Field Exercises Begin

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31583, 22 January 1968, Page 1

Field Exercises Begin

One hundred and twenty Army vehicles left Bumham Military Camp between 8.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. yesterday carrying men of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Group’s units to other parts of Canterbury for field exercises. The tented camp for 1800 men at the rear of the camp

has dwindled, and only about 200 soldiers will remain therfi for the three days of the training exercises. These will include brigade headquarters staff and supporting staff. The training exercises will be controlled and co-ordin-ated from Burnham. The field exercises are designed to test the Territorials’ mastery of the skills taught them in the last year’s training. Umpires accompanying each unit will assist in an analysis of the training. Fifty vehicles carried men of the 4th Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, to Lees Valley for jungle exercises in which their activities will be thwarted wherever possible by a force made up of men from the battalion depot at Burnham.

Men of the 3rd Field Regiment will today begin firing live shells in the Lake Tekapo area. Accompanying them as an observer is the Colonel-Commandant of the Royal New Zealand Artillery (Brigadier R. C. Queree). Engineering tasks in the Port Levy area will be the lot of the 3rd Independent Field Squadron, and men of the 3rd Field Ambulance will set up an advance dressing station near Staveley which will be under “enemy” attack. Units of the ambulance section are also with the soldiers training in. Lees Valley and at Lake Tekapo. The 3rd Transport Company

will establish its base at Little Malaya, near Oxford, and it will move obsolete ammunition from the Glentunnel magazine to Lyttelton. About 400 tons of ammunition will be dumped off the Canterbury coast by H.M.N.Z.S. Endeavour at the end of the month. Men of the brigade’s signals squadron are attached to each of the units in the field. The brigade’s group’s “open day” on Saturday drew between 1500 and 2000 members of the public. The camp took on something of the air of a country fair as units of the brigade participated in tabloid sports. The 31st Battery of the 3rd Field Regiment (based in Dunedin) took the honours at the sports meeting.