VALENTINE TANKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24101, 21 October 1941, Page 8

VALENTINE TANKS

DISPLAY AT WELLINGTON MACHINES FOR NEW BRIGADE [by telegraph —press association] WELLINGTON, Monday

Wellington citizens on Saturday saw some of the Valentine medium tanks which form part of the equipment of the Army Tank Brigade to be trained at Waiouru. Already encamped there are picked men from all parts of New Zealand who will be trained by officers and non-commissioned officers who fought in the Middle East with armoured units.

The formation of the Tank Brigade is another step toward complete army mechanisation within the country, which had its start nearly two years ago when some cavalry regiments were mechanised and infantry regiments motorised.

It was the first time New Zealanders, apart from those who have been overseas, had seen a modern tank except in motion pictures and illustrations. They were astonished at the speed and manoeuvrability of these fighting vehicles and their working armament, with its complete arc of fire. The tanks now in New Zealand are not reconditioned or second-hand; they arc straight from the factory with the names of the workers from the districts in which they were built pencilled on the outside parts —a hands-across-the-ocean message from the workers of one nation of the Empire to the fighting men of another.

The type of tank seen on Saturday is that which forms the real punch of an armoured brigade. Looking cumbersome, they can be turned "on a sixpence" at 25 miles an hour, dodge like a rabbit and attack static armament so swiftly and with ao many zigzags that the opposing forces are unable to bring their pieces to bear. The tanks, which were inspected at Parliament Buildings by Ministers of the Crown, will go to Waiouru to take their place with many others in the new tank brigade.