Live-firing 'attack’ by Territorial battalion

Press, 8 December 1978, Page 3

Live-firing ' attack’ by Territorial battalion

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DOUGLAS HODGE

Standing on an exposed hilltop, I heard American 105 mm howitzers of 32E Battery, 3rd Field Regiment, and 81mm mortars of the 2nd Battalion (Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast), Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment pounding simulated enemy positions on Trig 1925, on the left bank of the Waihao River. Bravo (Christchurch) Company was carrying out its allotted task of assaulting an enemy platoon firmly entrenched behind minefields and extensive barbed wire entanglements.

Encamped at Waimate since November 25. artillergymen of 32E Battery, commanded by Major W. Wright, and 380 members of the country’s senior infantry battalion, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. Menzies, will strike camp on Sunday. The 2nd Battalion will exercise its rights by parading its Colours through Timaru on Saturday. The first three days training at the annual camp were spent at the Waimate showgrounds, after which Alpha (West Coast), Bravo, Charlie (South Canterbury), and [

Delta (Nelson-Marlborough) companies moved to the Hunters Hills for intensified training'. Associated with them in camp are the Support Company (Christchurch and Blenheim) and an administration company from Christchurch.

Section testing involved 30 miles marching in full battle-order, helicopter drills, and training with armoured personnel carriers, culminating with each of the four rifle companies carrying out a live-firing attack supported by the battalion mortars and the supporting artillery battery.

This afternoon, there will be an air strike by R.N.Z.A.F. Skyhawks in the Hunters Hills.

The battalion band has played at hospitals and schools in the area, and it will lead the unit in the Freedom of the City of Timaru parade. Among the “observers” at the annual camp are two officers and nine non-com-missioned-officers of the University of New South Wales Regiment, based in Sydney. This Australian Territorial Force unit is affiliated to the 2nd Battalion, as is the Queen’s Regi-

( ment, represented by Sergeant A. G. Branch, who is on attachment to 2/1 Battalion, R.N.Z.1.R., at Burnham.

The independent company live-firing work enabled the battalion, in theory, to establish a block position after the objective had been consolidated.

From the pick-up zone below Pentland Hill, the troops were flown in an R.N.Z.A.F. Iroquois helicopter to the assembly area at the back of Mount MacLeod. After an approach march of 6000 m over a 2675 ft saddle to the forming-up place, the infantry assaulted the “enemy” position using live ammunition in their 1000 m advance against enfilading fire over open, rolling tussock country. Their weapons showed the modern infantryman’s tremend o u s fire power. Equipped with 7.62 mm selfloading rifles, general purpose machine guns, M 79 40mm grenade launchers, Ml 6 light semi-automatic weapons, 2in mortars (for smoke and night illumination) and the 40mm M 203 (a combination of the M 79 and Ml 6), the troops advanced on a narrow front, handling the live firing exceptionally well.

Their supporting weapons were located at Kaiwarua station.

Three of 32E Battery’s six 105 mm guns, which only recently replaced the 25pounder field guns as the Army’s main artillery piece, bombarded the “enemy” at a range of 5000 m and two of the battalion’s six 81mm mortars also gave supporting fire. The attack went in as scheduled, and the accuracy of the main armament was such that the leading troops saw shells bursting on the ground behind the "enemy’s” forward defended localities. Lieutenant-Colonel Menzies had nothing but praise for all concerned in the

exercise. It was the first time for many years that the unit had had a chance of firing its own support weapons and also to have been associated with 32E Battery, 3rd Field Regiment, he said.

After years of being in South-East Asia, where the emphasis was on jungle warfare, the Army had reverted to training for conventional open warfare. Morale was high — the presence of women in the unit was also good for morale — and training had been centred on the section and the platoon, at which level leadership qualities were developed.

The commander of the helicopter detachment from No. 3 Squadron, R.N.Z.A.F., based at Wigram (its home base is Hobsonville), is Flight Lieutenant P. Keeble, who flew Hercules transport aircraft in the Royal Air Force. The Iroquois was piloted by Flying Officer K. A. Mathews. Low cloud, which contracted the width of the infantry’s frontal assault, was settling on the heights when the machine left the Waimate Showgrounds for the exercise area, but the weather improved temporarily after the “workhorse” touched down at the battalion command post. From the “non-tactical” battalion headquarters, I was taken by air to the concentration area where the airlifting of B Company to the assembly area was in progress. Fog was swirling round the wind-swept plateau when the last “sticks’’ (mostly from No. 5 Platoon, drawn from the Rangiora area), who had been training on armoured personnel carriers for two days, climbed on board the Iroquois which, on its return to camp, remained on standby in its new role — search and rescue.