For 3rd Field Regiment

Approximately 800 rounds of ammunition, mostly high explosive, but some of it airburst fuse, will be fired in four days’ live shooting by the 3rd Field Regiment in annual camp «t Tekapo next month.

The regiment is the champion artillery unit in New Zealand.

Two shoots will be held. The first, on February 20 and 21, will be under the control of the regiment’s commanding officer (Lieu-tenant-Colonel R. K. Baker, of Christchurch); and the second, on February 23 and 24, under the control of the senior gunner in the New Zealand Division (Brigadier S. F. Catchpole, of Auckland), whose designation is Commander, Royal Artillery.

Two batteries from Dunedin and one from Christchurch will attend the camp which starts on February 13. Preliminary training will include gun drill, servicing, communications, and technical work. After the initial preparation the regiment will carry out its exercises in the year’s phase of tactical warfare—the deliberate withdrawal. The regiment will be dug in and will retire several miles, as batteries leapfrog each other, so as to provide covering fire and take up a position to the rear. Aerial Spotting Army pilots flying Auster artillery spotting aircraft will make flights from the Mount John airstrip to observe targets and test camouflage of gun and /command pits. The planes will be flown by two Regular Force officers. Captain T. G. Martin, of Hamilton, and Captain A. R. Vail, of Papakura. The presence of an aerial component will mean extra ammunition for the regiment to fire. Each of the suotter-officers is said to be “worth” 20 rounds.

Included in the consignment of ammunition that will be taken to the Lake Tekapo manoeuvring area for the shoots will be approximately 25 rounds of clockwork fuse and about 34 rounds of radar proximity fuse, which was used with a good deal of success against massed infantry attacks by Chinese troops during the Korean fighting. Visitors to the unit’s camp are expected to be the Vice-Chief of the General Staff of the Army (Brigadier R. C. Queeree) and the Colonel Commandant of Southern Military District Artillery (Major-General G. B. Parkinson, of Christchurch). On Sunday. February 22, the regiment will conduct its annual competitions and parade before Brigadier Catchpole, who will later present trophies. In the afternoon the camp will be open for public inspection.

During the exercises troops will live in the field with their guns and draw rations and ammunition on a war-time basis.