DESERT TRAINING

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21583, 20 November 1941, Page 8

DESERT TRAINING

NEW ZEALAND FORCES NOT "WAITING” FOR ENEMY i DEVELOPMENT OF TACTICS | ( Official War Correspondent. N.Z.E.F.) j DESERT CAMP, Oct. 29 Any statement that the New Zealand troops now in the desert are waiting for their next action would not be quite accurate. To say that they are waiting would indicate a lack of activity, but in actual fact the units in the desert are training as hard as they ever did in the re- j cruiting stages. Throughout the N.Z.E.F., units which suffered more heavily in Greece and Crete have absorbed their reinforcements and made them part of the units with so much success that it would appear as though j these reinforcements had always been part of the units. Before the New j Zealand troops ever moved to the ! desert this time the units had reach- • ed a high standard of training and ! had brought the standard of the re- j inforcements up to requirements. ] Since coming to the desert the tend- i ency has been to harden the troops j and the position now is that our j soldiers are probably fitter than they ] have ever been at any stage of ther j training. j New Tactics Developed Recent demonstrations by British \ regular troops have so impressed our officers and N.C.O.’s that they \ immediately incorporated the lessons , demonstrated into the training of our own troops. They have now gone a 1 stage further and some of our troops I are demonstrating new discoveries which will prove of great value in the Lybian battle. Once, again the | adaptability of the New Zealand | soldier enables him to master in a J short time what he should, theo- ; retically, learn over a longer period, j One of the most successful in- i centives to training at present is the . introduction of the competitive spirt. J One battalion in particular, one j which has already distinguished it- ! self by winning two V.C’s., is at pres- | ent conducting platoon competitions in almost every phase of training. The men have put much zest into their efforts and the whole competi- ■ tion is an unqualified success. Par- ' ticularly impressive has been the' standard of fitness and the resolute- j ness of spirit shown in the bayonet j assault course. The experience of Crete showed that the bayonet is not I an out-of-date weapon, and further- | more the New Zealanders showed j they could use it effectively. They I are probably more efficient than ever I in the use of this effective weapon ! of assault. Experience of Years The monotony of life in the desert 1 is being broken at intervals by units I “disappearing into the blue” for a I few days. This means that a battalion ! or regiment enters the desert wilder- , ness in battle order and exercises in ' desert navigation, night marching ' and the use of various weapons under ■ varying circumstances are practised. 1 Here again a high standard of effici- j ency has been reached. Officers from j British units which have been in the I desert for a few years have been f temporarily attached to units of the | New Zealand force and they have i freely imparted much that they have j learned in the desert in recent years. An indication of the degree of fit- j ness reached by our soldiers was { given recently when the first Rugby football match of the season was ■ played. It was a trial game, and j though none of the players had had ■ a trial run, they maintained a hot pa?e throughout the game.