FIFTEENTH ARTILI^RY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2824, 15 July 1916, Page 10

FIFTEENTH ARTILLERY

BIG FIELD DAY REALISTIC BATTLE PRACTICE An instructive apd spectacular display Of artillery and machine-gun work was given at Morrison's Bush and Pnpawai yesterday by the Fifteenth Artillery and the machine-gun section of thesamo reinforcements, aided, by the Signalling Company of the Fifteenth. The shooting was witnessed by Colonei C. M. Gibbon, Chief of the General Staff, and the Comn'.andaiits of Featherston and Trcntham Camps, Lieut.-Coloncis N. P.. Adams and H. R. Potter.

Tim range party left camp at 7-30 a.m. lind proceeded to Jury's Hill, across the liuumuhuiigu River, about seven miles Itorn Featherston Camp. The targets were in position by 10.30. The fifteenth Artillery,- with four 18-pounder gur<S, left camp at 8.30, and halted at the top of the cutting behind the Morrison's Bush School. Shell practice began at eleven o'clccN. Firing Begins, The first' series was fired by Lieutenant Brewer, at a target representing a moving line of guns'MOO yards distant. The aiming of tlie gun-s was by indirect laving. The lii'st of the four sighting shots was 130 yards beyond the target, and the l'ouilh got the target, .twenty rounds were fired at this target, and. tlio shooting was very-good,'GO per cent, ol the shots being effective'. The second series, was fired by Lieuten. elit llowe, indirect laying again being used. This'timo. the target represented a line of infantry 3350 yards first, shot fell 40 yards short. This was an excellent, series, nearly all the shots being' effective. Thirteen rounds were C Tlio object Of the Shooting in the third series w'as to search a bush ranging from MOD to 3000 yards distant. The Series was fifed by Lieutenant-Colonel H. i. i'ilkihgton. I'lio elevation was gamed by percussion, aftd the searching ivas done with timo shrapiiol. ' Fourteen rounds were lived, with ■ fexoelle'nt. results. Iho work of tlio teams was smart, the laying accurate, and the shooting as a whole was considered to Vfcfloct cJwitftbly on the men and their instructors.- fht: painstaking work put in liy Captain Bradlei, Chief Artillei'v Instructor, and his staff, in'trahiing cach draft of men was evident in the smart handling oi the guns.

' Machine-Gun Practice. The new'' Vickcra alid Lewis machmepjunsj which arrived in New' Zealand recently, were tested on tho lapav.ai ratige yesterday morning by the 111 ' l" cliihe-gun instructors. Aboilt oO rounds were rired from-, each of the six guns, with highly satisfactory results. Hit Vickers light gun is much lighter than the old Maxim, weighing 281b., against the -Maxim UOlb., and is frtted with a light auxiliary tripod which greatly increases its mobility imder ; hre.. Ilie guu fires 600 rounds per minute. J. he hewis guu, which is air-cooled, weighs 251b., and has a "slightly higher rate of lire than the Vicious. It is really an automatic ritle, and is fed by fan-shaped magazines containing 47 rounds each. Both these guns are of the latest pattern and may be said to be the last word ill qiiiek-Sring gull's. Battle PfaCtiCJ. Later in the day a realistic.display of machine-gUns, under battle ' conditions, was given at the Ruamahanjja River, hear Papatflii. Four Jlaxiin gliiis, firiiig t'roin cbflcealed Emplacements on tho near side of the river, ' represented a front-line trench. Oil the opposite bank of the river was the enemy's position, and by melius of cfosa-lU'&. the gulls wel'e able to search aiiy portion of tlib Oiifliiy's 1 ilib. Fire orders, based on infol'lnatiou received from Battalion Headquarters,'were conveyed to the fcuiis by telephone by the Signalling Company. The whole practice gave the spectators some, itleii of li6W hiachine-gtlns work ill actual warfare, and rtlso shoived the amount of Work devolving upon the instructtire in Schooling the' section in its wy.'li. Colonel Cjibbon and Lieut.'Coloni'ls Potter alld -Adaiiis also witnessed this display. . . . .