ARMY GUERILLAS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24277, 19 May 1942, Page 2

ARMY GUERILLAS

MORE SPECIAL COURSES VALUABLE TRAINING GIVEN | TERRITORIALS AND GUARDSMEN Concentrated training in guerilla warfare is at present being given selected officers and other ranks of Northern Military District Territorial Force units at an Army school of. instruction. The same school has just completed two courses of the same type of training for Home Guard personnel from many parts of the district. Such courses as thes«, together with the numerous field exercises continually being arranged in the district for guerilla bands, represent toughening training of the best type. It does not necessarily follow that attention being paid guerilla training means an intention on the part of the Army to employ large sections of its forces on commando operations, nor that men trained in this type of warfare will automatically cease in emergency to function with their normal formations. Wide Scope of Instruction It does mean that very large numbers of men will know how to fight as guerillas if the need for their employment in this capacity arises, and the Army deserves credit for the energy with which it responded some time ago to the need for training such men. Since then, there has been an everquiokening tempo in what has been done in this direction. The syllabus for the course now being held appears to include instruction in everything which a guerilla soldier would need. It is also clear that the Army is all the time applying to courses and exercises in guerilla warfare lessons which have been learned by other parties which have been in the field on this typo of -work. There is no lack of imagination or adaptability in those responsible for directing and executing this training. Knowledge oi Buscralt One of the most important things the New Zealand guerilla must learn is bushoraft, and there is general admiration in the Army for the manner in which townsmen who have been included in guerilla bands have adapted themselves to the demands of the' country over which they have had to travel. The courses given in guerilla warfare rightly place emphasis on the need for competency in this aspect of the training. Stalking, camouflage, unarmed combat, ambushing, night operations, the use of explosives, and the organisation of raids are but a few of the subjects included in the guerilla warfare syllabus being given New Zealand soldiers. Every bit of what they learn is practical and practicable. It is all tho result of first-hand experience, and it is helping to make first-class soldiers out of large numbers of New Zealanders.

EVADED SERVICE WATERSIDE WORKER SENTENCED TO GAOL "You have deliberately forborne from carrying out your duty," said Mr. J. H. Luxford, S.M., when dealing with a waterside worker, Arnold Edgar Manning, aged 30, yesterday, on a charge of failing to enrol. Manning, who pleaded guilty, said he had been worried about his health and did not enrol because he was sure he would not be accepted. Sub-Inspector Macnamara, who prosecuted, said Manning went to the hospital and it was then discovered he had not paid his social security levy. Sentence of two months' imprisonment with hard labour was imposed. A similar sentence was imposed on James White for failing to report, the magistrate remarking that he apparently objected to* doing his duty. Arthur Harold Wilkes (Mr. Wills), also was given two months' gaol for refusing to serve in the Army. Counsel said ho had made unusual efforts to join the Air Force. George Henry James Yearbury, Arthur Thomas Wallbank, Wrexford Fleming Hillary, John R. Hall, Eric George Turner and Kenneth Bramley were sent to detention camps after satisfying the magistrate as to their conscientious objections. Orders to come up for sentence if they were called on within 12 months were given to William Glover, who appeared in uniform, and Francis George Williams, who said he was willing to serve.

COMMISSION WON FLEET AIR ARM OFFICER Advice has been reecived that Leading Naval Airman Owen Munro, second son of Mr. and Mrs. L. Munro, of Wellington, formerly of St. Heliers, has received a commission in the Fleet Air Arm.

Sub-Lieutenant Munro, who was educated at the St. Heliers Bay School and Auckland Grammar School, left for Britain in April of last year. After training in England he was sent to complete his instruction in the United

FIRE DESTROYS HOUSE (0.C.) TE AROHA, Monday A four-roomed dwelling on the main highway in Waihou township was destroyed by fire during the week-end. It was occupied by Mr. J. I. Parsell, painter, who, with his wife and three children, had moved in only a week previously. Neighbours saved most of the contents of the front rooms. HOME GUARD BOOTS (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Monday "Payment to Home Guard units of a sum sufficient to cover the average cost of repairs for Home Guardsmen's boots has been authorised by the Cabinet," said the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, to-day. "Payment will be on the basis of 8s a year for each Home Guardsman who qualifies for payment of the capitation allowance by attending parades totalling not less than 20 hours a quarter." The Minister said that a cash payment had been approved as an alternative to having repairs carried out at Army depots, which, besides not being conveniently situated for Home Guard units, were in any case working to capacity.