SECOND ECHELON.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 227, 23 August 1940, Page 2

SECOND ECHELON.

EXERCISES IN ENGLAND. FULL-SCALE OPERATIONS. (From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Great Britain.) ENGLAND, July 20. Wild raspberries are ripe on the Downs this week-end; and from the brow of the rise where we rested in mid-afternoon we could see six or eight parties of nickers. We could see the sea, too, tho English Channel, with the wind blowing in fresh, from what was France. The of wind that brought William of Normandy when Harold’s men awaited him on this coast. The sort of wind, with a slightly different set, which filled the billowing sails of the Great Annnda. A wind for which Napoleon waited weeks in vain. And between yesterday and to-morrow, so some folk say, another would-be invader will try; for the moon is to be full to-night, or as near it as makes no difference, and the tides are right. Up there this afternoon we were preparing for war in a solitude of peace. Our force, moving in its three mobile columns, is out for its first full-scale field exercise, the entire personnel travelling on wheels:'- buses, transport lorries, armoured fighting vehicles, motor-cycles and a few cars. The plan of campaign does not matter. It is practice only. At last, it is intended to be practice; but we arc on proper war footing now, and if a need should arise while we are in the field wo could be immediately diverted from exercise to action. Points that do matter are the spirit in which the plan will bo executed, tho keenness or otherwise of the men in the conditions they will be facing for the first time, and the skill with which their officers handle them. Because even for officers with fin© service records, as many company commanders and above have had, warfare in the pleasant English countryside would be a new experience. area in which w© arc is nothing like Northern France, where the New Zealand Division was last time. Still less is it like Gallipoli, or Palestine, or Egypt, or South Africa. We are training for a new type of warfare—-motorised and mechanised—in a new type of country. This is our third day out, our second bivouacking place. At dawn we shall move again ; and after a route march shall embus to travel back to camp. It has rained every day so far. But all have been summer showers. In any case, war docs not "wait on weather; and, given an axe or chopper and any living growth whatever, the average young New Zealander can quickly contrive his own shelter. For the most part our bivouacking areas have been among high fern or on the fringes of lovely southern woods, where the free play of some with an axe has seemed a shame. Already in England we have learned, as cannot be learned elsewhere, to love trees; let’s hope we may yet learn also to respect them. July 23. We are back in our several camps. No invader came. Nevertheless, if he should come later, we shall be the better prepared to meet him because of what the experiences of the last five days have taught us. Primarily, such an exercise is for the benefit of senior officers—to give them practice in handling their men in the field, and—a modern development—to accustom them to moving everything by road, of necessity to timetable and in a prearranged order. Notwithstanding this intention, the benefits accrue to all ranks. Despite occasional tiredness and stiffness after all-night digging and the longest march since leaving New Zealand, not a man can he found today who does not wish we were going out again next week. Perhaps wo shall. Tho General is to talk things over with all his officers to-morrow; but it is known already that in most major respects he was well pleased with the work done. Certainly he saw more of it than anybody else. Yesterday afternoon the three columns marched separately to separate embussing points, and the G.O.C. wished to see them all on the march. But also .lie wished to march. Remember, when lie was training to swim the Channel, this athlete-soldier used to walk 30 miles every week-end. So it came about that Divisional Headnuarters marched in the morning, with the General at their head; and in the afternoon he saw the other marches!