GOOD RESULTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 150, 21 December 1940, Page 13

GOOD RESULTS

TROOP MANOEUVRES

WORK IN MANAWATU

TRAINING VALUE

"The main object of exercises such as the 2nd Infantry Brigade has carried out in the Palmerston-Feilding area this week is'ito give commanders and staffs experience in the duties they would have to carry out in war," said Colonel L. Potter, Officer Commanding the Central Field Force, in an interview with "The Post" today. Colonel Potter has returned from Palmerston, where he has been observing the brigade at work.

"The point is that in exercises of this nature the commanders and their staffs work with all the troops and they are concerned not merely with tactical handling but with the big problem of administration—transport, feeding, supply, and so on. For the purpose of the exercises war conditions were created as closely as possible, which meant that the staffs had to be ready and able to deal with unexpected situations. This requires considerable initiative ana ability to make quick decisions on the part of the personnel concerned."

Colonel Potter said that in war the work of running the actual fighting side was infinitesimal compared with the administrative side.

The final exercise of the week, which concluded yesterday, went off very well, Colonel Potter said. A particularly good job was done by the Signal Section in establishing and maintaining communications. The' signallers at brigade headquarters handled 320 messages in the course of 20 hours.

The object of this last exercise was to give the brigade experience of the problems connected with the selection and occupation of a defensive position that was to be held for a limited period. This involved a lot of initial reconnaissance by the commanders.

Arrangements had to be made for feeding the whole brigade in the defensive position. Food had to be brought up from the rear right to the front section posts, every section being fed in its own post. During the night the brigade in reserve relieved one of the front-line brigades.

Colonel Potter said the whole exerci ■> was carried out very satisfactorily.