MODERN EQUIPMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 4

MODERN EQUIPMENT

MACHINE GUN CARRIERS ORDERED FOR TERRITORIAL FORCE A number of armoured machine gun carriers has been ordered as part of the Government’s programme for modernising the New Zealand Territorial Force. Delivery has been promised before the end of the year, and, although the final date must depend on production in England, there is every reason to anticipate that they will arrive in time for the next training year. These vehicles are fully described by their name. They include an armoured “ box,” without a lid, in which the driver at d two machine gunners have good protection from small arms fire. They can be fitted to qarry either a Vickers or a Bren machine gun. Fully tracked fighting vehicles, they have an excellent cross-country performance, comparable to that of the light tank. Actually the chassis is almost identical. On the roads they can travel at a speed up to 45 miles an hour, and on good going, 30 miles an hour cross-country is easily kept up. Armoured carriers will be used in New Zealand for demonstration purposes to show the troops what light tanks can do and what measures they should take to counter this form of attack. They will also increase enormously, the mobility and general fighting power of the machine gunners. As with all the army pool vehicles, the armoured carriers will be available for all appropriate units for training. They will, however, be particularly interesting to the motorised mounted rifles (the NelsonMarlbprough M.R. in Southern District), who certainly have first claim on them from a fighting point of view. These units form a highly mobile reserve with a large number of machine guns in proportion to their numbers, and are, therefore, the obvious home for our first quota of armoured carriers. The arrival of these modern vehicles, which are only now being -Issued to the British Army, will be looked forward to by all ' members of the Territorial Force, •/and their presence at the annual camps next year will be most valuable from a training point of view '' and from the point of view of general interest.