NEXT TRY-OUT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4563, 22 April 1942, Page 4

NEXT TRY-OUT

FULL DISTRICT AFFAIR AN ASSUMED ACTUAL RAID At last night’s meeting of the Te Awamutu E.P.S. the organisers, Messrs Graham Macky and H. C. Rainey set out in a report the general conditions as proposed. It was recommended:— 1. That the trial be held during the week beginning the 27th April, day and time to remain unknown. Taking into consideration the fact that the rural sections and the Home Guard are being brought into this trial with consequently a fair amount of organisation, it would have been preferable to have postponed the trial for another week; but owing to the transport position this is not thought to be advisable. 2. That the alarm be a daylight one. 3. That the Central Committee give consideration to the question as to whether the whole or a portion only of the E.P.S. personnel report to their posts on the sounding of the alarm. The period between the sounding of the alarm and the actual attack may be any time between say, half hour and a minute or so. This means that some of the personnel may get to theii posts before the actual attack; but a considerable number will no doubt be on their way when the attack commences.

We wish to emphasise the point that in our opinion all E.P.S. personnel who are on the road leading to their posts should immediately park their vehicle, take cover and proceed to their post as opportunity offers. E.P.S. personnel should not take undue risks simply for the sake of reaching their posts in the shortest possible time.

The units which, in our opinion, should come into immediate operation for action during the raid are as follows: Law and Order Wardens Fire Brigade Medical Electrical Section of Works Water Section of Works

The personnel of other units should if there is a sufficient period of warning, report to their posts and then take cover in the nearest available shelters. 4. Shelters or trenches should be provided at all E.P.S. posts for the personnel, particularly for these sections who have to be on duty during the progress of a raid. 5. Tlje “All Clear” signal, according to instructions, has to be given from Wellington. The actual raid on this town may be of only 10 minutes duration; blit the “All Clear” may not come through for some considerable time. The general public will have to remain in their shelters and trenches until the “All Clear” is given; but the whole of the E.P.S. personnel should be called into action by the Chief Warden when he considers that the raid has past. This could be done by means of a mobile loud speaker. Owing to the possibility of a return raid prior to the “All Clear” being sounded, it would appear to be advisable to have “spotters” posted in order that a warning may be given to the E.P.S. workers.

6. Some units, notably medical, at the last trial required supplies (such as beds, etc.), and labour to be made available immediately on the sounding of the alarm. This would appear to be impracticable. All essential equipment should be on hand, as further supplies are not likely to be available until after the raid has passed. 7. During the progress of the raid everybody except the minimum of essential workers to be out of sight. Vehicles of E.P.S. workers not to be bunched in the open; but to make use of all or any available shelter. 8. Evacuation.—lt is not considered advisable to bring evacuation into this trial on the ground that the two classes of work are not likely to be co-inci-dent. We would ask that the Central Committee give consideration to the above matters, as many of them will affect the forthcoming trial. In the subsequent discussion it was explained that all sections of E.P.S. would be on duty, from the sounding of the alarm, but that all would require to take cover for the time that the assumed raid was taking place. In an actual raid the personnel of E.P.S. would serve no purpose on the streets or at exposed duty points. But when the raiders had passed they would have to spring into action at places where damage had been done or where casualties had occurred. Therefore, in this try-out, such a condition would be supposed. Section controllers discussed,in detail the arrangements for the clearing of the streets, the closing of all places of business and the dispersal to the appointed areas, as well as the action to be taken by the several sections of workers. The recommendations were formally adopted.