MODERN WARFARE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21765, 3 April 1934, Page 11

MODERN WARFARE

REALISTIC EXERCISES TANKS AND AEROPLANES Greenhills, New South "Wales, was a battleground last week. Artillery sent shells crashing into the hills, the staccato rattle of rifle fire echoed around the ridges, the drone of aeroplanes came from overhead and tanks clattered their way through obstacles which had been erected to defeat them. It was war as played in the modern manner, and the actors were the troops of the Ninth Australian Infantry Brigade, commanded by Colonel A. C. Fcwtrell. Operations began in the morning, when the Australian Tank Corps, under Major E. Penfold, went into action. The 34th Battalion was entrenched on a ridge, protected by wire entanglements rapidly erected by engineers. Thus, they hoped to meet the attack of the advancing tanks. But their hopes were based on foundations as flimsy as their wire appeared to be when the machines crashed into it. The barricades went down as easily as if they had been so much string and cardboard, and great lanes appeared for attacking troops. The infantry was routed. The tanks continued their victorious career, performing a series of manoeuvres and evolutions which demonstrated their speed and mobility. But they were not unconquerable. A dummy set out across the ridge and tho artillery swung into action from a range of approximately 800 yds. The third shot was a direct hit and the tank was out of action. While this was going on three aeroplanes of the Royal Australian Air Force were circling overhead. They were co-operating with the brigade by radio telephony, by dropping messages and by discharging Verey lights. When it was all over the onlooker realised something of the interdependence of man and machine in the modern methods of mechanical warfare.