HEAVY EXERCISE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 307, 30 December 1942, Page 6

HEAVY EXERCISE

MARINES’ BIG SHOOT UNDER BATTLE CONDITIONS. Recently a combat unit of the United States Marine Corps, fully armed and equipped for active service, spent a period of intensive live amniunitio'n firing over the primitive terrain lying beyond New Zealand’s biggest inland camp. In weather which ranged from summer heat to winter cold, through rain, sleet, mud, and dust, the marines kept up a full-pressure training schedule with tanks, field artillery, anti-tank guns, and machine-guns under active service conditions. Day and night the sound of firing could be heard over may miles of this vast shooting gallery. These were no polite blank cartridge exercises—live ammunition was used throughout—and the officers and men agreed that they had never before been provided with such an unlimited scope of country for realistic combat training, even on training areas in the United States. Spartan Livings During the exercises the men Jived a Spartan existence. They had only two meals a day—at 6 a.m. and o p.m.—but the cooks saw to it that noth were hot, despite the difficulties ol working with neld stoves in atrocious weather. Sleeping accommodation was limited to two-men bivouac tents (half carried by each man) about two feet six incnes high when erected, and small enough to ne heated by a candle, the Marines assert. Personal gear was reduced io an absolute minimum, two blankets and a combination ground-sheet and cloak being the bedding issue. Shaving was one of the parade ground rituals which were not insisted on. Despite the severe weather, only one man had to be evacuated for a day through sickness, and three accident cases were of a minor nature. Toughness was the keynote. Those men were being taught the lessons which the Marines have learned in the bitter university of jungle warfare. No Insignia which would distinguished officers and non-commis-sioned officers from their men were worn; saluting was banned; the use o( ranks in addressing officers was discouraged. The wily Jap has a habit of trying to disorganise operations bysniping leaders who can be distinguished from their men; of confusing his opponents by calling false orders under names he has overheard while lying concealed; of trapping the unwary into disclosing their locations at night by addressing them familiarly. They Knew One Another. The seeming informality cloaked real discipline based on the mutual respect oi. all ranks lor each other and a common determination to put up the best possible light when called on. This was noticeable when the Marines were handling their weapons. Men who just seemed to be standing about were suddenly in action at a command from another steei-hel-meted figure indistinguishable 4om themselves. Officers and men know each other as individuals. They have no illusions about the sort of war they are going to, and realise that they must try to learn all the answers in advance. Weather conditions were not allowed to interfere with the shooting. One of the most spectacular firing practices with the field guns look place during a howling rainstorm in the middle -of the night with the wind reaching gale force at times. During a daylight shoot the gunners were blowing pieces out of the distant hills with high-explosive shells through a curtain of sleet. The Marines reckoned they could put up with any kind oT weather as long as they could get such spectacular shooting. In co-operation with tne New Zealand Army and the R.N.Z.A.F., the Marines were also able to put in an afternoon of anti-aircraft shooting with both heavy and light machineguns. An aeroplane, operating from an auxiliary aerodrome which is one of the facilities of this huge training area, made numerous runs across the line of machine-guns, towing a balloon target a quarter a mile astern. Into this the machine-gunners poured tracer and ball ammunition. Men ot the United States Marine Corps are drawn from most of the States of the Union, though the Marines themselves note that Texas provides a much larger quota than does any other State. The ages of the newer personnel engaged on these manoeuvres were mostly 18 to 24 years, but a number of the senior olli- ; cers and non-commissioned officers have been on active service in many odd corners of the world.