BUSH WARFARE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 118, 14 November 1942, Page 8

BUSH WARFARE

FIRST EXERCISES

MAKING MEN JUNGLE-WISE

The importance of providing New Zealand's soldiers with proper training in bush and mountain warfare, and in general making them jungle-wise, has been underlined by intensive manoeuvres just completed in a North Island divisional district.

Men for the most part totally ignorant of the rudiments of bushcrait were sent into the hills with a minimum of equipment, and. for three weeks, rain, hail, or' sunshine, they fought their way through trackless bush against an invisible enemy. Their guides were experienced deer-stalkers attached to the Department of Internal Affairs, and as the men hacked and slashed their way through the bush with their jungle knives they were learning their drill in one of the toughest schools of practical instruction the Army authorities have yet devised. But, it all helped to develop to a considerable degree that individualism and initiative that is so essentially a feature of modern soldiering. As a diversion from the tactical side the men engaged in deer stalking, which was highly productive both in education and in results. "Enemy" casualties were, in fact, very heavy. Although the personnel of- the first companies were a little above the average in physique and general fitness, they found moving through the bush with full equipment a very ,severe test of endurance. One platoon had to pack all its equipment over six miles of the roughest bush-country in the Dominion, and at the end of it they were flat out. However, routine training in camp told, and after five, days the men had found their feet and were headed for parts unknown. Experienced officers consider that it would have taken the average man at least a fortnight to get hardened to bush conditions. PIONEERING METHODS. Once set adrift and left to their.own resources, the men had to set to and learn the art and intricacies of trackcutting, bedding down in the open, getting a hot meal in the rain, route selection, and all the hundred and one little hints and tricks that help to make life bearable under conditions our ancestors revelled in. The experienced I bushmen attached to the companies were of incalculable assistance here. Reports of the adventures of these companies are now being studied, and their experience will be a guide to future operations in bush warfare. One valuable result is the confidence the men have developed in their. ability to tackle bush conditions, and this alone will prove a very definite advantage should they be called upon to fight under similar conditions,. At least one brjgadier has decided to give his officers and n.c.o.s a week in the bush before the selected men join them. It is also felt that all future personnel selected for this course should undergo some preliminary training so that they can become a little more accustomed to the three weeks of. tough plugging under almost primitive conditions that lie ahead of them.