THE NEW ZEALAND PERMANENT FORCE

by W.L. Ruffell

POST-WAR REORGANISATION

After the war New Zealand drastically cut defence expenditure in keeping with the usual British practice. The Government suspended compulsory military training but resumed it again in 1921 on a modified scale. TF annual camps were abolished and Officer Cadets ceased to be sent to Duntroon.

By 1925 more funds were available and annual camps were resumed, but the revival was brief. The regular force had also been reduced, and by 1927 the strength of the RNZA had dropped to 115 all ranks.

In the same year the RNZA Barracks (known as the Alexandra Barracks) on Mount Cook in Wellington, were demolished, the site having been earmarked for the present Dominion Museum. No alternative quarters of the same standard had been planned, and from the 'luxury' of single-cell accommodation (the barracks had once been a prison), the RNZA went back to sub-standard tin-hut dormitories of World War I vintage.

By 1930, in the throes of the depression, the Government again decided on retrenchment; they suspended compulsory training and made service voluntary. As a result TF strength fell from 16990 to 3655, less than half what it was in 1886. They reduced the Permanent Staff and RNZA by retiring men before their time (it was cheaper to pay superannuation than salaries) or by dismissing them. Commanding Officers found retrenchment a wonderful opportunity to get rid of men they did not want. At Hopuhopu a Gunner was sacked for bringing two small bottles of beer into camp. His real 'crime' - he was a 'bush lawyer'! All Government employees suffered two successive 10% salary cuts. Even the old age pension, sole income of many retired regular soldiers, was reduced from 17/6 '($1.75) to 15/9 ($1.58) per week. Hard times bring short memories among certain sections of the public. By the early thirties it had become fashionable, particularly among members of the Labour Party, to deride soldiers as 'unproductive units' (also 'murderers', 'Gordon Coates's bastards'), to speak of modern warfare with scepticism, and even to advocate outright pacifism. They reckoned money allocated to defence should be spent on unemployment relief.

With Hitler's rise to power in 1933 came an increase in the Defence Vote, followed by a more substantial increase in 1934, which enabled recruiting for RNZA and NZPS to be stepped up. Fearing reaction from pacifists and other anti-military activists, the Government went to some trouble to conceal the build-up from the public. For example, Regular Force recruits in Trentham were forbidden to go on leave in uniform further afield than Upper Hutt or Silverstream. Also, before any dignitaries not directly connected with defence visited the camp recruits were ordered down to the butts on the rifle range, there to be kept out of sight until the 'enemy' had departed. These restrictions were still in force in 1938.

The writer, who was a recruit in Trentham in 1938, recalls a similar incident. Officially we were sent to the bottom of the range area to shoot and bury a horse that had broken its leg - but no one explained why 36 of us plus four instructors were necessary to do the job. The horse did not even belong to the Army.

It should be remembered that during the period under discussion the NZ Government subscribed one million pounds sterling ($NZ 2,000,000) for the construction of the Singapore Naval Base - which was to protect us from Japanese incursions into the Pacific.

In 1935 new RNZA barracks were built at Narrow Neck, Auckland, and at Fort Dorset, Wellington. These had all facilities under one roof, and the accommodation was really first-class. Once again all junior NCOs and most Gunners had single rooms. The improvement in conditions was long overdue.

By 1935 New Zealand had embarked on a modest armaments expansion. Mobile QF 3-in 20 cwt guns (1914 pattern) were obtained in 1936 - two for Auckland and two for Wellington - together with the necessary searchlight and sound-locating devices (radar had not then been invented). The towing vehicles were Leyland 6x4s.

UK batteries were three guns but the NZ Government could only afford two-gun. Over the next three years, two-gun BL 6-in Mk 21 batteries were emplaced at Motutapu Island, Auckland, and at Palmer Head, Wellington, while a BL 6-in Mk 24 Battery (two-gun only), was emplaced at Godley Head, Lyttelton. Modern fire-control equipment was ordered, plus searchlights and generating sets to supply the necessary power. The guns were all operational before the commencement of World War 2 but not the fire control equipment; the last of the latter was not installed until well after the War, for by 1938 the prospect of war in Europe saw Britain desperately trying to upgrade her own defences. She could not at the same time supply other countries with many items she badly needed herself. The lesson: don't neglect defence in peacetime.

