N.Z. Troops In S.E.A.T.O. Exercise

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30155, 12 June 1963, Page 9

N.Z. Troops In S.E.A.T.O. Exercise

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright)

BANGKOK, June 11.

More than 24,000 officers and men from eight nations will spend the next two weeks in the flat, swamp plains of north-east Thailand taking part in a ground defence exercise, the largest of its type ever held by the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation. The exercise will take place from June 12 to 19, and end with a parade through the streets of Bangkok.

Troops from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan and France have been pouring into Thailand over the last few weeks. With men from the host nat.on they have been hurried upcounitry to establish camp before the south-west monsoon starts. The object of the exercise is to train the forces of the S.E.A.T.O. member nations in defensive measures against ’’all and any aggression" and to familiarise them with the teirrain of the treaty area. It envisages a Communist insurrection in a hypothetical country which has appealed to S.E.A.T.O. for aid. This will be followed by simulated open aggression against one country and aimost immediately against another country. The S.E.A.T.O. forces will effect a controlled withdrawal to a position from which a counter-attack can be mounted. Large Airdrop With most action taking place close to’ Thailand’s frontier with Laos, the exercise will include a massive airdrop of men and material by the 503rd airborne battle group of the United States infantry. The group, which won its greatest battle honours in the recovery of Corregidor in the Philippines at the end of World War Two, will stage the biggest drop of men and cargo to be made in Southeast Asia. Combat troops taking part in the field manoeuvres will be split into two forces, called Sierra and Tango. Besides the paratroops, Force Sierra will include the 25th Division Task Force of the United States Army and the 28th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade Group. The latter consist of the Ist Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, the Ist New Zealand Regiment, and the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment. The Philippines will be represented by an ordnance company and an engmeercombait company. Force Tango will include troops from the Thai 3rd Infantry Division and the 4th Regimental Combat team. Jungle Ambush Commonwealth troops who are highly trained in jungle warfare, will demonstrate an ambush designed to show the movement of small relief forces into difficult terrain by helicopters. Supersonic fighters—Hunters and Sabres—and Canberra bombers will show their

firepower in a demonstration on June 12 attended by the King of Thailand. i

The commander of the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation field forces, Lieutenant-General J. K. Wollnough (United States), will supervise the exercise.

Under him will be a multinational, multi-lingual staff from the eight S.E.A.T.O. nations who will work in collaboration with the director of the exercise, General Citti, of Thailand.

The exercise is felt by observers to be especially significant with the Pathet Lao only a few miles from the Thai border in the north-east and continued troubles in South Vietnam to the southeast.

The exercise will be the biggest and most impressive of the 25 S.E.A.T.O. exercises held since 1956. It is the third to be held this training year.