VAST SHOOTING GALLERY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 2 September 1942, Page 3

VAST SHOOTING GALLERY

ARMY TRAINING AREA In the advanced training of troops plenty of open country, where the men | can manoeuvre unhampered by civic restrictions, is of prime importance, particularly for weapon exercises with live ammunition. There is a limit j to what a man can learn on the range. I To become expert with his arms the j soldier must use them under conditions j which simulate active service as far as possible. ; Around New Zealand’s biggest inland ! camp lie many thousands of acres of | tussock land, rolling downs and hills | of varied contour, scarred and pitted : by nature, and merging finally with the • mountains. In this country there is ample room for all kinds of simultan- | eous exercises, from squadron shoots I to brigade manoeuvres. , A day spent on a small arms shoot in this area is a stimulating experience. ; The butts are hidden at unmarked ranges amid the waste of tussock and I scrub. A white flag goes up to indicate I where the target will appear, and the j i n.c.o. in charge of each squad firing j | has to estimate the range, windage, j ; etc., and instruct his men. It is a team I t shoot, no individual scores being taken. Each hit on the target counts. The squads move at the double from point to point to take up flying posi- ; tions. keeping hidden as much as posI s ‘ble. and fire progressively from bei hind a sod wal. from a slit trench and j from natural ground cover. Gelignite is exploded near them as they fire, and ;at least one shoo’ is a snap one at a j target which appears and disappears j out of the scrub at irregular intervals. ! ; Such shoots develop the .sense of j field-craft, the judging of distance uni der varying weather conditions, and I t ,ie confident handling of arms to a de- ! grec not possible on the ordinary range | or the parade ground, i Over the vast expanse of country surrounding this big camp all arms of the Army are continually exercising tanks, artillery, armoured fighting vehicles, signals and infantry. Squadron and company exercises develop into battalion and brigade manoeuvres in which all co-operate, and there is still plenty of room for full manoeuvre. Trained on this type of country a soldier should be able to put up a first class scrap on unv sort of terrain.