Evidently the old preoccupation with coast defence was still strong, for New Zealand ordered no new field or anti-tank guns, despite the development in England of the 25-pr and 2-pr respectively. At the outbreak of World War II both field and anti-tank Gunners were obliged to train on 18-pr Mks 1 and 2 guns and 4.5-in howitzers obtained before or during World War1. They did not receive more modern equipments until late 1940-41 long after they had reached the Middle East.

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OVERSEAS TRAINING

Between the Wars gunnery languished. In 1924 one Officer had attended a long field gunnery course in England, and in 1926 one attended a coast and one an anti-aircraft course. No more were sent to UK until 1938 when another attended a field course, probably because the 1924 man had retired in the meantime. Thus for twelve years (fourteen in the case of field) no RNZA Officers were given the opportunity of acquiring practical experience or undergoing tuition in their chosen profession from the fountain-head of gunnery expertise, ie the Schools of Artillery run by the Royal Artillery. All they had were books and equipment that became more antiquated year by year.

One Officer qualified on the long survey course at Larkhill in 1935, a timely step in the right direction one would have thought - but no sooner had he returned to New Zealand than he was seconded for duty to an overseas Staff College! Another posted to a LGSC in 1939 got as far as Panama when he was recalled to NZ on the outbreak of war. There were no Assistant Instructors in Gunnery (since 1980 designated Sergeant Majors Instructors of Gunnery), ie Warrant Officers who had qualified on a long gunnery staff course. A few W0s and Senior NCOs had a smattering of gunnery, no more. Master Gunners existed in coast artillery only. They were really accounting officers with a good knowledge of equipment, ammunition and drills, but not gunnery. Their qualifications and duties differed greatly from those of the modern Master Gunner who is an instructor.

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METHODS OF INSTRUCTION

There were some good instructors but they were born, not made. Coaching in methods of instruction, on which such great emphasis is placed today, was confined mainly to basic subjects such as foot drill, rifle exercises, weapon training, gun drill etc, which NCOs - and Gunner instructors - learnt by heart from the book. For the edification of their classes they then repeated the details parrot fashion as they did in Queen Victoria's time.

On being posted to Fort Dorset in June 1938 the writer and some of his contemporaries were told they would have to instruct members of the TF, and to report to the RSM for advice and guidance. This is what he said:

"Now you young fellows are new to the job and you don't know very much, but always remember the Territorials know a bloody sight less. So it doesn't matter so much whether or not you know what you're talking about as long as you keep talking. Never let them think it's got you stuffed."

So much for Methods of Instruction, 1938!

One day in Palmerston North in 1941, by which time the same RSM had risen to the rank of Captain, and the writer to L Bdr T Bdr Acting Sergeant (unpaid), the latter was ordered to instruct the 1ocal battery on BL 6-in Howitzer gun drill and equipment that same evening. On being told that he knew nothing about the gun the Captain said: "Here's the book; you can knock off early (1500 hrs), and swot it up." Needless to say the writer was obliged to recall and act on the RSM's advice of three years before!

Although by 1918 fully predicted fire was being successfully put down on the Western Front little formal instruction in this subject was given in the RNZA except perhaps during the annual refresher course, or perhaps during the three weeks' feverish preparation for the promotion exams. Even then it was pretty basic, and given to Officers and senior NCOs only. At practice camps observed fire was the rule.

Technical Assistants' courses were unknown. If a Gunner or junior NCO wished to learn something of gunnery or survey he had to 'pick it up' from the book - always provided he could lay hands on one. If none were available he was advised to purchase one from HM Stationery Office in London, which could still be done until six months before World War 2 broke out when all such publications were classified Restricted. However, no Kiwi would buy anything he rightly considered should have been free issue, 'on principle'.

Although war was clearly in the offing in 1938 no manuals of any kind were issued to recruits in Army Schools, Trentham, even though Gundrills cost only 4 �d (4c) and Handbooks from 1/6 (15c) to 2/6 (25c), depending on. equipment. Recruits were expected to buy notebooks from the canteen (run by the YMCA), and write down everything they were taught. In Cadre offices manuals were few and jealously guarded, to be handed out to individuals under circumstances similar to those suffered by the writer as described above.

There was a feeling among "other ranks", the imprecise and discourteous term given to NCOs and Men, that WOs and senior NCOs did not want their subordinates to learn too much.

