TOUGH TRAINING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 61, 15 March 1943, Page 2

TOUGH TRAINING

R.A.F. IN MIDDLr EAST. Because his anti-aircraft gun could not be deflected low enough to fire at enemy E-boats, an airman near the sea improvised a crowbar, bent tne tripod of the gun to get the boats in his sight, and systematically picked off the crews while under their lire. Th's incident typifies the initiative and ingenuity which results from the training in toughness undergone by the R.A.F. regiment in the Middle East. The final test is a 10-minute assault course in lull battle order. The men vault a 6ft. wall, crawl through a covered "vV” shape slit trench 15ft. long with 2ft. 6in. of headroom, and then off a sft. mound clear a jump 10ft. long, the bottom being filled with barbed wire and broken glass. A catwalk along a 15lt. pole precedes the scaling of a 12ft. wall. A 3ft high jump is then made into a 10ft. pit.. The men clamber out and run to a range for live to 10 rounds raoid fire, then fix bayonets to charge prone or swinging dummies.