FIRE CONTROL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20572, 4 June 1941, Page 8

FIRE CONTROL

ELEMENT OF SURPRISE EXAMPLE FROM GREECE During his recent visit to Gisborne the Inspector-General of Hie New Zealand Military Forces. MajorGeneral Sir Andrew Russell, emphasised (lie importance of absolute command of lire in ail military operalions. The first shot at an enemy ■arget. he pointed out, might well be the only one possible, and the whole ■ffcct of a lire unit should be concentrated on making the first shot effective.

From Greece comes a brief story illustrating the importance of fire control, and supporting in detail the argument of Major-General Russell The story is told in a letter from ; Gisborne' officer, who describes the confidence with which the Germans counted on their dive-bombers to clear (he way for infantry attacks. “The Jerry army has been so filled up with the idea that nothing can withstand their dive-bombers that they do not expect troops to meet them in any place where the bombers have been operating,” the writer states. “Thirty-three dive-bombers, accompanied by four Messerschmitl fighters, gave our forward companies an hour and a half of strafing when the battle opened. Then came along the Hun infantry, a la the good old drill book, with scouts 50yds in advance, and an officer on a white horse leading about 400 men up the road with their rifles slung and in close marching order. Loosed Off Too Early

"Had not one of our lads loosed off and picked off the officer 100 early, we should have copped the lot. As it was, we mowed them down, about 50 or GO per cent of them. Was Jerry surprised! He expected to walk up and take the place quite unopposed.

“When one sums up the divebombing and machine-gunning, one finds that for the amount of ammunition and bombs expended, even with the advantage of being able lo take all the time he wants to, the casualties inflicted are indeed very light. However, this form of attack is very nerve-wracking, with ail the banshee wail of the sirens on the planes, and the whistling of the bombs as they drop. In time, however, one can partially conquer the fear of this type of attack and keep moving, as we did the last day, despite his coming down lo skim the tree-tops and blast every little patch of cover.”