MOCK BATTLE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20570, 2 June 1941, Page 4

MOCK BATTLE

UNITS CO-OPERATE TOLAGA BAY PREPARES CIVILIANS EVACUATED (Special to the Herald.) TOLAGA BAY, this day. Home-defence units and emergency precautions services based on Tolaga Bay yesterday undertook a largescale test of efficiency when a mock battle was staged between a troop of the Independent Mounted Rifles and a mounted troop of the Home Guard, the defending forces being supported by civilian sections handling communications, transport and casualties, Civilian residents of Tolaga Bay gave whole-hearted co-operation in the test, which involved the evacuation of people from the battle area, on the Hauiti side of the Uawa River. The tactical scheme was based on the possibility of a landing of enemy troops at the harbour works, and the necessity for fighting a delaying action with available home-defence units until reinforcements became available. This entailed the necessity of removing school-children and civilians in transport controlled by the emergency precautions services organisation, the establishment of field dressing stations, and organisation of commissariat for the fighting forces. Comprehensive Schedule Constable W. H. Bradley, acting as chief of the emergency precautions services organisation, issued orders covering the whole operation, and these were adhered to faithfully throughout the day’s exercises. The evacuation was taken seriously by the civilians involved, and their removal to a safe distance was affected while the Independent Mounted Rifles troop was making contact with the invaders, represented by the Home Guard mounted troop. Other Home Guards assisted in the defence of Tolaga Bay, establishing reserve lines on which the Independent Mounted Rifles gradually retreated as pressure from the enemy increased. The defending organisation was under the necessity of feeding the invaders —an obligation not unknown in past wars fought on the East Coast before the advent of white settlers—and the exchange Df compliments under the heading of commissariat was carried out by separate units of the emergency precautions service communications and transport companies. Each side in the battle had its rendezvous assigned to it, and tbe fighting-men were fed in their battle stations. Umpires Designate Casualties Some outside assistance was received by the Tolaga Bay organisers, but only for activities which would not be required in event of a real emergency arising. Umpires who designated certain men as wounded sometimes had a hard task to convince their selections that the wounds were sufficient to necessitate their withdrawal from the line; but generally the scheme ‘ worked smoothly, and the field dressingstation staff was kept busily engaged throughout the greater part of the day. Observers received a first-class impression of the efficiency of the Tolaga Bay units in all their individual activities, and were highly complimentary in their comments upon the manner in which the test was organised and carried out.