BATTLE OF “WOOFIT.”

Shannon News, 12 February 1929, Page 3

BATTLE OF “WOOFIT.”

ATTACK ON AUCKLAND. THREE SERVICES TO CO-OPEB-ATE. The battle of “Woofit,” which will take place on February 14, will help to decide the destinies of Auckland aa far as they are involved in the scheme* of defence;. For the first time in New Zealand the Military Forces, the Navy, and the Air Force will co-operate in a practical exercise. Red Beach, three-quarters of a mile south of Orewa, will be the scene of the landing by the hostile force, which, appropriately, is named the Red. The Blue will be the defenders, who will be represented by a skeleton force of engineers. It is to be assumed that Red has seized Great Barrier as an advanced base, whence, with the excellent ships Dunedin, Diomede, Laburnum, Veronica, and Whakakura, the commander dispatches his division, represented by the First Battalion Auckland Regiment, the Northern Depot Engineers, signal details, and Royal Marines, to seize the port of Auckland. His landing is to be made at Red Beach in the grey dawn following a fateful 13th. lOf course, the ships will not sail from Great Barrier. For the purpose of the exercise Auckland is to be assumed to be Port Fitzroy, and the troops will embark frc-m Devonport per medium of a prosaic ferry-boat and will board the warships in the stream. UNDER SERVICE CONDITIONS.

They will carry blank ammunition, water bottles filled, and one blanket per man—about 600 of them. Furthermore, the Whalcakura will tow a barge laden with the material for a pontoon pier 50 yards longs, which the engineers undertake to erect in an hour. Guns and horses will have to stay out of this fight, but the pier will be strong enough to carry field guns and teams.

Everything will be carried out under service conditions. The ships, -with dufe regard for other craft, will secretly proceed between Tiritiri and the mainland, and will move toward the beach in line abreast. About the six fathoms line they will anchor 1 , iand then the troops, in various “flights,” will transfer to boats which, in strings of two or three, will be towed by motor-launches or cutters toward the land.

The beach is' of a shelving nature, with a good, hard, sandy bottom, and when the towing boats east off oars will be used until the boats ground, when the infantry, clad in denims for the occasion, will spring out and wade about 130 yards to the assault. Bat before there is anything serious in the way of war they will be provided with tn excellent breakfast from field cookers thoughtfully placed there by the enemy. A ration of cocoa will have been -Issued before leaving the ships. WARSHIPS AND SMOKE SCREEN.

Tire warships will enter into the spirit'of the affair with “action stations” and “siler.ee,” except for the booming of guns firing blanks at the imaginary enemy. The R.N.V..R. will be represented by four launches, which will set up a smoke screen between the ships and the shore, while overhead two army co-operation aeroplanes will dcubiless deal with the defending aircraft and make reconnaissance over such dangerous places as Dairy Flat, Red Vale, Silverdale, Lloyd’s Hill, Upj(er and the Waiwera' Trig. Possibly one machine will take photographs. Under war conditions the infantry would not be the front line—“and high time, too” as certain veterans might remark. The first ashore would be the tanks. These would sail in on what are known as Bacon boats —barges about 150 yards long-r-that would be pushed by the “tow” boats until they touched the ground with their shovel bows. Then the drop-bridges would be put out and the tanks would w-addle ashore to give a sporting sort of chance to the “P. 8.1.,” which; being interpreted, means “poor bloomin’ infantry. ” AIRCRAFT DEMONSTRATION.

While ashore the troops will be treated to a demonstration of message dropping and picking up by the aircraft. To drop a message a pilot, flies over the appointed spot and lets it go •with streamers attached. Picking up is more difficult. Two rifles are stuck into the-ground by their bayonets some distance apart, with the message tied to a string hung from butt to butt. ✓The machine flies low and dropping a hook gathers up the string. Hooking schnapper is supposed to be an easier thing. Should north and north-east weather prevail, the lee side of Kawau will have to serve the purpose. If it is a pleasant night the troops engaging in th? operations should have a “pretty good war.” They will.be back in time for dinner the following day. The exercises will be of the highest value, particularly in the training of officers. The preparation of the scheme has involved a considerable amount of work.