WAR EXERCISES

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 179, 26 April 1941, Page 13

WAR EXERCISES

More Than 10,000 To Take Part SERVICE CONDITIONS Test Of Forces Of Central District More than 10,000 troops will be engaged next week in the Central Military District on the biggest manoeuvres held in New Zealand since the Great War. At least 1000 vehicles will be used, for the troops are to be shifted over an extensive area. While this transport will make easy their movement from place to place, the actual engagements of the manoeuvres will be in some of the most difficult country. Not only will there be hundreds of motor-vehicles but also a mounted brigade of approximately 1000 horse.

There is to be no play soldiering about these manoeuvres; the men will be tried out under conditions approximating as far as possible to actual war conditions In their own country. They will bivouac in the field, with two blankets and a groundsheet apiece, and be fed from field kitchens under campaigning conditions. The manoeuvres will be a testing ground for the value of the three months’ intensive training that the Territorial Force units engaged have already carried out. There will be a special job for Wellington’s own fortress troops, the Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment, for in the closing phase of the exercises (May 10-11) they will be attacking over the sector of country that it is their job, in the country’s defence scheme, to defend. Advance units concerned in the manoeuvres went to Palmerston North on Thursday and the main concefitrations will begin toward the end of next week. Among the large number of troops engaged will be two brigades, the 2nd Infantry Brigade, and the 2nd Mounted Rifles Brigade. An idea of the transport engaged can be gained from the official estimate of 10 hours to make the Rimutaka crossing. A general outline of the scheme was given “The Dominion” in a special interview by the officer commanding the Central Military District, Brigadier N. McD. Weir, N.Z.S.C. Enemy Landings Presumed. He said that the scale of the operation involved action by the Central Field Force, under Colonel L. Potter, N.Z.S.C., from an initial concentration at Palmerston North and Ashhurst against presumed enemy landings at Palliser Bay, Waikanae and Plimmerton. The enemy would be represented by the Manawatu Mounted Rifles (mechanized), artillery attached for the purpose of the manoeuvres, and independent mounted rifles units. In the final phase the Ist Battalion, TheWellington Regiment (City of Wellington’s Own), would take part from initial concentration areas at Featherston, moving later to Waikanae and finally ito Plimmerton. The first phase after concentration would be on May 5 with the movement of the Central Field Force from Palmerston North and Foxton to the Masterton and Levin areas respectively. The move to Masterton would be by motor transport using three routes and involving the construction of a pontoon bridge by engineers to enable one of the routes to be used. Where this bridge has to be made and of what size it will be, the engineers will not know till they are confronted with the problem. The distance of this move to Masterton will be 75 miles; if is hoped to complete it in seven to eight hours. Once there, an outpost line will be established on the Walngawa River. The move down, to Levin will 'be by the 2nd Mounted Rifles Brigade (Colonel W. R. Foley, M.C., V.D.) not using the roads at all but coming down inside that line of sandhill country on the west coast. First Contact. The next phase will be the first contact with the enemy in the vicinity of Carterton, Involving the preparation for and conduct of an attack against a defensive position occupied in depth. According to plan the attack will succeed and the enemy will withdraw. This done, the job will be to preserve contact with the enemy and keep him on the move. A night advance will follow, succeeded by a dawn attack on May 7 against thq main enemy position on Bidwell’s Ridge between Featherston and .Martinborough. While that is going on the 2nd Mounted Rifles Brigade wilj continue their move from Levin to the Waikanae area. This operation will entail cross-country movement and dismounted action with the flanking movement directed toward the landing area in that vicinity. That phase over, the Central Field Force, now in the Featherston area, will move on May 8 to the Hutt Valley, involving the crossing of the Rimutakas, using the only route available to mechanical transport; the main road. This crossing by mechanical vehicles will occupy 10 hours with the minimum density of vehicles to the mile to reduce interference with civilian traffic to the least possible. This crossing involves problems in anti-aircraft protection measures, traffic control by the provost corps and other details. A bivouac area will be occupied in the Upper Hutt Valley. Mass Attack. The final phase will be on May 10 and 11 involving an attack against an enemy landing at Plimmerton and Titahi Bay. This attack will be made in two directions; in the north, the 2nd -Mounted Rifles Brigade operating in the direction of Pukerua and across country to Paekakariki, and in the south by the infantry toward Titahi Bay. This will finish on Sunday afternoon, May 11. That night troops will return to’bivouac areas adjacent to the battle area. Next day the return move will be made to Palmerston North and Foxton; this will be by road. On May 14 the troops will disperse from the Palmerston North area. Brigadier Weir stressed that the manoeuvre was definitely a war operation. , , Tiie enemy force will be commanded by Colonel H. B. Maunsell and the defending force which, in operation, will attack, by Colonel Potter. Object of Exercise.

The object of the exercise for the men is to practise them under conditions approximating as far as can be reproduced to war, while commanders and staffs will be concerned with a series of lessons arising out of each particular phase. While the general scheme is known to officers they will have ‘.to meet the situations it brings about as they arise. The initial step from Palmerstou North will be a practice in the movement of troops from concentration areas to battle areas. Then comes the making of contact with the enemy, a study in problems involved in an attack against a defensive position occupied in depth and. having abased the enenm from such a position.

the next problem is to maintain contact and defeat him. Air Force Co-operation.

R.N.Z.A.F. planes will co-operate with the Central Field Force on reconnaissance and detection work. A tremendous amount of work goes Into the planning of a manoeuvre such as this. First the officer commanding' the district must decide the lesson he wants the participating forces to learn, and the next job is to write a situation bringing out those lessons. The third problem is to work out the necessary detail arising from the carrying out of an exercise with troops. This lastnamed phase has occupied several months. As part of the preparation there was a commanding officers’ and staff officers’ course at Trentham (one week), fa which refresher instruction was given in the general principles to guide them in meeting such a situation as is the base of the manoeuvres. The principal infantry force engaged will be the 2nd Infantry Brigade under Colonel J. L. Saunders, D. 5.0., V.D., with Major E. Reeves, M.C., brigade major. They will be encamped as follows for concentration: Ist Battalion, Taranaki Regiment, Show Grounds; Ist Battalion Hawke’s Bay Regiment, at Hokowhitu; Ist Battalion Wellington-West Coast Regiment, at Awapuni racecourse. The 2nd Mounted Rifles Brigade under Colonel Foley is now at Foxton. It has Major J. F. B. Stevenson, M.C., as brigade major, and Major L. Hickford as staff captain. Colonel R. S. McQuarrie will command the artillery engaged. - J The Ist Battalion, Wellington Regiment, will be commanded by Lieut.Colonel A. L. George, with Captain W. F. Sellen, N.Z.P.S., as adjutant. Men becoming sick during the manoeuvres will be evacuated to the nearest civilian a scheme covering the whole problem of caring for sick and possible injured having been arranged by the Assistant Director of Medical Services for the Central Military District, Lieut.-Colonel M. B, M. Twood