ARMY AT WORK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 August 1942, Page 4

ARMY AT WORK

GLIMPSES OF VARIOUS SERVICES

BRIGADE GROUP AREA.

COMPLEX TASK INVOLVED

Military activities in a typical brigade group area are dealt with in this article, written to' give the general public some idea of the army at work. The area, which happens to be in the South Island, was visited by the writer with a party of press photographers. There was an afternoon appointment with the howitzer battery which was out practising the occupation of and withdrawal from gun positions. The difficulty experienced in finding the battery, though a specific locality had been named, was an interesting object lesson in the use of camouflage combined with a knowledge of how to take full advantage of natural cover. It was not thought that several howitzers definitely in the “big fellow” class, together with their large and powerful attendant lorries, could be difficult to find, but so it proved. After a fruitless drive up and down the section of road indicated, the battery was at last spotted only about two hundred yards from the highway. Convenient clumps of birch trees had been made use of to shelter the guns from aerial observation and they had been further hidden by camouflage nets toning in with the surroundings. The motor transport vehicles ■ were also effectively screened by Two gun crews demonstrated how their guns go into action in open positions. They moved with a speed and precision only attainable through intensive training. Within a matter of seconds the big lorries towed the guns into place and then moved off to take cover while the gun crews made ready to fire.

Camouflage nets were erected in a twinkling, trails were heaved into position and embedded, and the crew then formed up at the rear of each gun waiting the command “take post.” There is keen and friendly rivalry between the respective crews as each vie with the other to complete a particular job. The units mentioned are only some of the centres of activity in a brigade group. The engineers, with their bridge building and folding ■ boat equipment, explosives and other apparatus for demolitions and various kinds of constructional work, form another big organisation. There is also a fully equipped brigade signals section attached to Brigade Headquaners, which, in addition to training hard for battle conditions, is responsible for operating and maintaining continuous internal communications within the brigade and is also a link in the Army signal system throughout the Dominion. The vital task of providing the Army with supplies of food, ammunition and petrol is the particular job of the Army Service Corps, and each brigade, therefore, has its Composite A.S.C. ' unit—ammunition section, supply section, petrol section, and workshops .section. In addition there is a Reserve Mechanical Transport Company. Large scale use of motor vehicles obviously calls for adequate facilities for maintenance and repairs. Most of this is carried out by Light Aid Detachments, but vehicles are sent back to Divisional Workshops when major repairs are required. Each brigade has its own field ambulance with complete staff of Medical officers and orderlies. They form yet another important group of specialists. The orderlies spend part of the time practising field work—the erection of dressing stations, stretcher bearing and so on—and the remainder learning bandaging and other forms of first aid. They also attend lectures on nursing. Apart from the field ambulance each battalion or other similar unit has its own medical officer and regimental aid post. The R.A.P. attends in the first instance to all cases of sickness in its own unit, and in battle renders first aid to casualties.

The busy scene sketched here gives little more than a hint of the complex task involved in buildirg and maintaining an efficient war machine. However, it may serve to show that New Zealand’s military leaders are fully developing the country’s powerful fighting resources.