N.Z. Gunners9 Role

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31032, 12 April 1966, Page 7

N.Z. Gunners 9 Role

(From CAPTAIN E. J. McKINNEY) BIEN HOA. In the eight months that they have been in Vietnam gunners of the 161st battery have learned that contact with the enemy is made not only by the infantry, but that their gun position can become the frontline of this revolutionary war, too.

There are no front lines. As with infantry patrols, the peace of the gun position can be shattered by mortars lobbing into the position, by the crack of a rifle which signals a sniper, or on the road by a vehicle being destroyed by a conunand-detonated mine. The gunners have also learned that their tactics of battle have to be flexible. Every day in Vietnam means something new.

Today the battery, by dint of hard work and accurate shooting, is known throughout the southern half of Vietnam as the Kiwi battery. In the last eight months it has supported every battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, to which it is attached, battalions of the Ist Infantry Division, Vietnamese battalions and recently United States and Special Forces groups. In this time it has fired 18,000 rounds in support of close contacts, preparatory fire on landing zones, harrassing fire, to keep the Viet Cong on the move and close defensive fire to stop penetration of the infantry's perimeter at night All this has called for speed, accuracy, a thorough knowledge of allied gun procedures and versatility. It has meant high explosive, white phos-

pharous, airburst and coloured rounds, either fired alone or mixed to gain a special effect which the forward observers wanted. Routes Bombarded

The gunners never know what will be required of them when a contact is made and initial fire is called for. Sometimes escape routes are bombarded. Sometimes only a few rounds are required. At other times the battery has fired shells as fast as it can before darkness gives the Viet Cong an opportunity to slip away. During the Bao Trai operation, the battery fired 1000

rounds in support of a forward observer with an American battalion, which was locked with a Viet Cong battalion. No matter how many rounds are required, all have to be on target

The fighting often takes place at only a few yards. During the Vo Xu operation, when the Australian battalion was clearing a village, the two sweep companies and the

company providing the block came under accurate and heavy small-arms fire. In the ensuing fire-fight the air observer directed the battery while all three forward observers with the companies provided correction. Afterwards a battery surveyer on the gun position was heard to say: “Well that is the first time that I have heard of four observers directing a battery on the same target. I was never taught that at the school of artillery.” The guns have been moved and deployed in action, slung underneath or broken inside an Iroquois helicopter. To deploy the four guns, 60 gunners and about 100 rounds of ammunition the battery has found that four Iroquois are necessary for each gun and its detachment. This has given the battery great mobility. Two Loads In Vietnam, because each helicopter carries two pilots, two door gunners and because of the heat, its tropical load ability is considerably below that of its European figures. Consequently the gun has to be carried in two loads —the trail and recoil system in one lift and the barrel and tools on the second.

Recently the battery was also deployed in action with the H-47 Chinook helicopter. This “flying boxcar” poses no problems, because each machine is capable of carryilng 90001 b. Consequently only six helicopters are required to lift the complete gun position.

The gunners have found themselves jacks-of-all-trades. In one operation the guns were driven in utility vehicles to their initial deployment positions, deployed again by utilities, lifted over the jungle by helicopters for yet another deployment, and then taken back to base by road. Home for the battery, which is the fourth firing battery of the 3rd Battalion, 319th Field Artillery, is the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s base at Bien Hoa—ls miles northeast of Saigon. The battery’s area is caked in dust in the dry season and flooded during the monsoon. By hard work and ingenuity the gunners have made it comfortable. Home for the gunners is a 200-yard-square piece of territory surrounded by a high multi-barbed wire fence. In the gun area, thick sandbagged walls surround each gun pit, and leading off from this is an underground ammunition bay and small-arms firing pits. Behind each gun is a tent in which the duty gun detachments sleep. Between the gun area and the administrptive

area is the living accommodation.

Four men share each tent with ridge poles on top of ammunition boxes and with wooden walls made from the same materials.

The administrative area consists of the cookhouse, waggon lines, officers’ and sergeants’ messes, the canteen and the gunners’ recreation room. AU the messes and recreation areas have been built in the last two months, mostly with material “charmed” from other units and organisations.