MILITARY NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 22156, 26 October 1933, Page 11

MILITARY NOTES

(By

“Grenade.”)

Brigade Course. Southland units will benefit materially from the instruction their officers and N.C.O.’s will receive in the brigade camp at Waikouaiti which will extend from October 28 to November 4. The following will attend as the representatives of the Ist. Bn. Southland Regiment:—Lieut.-Col. E. Selby, M.C. v.d„ Capt. T. H. Ham, Lieuts. A. J. Moore (N.Z.S.C.), I. A. H. Logan, C. J. Pomerory, J. K. Robbie and A. D. Smillie, S.S.M. (W.0.1.) J. Little, D.C.M., N.Z.P.S., C.S.M.’s. A. J. Neil, A. W. Cooper and Newton, Sgts. A. Pomeroy, L. Woods, A. S. Robinson, J. F. Holloway, A. A. Butson and Cpts. F. Lemin, G. Hutson and S. O. Cutriss. Major H. D. McHugh, M.C., N.Z.P.S., will be attached to the Brigade Staff for the course. Recruit Squad. Three further enlistments have brought the strength of the recruit squad up to fifteen. At each of the last two parades there have been fourteen men on parade. Good progress is reported, the following subjects having been touched on:—Squad drill in single rank, aiming instruction, _ fixing bayonets and firing instruction in the standing position. In addition, lectures on the history of the Regiment and the colours have been delivered. Band Uniforms. Advice has been received from the Ist. Bn. Manchester Regiment that the uniforms for the Regimental Band have been despatched and are expected to arrive in New Zealand at an early date. They should be available for use at the forthcoming contest. Personal.

Mr W. C. Cleine, of the Winton High School, has been appointed 2nd. lieutenant (on probation) and will take charge of the Winton High School Cadet Company (F. Coy.) Lieut. A. D. Smillie has been on the sick list, but expects to be fit to proceed to the brigade course next Saturday.

Half-day Parades. The next half-day parade will be held at the Otatara rifle range on Saturday, October 28, when the machinegun (Part 1) and revolver courses will be fired. There will be no evening parades until Monday, November 6. Regimental Band.

The Regimental Band is practising regularly for the forthcoming Invercargill Band Contest and is showing a steady improvement. A good deal of hard practice, particularly in drill, will have to be put in between now and the contest if the band is to make the showing expected of it by the Regiment.

Imperial Challenge Shield. All cadet companies have now completed firing in the Imperial Challenge Shield competition for 1933. The best showing was that of the Southland Boys’ High School with an average of 75.16, an improvement of almost 8 points over the figures of last year. The best individual scores (possible 100) were as follow:—

The average of the other schools in the area which competed are available as follows: — C. Coy. (Gore High School) 64.75 D. Coy. (Balclutha H.S.) 72.15 E. Coy. (Milton H.S.) 74.41 Officers’ And N.C.O.’s Class. The attendance was good on Monday evening at the officers’ and N.C.O.’s class, there being 7 officers and . 15 N.C.O.’s present. The evening was devoted to the machine-gun and the Lewis gun while a further party of five signallers did special training in map-reading. Signallers undergoing tests next month will be required to pass tests in map-reading and it is hoped that more will take the opportunity of attending on Monday, October 30. Tuesday’s Parade. There was a fair muster at Tuesday night’s parade. For the evening _ the syllabus was re-arranged to permit of the showing of an instructional film depicting “Six-wheeler training in England.” The picture was shown under rather adverse conditions but in spite of this a fair idea was gathered of the capabilities of six-wheeled cars and motor trucks in traversing difficult country where poor or no roads exist. Obstacles such as steep gradients, ditches, streams and bogs were successfully negotiated and it was apparent that such vehicles could be used most successfully in the supply ser-

vices of any armed force. Apart from military considerations the film impressed those who saw it with the possibilities of this type of transport in any other enterprise necessitating the carriage of heavy loads over poor roads and steep slopes. A RARE TRIBUTE. Taken from the Dominion of July 5, 1922, the following extract from a lecture delivered to the Community Club, Wellington, by Mr F. G. Bakewell, M.A., will be of interest and an inspiration to New Zealanders, particularly members of the territorial forces:— “My intention is not to say so much about what we thought of ourselves as about what others thought of us. Shortly after the conclusion of the war a great function took place in Paris. Thousands of young recruits who had joined the colours of the regiments quartered in Paris were assembled for the purpose of taking the oath of military service to the Republic. The officer in command of the garrison, a distinguished general, was there to speak to them on loyalty and patriotism and duty to their country. In drawing illustrations and examples for such an appeal to young French soldiers, just think what a magnificent field the general had at his disposal; the most brilliant military history in the world—Joan of Arc, Turenne, the Glories of the Grand Monach, Napoleon, Marengo, Austerlits, Jena —and if these were not enough surely the spirit of France had shone forth from a hundred fields in the great struggle that had only just ended. But he made no mention of these. ‘Young soldiers of the Republic,’ he said ‘before I begin my address, I wish to read to you an army order recently issued from headquarters’ and this is what he read out:

Paris, November 29, 1919. Army Orders. " The President of the Council of the Ministry of War mentions the name of the following British officer, Major-General Sir Andrew Russell, of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, who has led a splendid division to countless victories. Its exploits have not been equalled, and its reputation was such that on the arrival of the division on the Somme battlefield during the most critical days of March, 1918, the flight of the inhabitants immediately ceased. The division covered itself with fresh glory during the battles of Ancre, at the Sambre, at Puesceux au Mont, Bapaume Crevecoeur, and Le Quesnoy. Given and by order of the President of the Council of the Ministry of War. (Sgd.) Boeker, Colonel, Adjutant-General of the Cabinet.

“ ‘Now I ask you,’ the General went on, ‘to take notice of one fact; that on the arrival on the battlefield of these soldiers the flight of the inhabitants immediately ceased. It was indeed one of the most critical periods of the war. The line had been broken, the enemy was passing through to anticipated victory, and the unfortunate people of the countryside were fleeing in terror from the horrors of the Boche invasion. Figure to yourselves what it all meant. The road crowded with fugitives, old men, despairing and weeping women and children, bearing with them such few household treasures as they could drag along. Then the arrival of troop trains with reinforcements—company after company of khaki men are detrained and hurried into the firing line. ‘Who are these men?’ the people asked, and then it was the flight was stayed. The officer who was directing the evacuation sent his aide-de-camp to inquire the reason. He came back. ‘General,’ he said, ‘the people say that they are not going any further, that these are the soldiers from New Zealand, and all’s well. They will soon be back in their homes—in fact, they.are getting ready to return now.’ Yes, such was the reputation of these men for valour and manhood, and conduct, that your war-stricken countrymen knew that they could confide their goods and their chattels, their lives, and the honour of their women to their safe keeping. I can hold up to you no finer model as soldiers than was shown by the men that a little nation in a far-off island of the Pacific sent to the aid of France in her hour of peril.’ ”

Seniors (over 17). D. D. Collie 95 G. F. W. Anderson 94 I. E. Wilson 87 N. McRae 37 B. Halliday 87 K. France 85 Juniors (under 17.) F. W. Hall-Jones 87 J. Miller 87 G. North 84 G. H. Sadlier 83 E. K. Spiers 83 H. E. McElhinney 83 E. Farby 83