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COMMUNICATIONS IN THE 1930s

Communications, the life-blood of any field artillery unit, received scant attention. Equipment was almost all of World War I vintage or earlier; signalling was by flag (Morse or Semaphore), lamp, heliograph, or field telephone. The weather dictated the effectiveness of visual signalling, and the maximum range of the 'phone on speech under ideal conditions was no more than about 1 � kilometres. Proficiency in Morse Code was essential for all modes, and long hours were spent practising it.

By about 1936 the Army had acquired a few Wireless Sets No 1, the first of the portable series, but their use was restricted to the New Zealand Corps of Signals. They were grudgingly lent to the RNZA for special purposes, eg maintaining communication between remote (annual camp) areas and Army Headquarters, always provided the would-be operator possessed some special qualification - such as an Amateur Radio Transmitters Certificate! Two or three were in evidence at the RNZA annual field artillery refresher course at Waiouru in November 1938, and actually used in the field but no formal instruction was given. The writer, although a signals instructor, was permitted to carry the equipment and help set it up but not to operate it. The first Regimental Signallers' Instructors Course on WS No 1 (which the writer attended) was not held until July 1939, two months before the outbreak of World War 2. By any standards the sets were already ten years out-of-date. They were far too heavy and cumbersome, and unstable in operation; to net two or more stations and keep them on net the operator was kept as busy as the proverbial one-armed paperhanger. Range on telephony was extremely limited, operators often being obliged to resort to Morse to maintain contact. Many amateurs had more up-to-date and efficient equipment.

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TRANSPORT IN THE 1930s

Mobile operations had received about the same attention as communications. Although the British Army began mechanising their field artillery in 1983, the New Zealand Army did not start until 1938. The RNZA did carry out some comic-opera trials a year or two earlier in which the cross-country performance of a civilian flat-top truck carrying an 18-pr gun was compared with that of the usual six-horse team drawing gun and limber. To the undying amusement of the Gunners the horses always beat the truck into action.

Mechanisation of medium artillery, ie BL 60-pr guns and BL 6-in howitzers, was accomplished by the Royal Artillery during World War I, although the Battery Staff, as Technical Assistants and Signallers were called, were still horsed. These worthies rode into action with directors and telephones slung around their necks - and when a horse bolted the inconvenience of such impedimenta can well be imagined! A similar system prevailed in New Zealand although little imagination had been shown in the provision of prime movers. In 1939 Central Military District were the proud possessors of two Holt Model 1925 5-ton Caterpillar Tractors. SMD also had two, but NMD none. To move their guns the unlucky northerners were obliged to hire suitable tractors from civilian sources.

The massive motors in the Holts had to be cranked by hand for none had self-starters. However, they started easily; the magneto-type ignition was very efficient and seldom gave trouble. There were no other electrics. Lighting (headlights only) was by acetylene gas. Noise from the motors effectively killed conversation as the exhaust system consisted solely of a straight pipe. Orders could only be given provided the driver throttled back to idling speed. Needless to say no horn was fitted for a Holt could be heard a kilometre away. When moving through a built-up area the driver and his assistant invariably suffered torrents of abuse from certain sections of the populace not noted for their support of the military.

The Holts were petrol-driven; they 'did' about 2 miles per gallon, or consumed 140 litres to 100 kilometres towing a 6-in howitzer at their top speed of 10mph (16kph). With the 60-pr fuel consumption was rather more, but who cared with petrol costing the Government at that time less than 5 cents a litre?

To enable the tractors to move the guns from gun park to railhead which occurred mainly prior to annual camps, the cleats were removed from the tracks which soon wore smooth. Therefore when moving down hill a man had to march behind ready to apply the brake on the carriage lest it took over and began pushing the tractor that then became uncontrollable. Obtaining a driver's licence was easy. The test was confined to a solo run 'up to the corner and back' while the Traffic Officer watched from a safe distance.

Neither the 60-pr nor the 6-in howitzer was ever converted to a system of mechanical draught comparable to any in use today. Prior to World War II solid rubber slabs were fixed to the iron tyres of their wooden wheels to permit more rapid movement by road, but 15 mph (24kph) was the maximum speed permitted.

Shortly after declaration of war in 1939 the QF 3-in anti-aircraft batteries reverted to a static role thus releasing their Leyland 'Terrier' gun towers to the mediums. In order to capitalise on the greater speed of the Leylands a local pattern kit to convert the guns to mechanical draught was produced. The carriage was placed upon a kind of bogie made from tour pairs of truck wheels, but it was not a success. It was clumsy, too wide, and did not track well, as the number of smashed railings on one-way bridges testified.

