Stories Of War Which Might Have Been Different

Chronicle (Levin), 16 July 1949, Page 4

Stories Of War Which Might Have Been Different

When I look hack on the days of training of the later reinforcemenis ■I (re'alise how lucky they were in tlie preparation they had for the battle-field, says "Digger" in the first of a series of articles for the Join't Actron Committee of exservice organisations and the New Zealand Defence League, with a view to stressing the necessity for efficient military training. Amongst other experienees, thanks to the whole-hearted cooperation of the R.A.F., the new troops were subjected on marioeuvres to dive-bombing, ground strafing, medium level bombing, and at night to being soright out by flares. Learnt What To Expect. They learnt what to expect and how to protect themselves. They learnt the limitations of aircraft and the value of camouflage. In other words in, the safety of the back areas they were trained to look after themselves in war. The stories of Greece and Crete might have been^very different if we had had even one trained light anti-aircraft regiment with the division. Without retaliation except from small arms in Greece and later in Crete, dive bombers were crashing their loads of.H.E. on to our positions, fighters were machine gunning our vehicles on the narrow roads, and troop- carrying aircraft with gliders were landing hordes of specially trained airborne troops on the airfiel'ds of Crete. The 14th Light A.A. Regiment had only just been formed and was in the early stages of its training in Egypt. It did much of its training in hattle positions — static ones admittedly, round the Canal and Alexandria, but from the day the A.A. regiment joined the division in ,the desert," only one air attack was ever maue at low level in perfect formation— that was the first and last. Hitting Back. * Is compulsory military service too high an insurance to pay against similar situations in the future in the event of war? Do New Zealanders want to experience bombmg and ground strafing without being able to hit back? Do New Zealanders want to feel that enemy aircraft can do what they like to our troops in the field or to our undefended cities? Trained A.A. guhners can give protection. * , 0 London suffered the blitz with coqrage because the people knew that trained airmen and A.A. gunners were hitting back.