MILITARY TRAINING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 14

MILITARY TRAINING.

STAFF OFFICERS' CAMP. PLANNING OF OPERATIONS. A LARGE FORCE LANDED. An interesting course, involving much painstaking work and close attention to detail, was undergone by tho senior stall officers of tho New Zealand Defence Forces from all parts of the Dominion at tho camp just concluded at Waiwera. MajorGeneral 11. Young, general officer commanding, was in charge of tho course, other officers who attended being Colonel W. L. 11. Sinclair-Burgess, chief of staff, Brigadier If. R. Potter, officer in charge of tho Northern Command, and Lieuten-ant-Colonel J. E. Duigan, also of Auckland. At the camp, which served as an annual refresher course, all the time was spent in discussion of staff problems and tho study of many of tho difficulties in tho handling of largo bodies of troops. Somewhat on the lines of 'the recent "Battle of Woofit," an imaginary expeditionary force was despatched from these shores and landed on the shores of a foreign country. However, tho two engagements were different in some respects, as the problem was considered from tho staff point of view and the forco to be transported consisted of a whole division instead of merely a battalion. Many Problems Involved.

Every aspect of the embarkation and landing of tho troops was considered and the co-operation of the Army, J\'avy and Air Forces was taken as the basis of the attack. At tho outset certain conditions were imposed. The staff officers in charge wcro alloted only a certain number of transports on which to carry the division, which comprised a proportion of mounted men. This ono aspect alone led to careful planning, as the capacity of each ship was definitely stated. While it might be possible to place complete battalions on some vessels, in other cases ships were allotted portions of different units, and great care was necessary in giving the orders,for embarkation and landing so as to bring the portions of each unit together in the order required. Tho landing was supposed to take place 28 days after the sailing of the transports, and this gave rise to other problems, such as tho provision of transport and of supplies on landing. As it was obvious that the horses would be in no condition for use after being penned on ship for this period the arrangement of other units to carry out tho duties of the mounted men for tho first few days after arrival was carefully considered, as was the sheltering of the horses after landing them on an open beach. Exhaustive Preparations.

Throughout tho planning of the movement strict attention was paid to what could actually he done in modern warfare. In the portion of the scheme which concerncs the Navy, the co-operation and advico of naval officers was obtained, and tho various arrangements were made in accordance with what was actually possible. For the purpose of the. exercise it was assumed that 1 fie transports would he convoyed to an anchorage off the beach, and tho staff officers had to make the necessary provision to land the forces in the correct order. -After landing the forces were moved further inland, and this presented certain tactical problems to be solved. However, the whole matter was discussed in all particulars, and was planned to the last detail, the embarkation orders alone filling many sheets of typewritten foolscap. As an examplo of the thoroughness with which the scheme was tackled, it may he mentiond that it was even decided how much ammunition each man should carry in add it ion to the usual service equipment. After the plans for the despatch and landing of tho force had all been drawn up the officers then inspected the ground where tho imaginary forces were lying and checked the effects the various arrangements would have produced. Every aspect of the scheme was then considered <m the ground with an eye to finding faults which might have occurred in the plans, while the different problems were also discussed at length in the evenings with the same idea in view,