Both the 60-pr and the 6-in howitzer became obsolete during the war being eventually replaced by the BL 5.5-in gun. In New Zealand they were retained for training purposes until the early 1950s when a premature in a 6-in howitzer finally sent them to the scrap heap. This accident occurred during CMT training in the South Island.

Whenever other vehicles were needed, eg on the 1939 wireless course, Army hired them from the Post Office. That Department invariably handed out its oldest 'crocks' for few regular Gunners could lay claim to MT expertise in those days. On many a sticky occasion could be heard the cry, 'For � sake give us back the horses!'

By 1939 the 18-prs, 4.5-in howitzers and their limbers had been converted to mechanised draught by removing the old wooden wheels and fitting adaptors to the axletrees to take pneumatic-tyred wheels with their associated brake gear etc; limber poles were replaced by 'perches'. For some unexplained reason limbers now became 'trailers'.

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HORSES

RNZA recruits who entered Trentham Camp in January 1933 commenced basic field artillery training on horse-drawn 13-pr equipments the following May, but witnessed their conversion a week or two later. Army Schools' staff then informed them that 'since the Artillery was now mechanised' they would receive no equitation training. Some were therefore bold enough to presume that as horses would not be available they might see the motor-driven substitutes the staff implied were in the offing, but no such luck. Their course was indeed basic - the guns stayed on the gun park throughout. There was no training in R & O of positions.

In June the same year recruits graduated from being 'Privates on probation' to 'Gunners on probation' and marched out to RNZA Stations at the four main centres. There they were posted to Field, Coast, or Anti-Aircraft Cadres to complete establishments. Gunners posted to Field Cadres were somewhat surprised to say the least to find horses still very much a part of the 'now mechanised' Artillery. Cadre Staffs were perplexed when they learned the newcomers had not done an equitation course. NCOs had forthwith to acquaint them with the rudiments of equitation so they could carry out their duties.

The RNZA were obliged to provide horses for other troops as well as the Artillery, eg NZ Permanent Staff Mounted Rifle Instructors, Territorial Officers of various Corps etc. Prior to the advent of the motor vehicle all Officers down to and including Company Commanders 'marched' on horseback - yes even Infantry Officers!

When in RNZA hands horses received the constant care and attention their character and role demanded. They were regularly groomed, watered, fed, and tended according to rules evolved over many years, and their stables kept scrupulously clean. No matter what the hour his duty or task ended the Gunner's tradition demanded he see to his horses' wellbeing before his own. RNZA Stations kept accurate records including Veterinary History Sheets for individual animals. Each was given a name and regimental number, the latter being firebranded on the near fore foot. The 'broad arrow' and 'NZ' were similarly branded on the off fore foot, and 'RNZA' on the off hind respectively. No disfiguring brands were put on the hide.

However, time for the horses was fast running out, so it seems appropriate at this stage to pay tribute to these noble animals who so faithfully served the Regiment for so long. During World War 1 the NZFA affirmed that the RNZA horses they took to France were superior to all others. But noble indeed were they all; many were the accounts of horses shockingly wounded by shellfire straining in the traces in response to their Drivers until they dropped. Such performances were born of the patience, care, skill, and something akin to love Artillerymen lavished upon their steeds during training - for horses had to learn their drill like anyone else. Drivers became very attached to their charges, and would mourn a casualty as they would an old comrade 'gone west'. When World War 2 broke out RNZA horses were distributed to Mounted Rifle units, Guards Vital Points, etc, in which many ended their service as pack-horses. After the War those still living were put out to graze in honourable retirement at Waiouru, where despite the inhospitable climate they lived to a good age. To the end of their allotted span they always recognised a Gunner, but if he carried a head collar, which they knew meant work, they became almost human and hard to catch. However, like most humans they would succumb to guile; the cunning Gunner, with head collar in one hand behind his back, would proffer a handful of oats with the other. Now a horse can smell oats from a surprising distance, and however well fed just cannot resist them. So while the unsuspecting nag was engrossed in licking the last oat from the Gunner's hand that worthy would craftily slip the head collar over its head. No recalcitrant IC engine was ever so easily coaxed into action!

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continued...

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