Medium Battery For Palmerston North

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 96, 23 April 1941, Page 4

Medium Battery For Palmerston North

c By the combination of F Troop of 1 the 41h Field Battery and G Troop of t lUe 37th Battery, N.Z.A., a new unit, to r be known as the Bth Medium Battery, i has been esablished in Palmerston c North. This new adjustment took place on Monday. The guns formerly t used at this centre have been trans- s ferred to Wellington. £ At present the new battery has a i strength of about 120 members, but by i June I the establishment’s complement 1 will be between 400 and 450. There are to be three troops, composed of 6in. howitzers and 60-pounders. The unit will be the strongest medium battery in New Zealand. To bring this unit up to strength, single men will be taken from the ballots of the ages of 19, and from 41 to 45. Volunteers must bo men who have from one to three children and are between the ages of 19 and 41; also single men who were classified as grade 1A .and 2 at the medical examinations for overseas service and who volunteered before July 22, 19-10. The new battery will be under the command of Major Lindsay Gardner, M.C., who will have associated with him Captains T. M. Scott and J. F. Tasker as senior officers, Leut. J. A. Pountney, N.Z.S.C., who is adjutant, and who has special qualifications in medium battery work, is organising the now unit, and associated with him is a highly efficient R.N.Z.A. staff, 10 in i number. These men are trained in- I struetors, and it is a considerable time I since Palmerston North could boast of j having such a large permanent army |