VDC Goes Arty in a Big Way, Photographs, 5th Column Mobile, Smoko !

V.D.C. GOES ARTY IN A BIG WAY

"WE'RE going to get fortress guns!" Incredible news for the V.D.C.

"Yes, and searchlights, engines, and everything that opens and shuts for coastal defence artillery."

That dialogue was repeated many times when the astounding information became known in our battalion early in August 1943. It represented the biggest single event since the formation of the unit more than three years previously.

We considered ourselves the "originals" (something of special virtue always seems to attach to that designation in all Australian forces), and we might have been "original" by a very short space of time, when the Volunteer Defence Corps, also known as the Home Guard, was originated in the councils of the Returned Sailors, Soldiers, and Airmen's Imperial League of Australia.

Esprit de corps was certainly always strong in the unit. They must have "had something" to keep them coming on parade in all weathers. For a very long time the most formidable weapon was an improvised mortar which threw a dummy bomb for a couple of hundred yards. These men, some of whom were most expert on the most modem ordnance of their active war days, were pathetically proud of the token-very token-battle machine which some of them had fashioned from available metal.

We fancied ourselves a bit as infantrymen, although many of our number had had their only infantry experience since joining the unit, all their previous warlike activities having been in the various branches of the old A.I.F., A.F.C., R.A.N., Merchant Navy, or other Imperial forces.

Now we were suddenly to be transformed into artillerymen of a very special order. Men of the big guns. It was like promising a boy, whose only fishing equipment was a piece of string and a bent pin a little while ago, a complete new outfit of the finest fishing tackle dear to all anglers. And to complete the analogy - throwing in a speedy motor launch.

We were overjoyed albeit a little embarrassed with the sudden riches bestowed on us. It was not that we had not been fairly well off for infantry weapons and equipment for some time, but it meant that we were to be entrusted with a most important and responsible defence job. It was a real job.

We were assured soon after-wards that this was so. We were to be trained to man the coastal defences so as to relieve fortress artillerymen to go to other operational stations in battle zones.
We were to be ready to do a big job if the battle ever veered our way. Every facility to train our fellows in the many specialized departments connected with the guns was to be provided right away.

Then we were given an example of how quickly the Army can go into action when it makes up its mind about a thing. At the end of August all the officers and N.C.O s who could make arrangements at short notice reached a coastal artillery fortress for a fourteen days' school. There were nineteen altogether, mostly officers.

They were met by a young returned A.I.F. captain-a man of great experience and wisdom in artillery matters. He wore blue chevrons which denoted his recent overseas battle experience. With him was an instructional staff of seven experts. One of them was a lights officer and two of them were A.W.A.S.

In the course of a few days our chaps had many new experiences. They found that with the capable instruction given them they were able to absorb many entirely fresh ideas with a speed that surprised them. Their instructors were also agreeably surprised. The latter were anxious to get this job done because they were looking forward themselves to a move. The students gained a wholehearted respect for "gunners" and the store of specialized knowledge they possessed. They discovered that A.W.A.S. knew a great deal about the instruments of war and could pass their knowledge on with admirable skill.

The school was "hard". It became a saying that the time-table was so closely framed that time off f or a shower meant missing a meal. That may have been a slight exaggeration but there was little time for sitting around. Every available minute was allotted for instruction or study. At the end of the school there was a shoot. The students manned the guns and, using one-inch aiming tubes, six series each of thirty-six rounds were fired. The students took over the coastal artillery searchlights for a one-night practice.

The course was both intensive and comprehensive.

Although they were both physically and mentally tired at the conclusion of the school, when they embussed and started on the road home the students were satisfied that they had gained a basis for the instruction of the troops back in the unit.

They were well rewarded by the comments of the C.I.: "They shaped exceedingly well. The course was necessarily rushed but the results were excellent."

They all felt that the job of the battalion (or was it battery?)-to augment the garrison to full strength and be prepared for an emergency-was within the capacity of the unit. The most pleasing feature was that they had an inspiring picture of their future role to take back to the boys. The comparative safety of the southern part of the continent had made it possible to relieve the younger men from the forts, leaving a skeleton to carry on with the support of V.D.C. units. During the period of the school all the students had visited most of the forts and made themselves conversant with the equipment and the tasks ahead , . They had lived in the barracks there in comfortable surroundings which compensated for the rush and strain on the concentrated course, and they could picture themselves in the real thing if it came.

Next stage in the metamorphosis of the unit from infantry to artillery came after the return of the students. An ideal bayside spot with a point jutting out into the water was selected and handed over to us for training headquarters. This tongue of land slipping steeply on three sides to beach and rocks and backed on the shoreward side by tea-tree scrub had a drill hall almost at its extremity.

The idea was to mount two guns on emplacements constructed in the hall. All equipment of an operational fort was to be established there. The cadre from the coast came there and showed the boys two guns stripped right down, with heavy pedestals, cradles and saddles, and all the parts. They were told they would manhandle the "pieces" into position in the hall. They looked on the 71-ton tapering cylinders of steel and smiled "a kind of sickly smile". They were not certain that it was not a joke.

But they did the job all right. They attended in teams of forty, and the expert guidance of the members of the cadre soon had them heaving on ropes. The miracle that could be performed with the proper use of block and tackle and wooden repository gear -blocks of wood, rollers and levers to lift the great weights and move them deftly into position threw some light on that great mystery of the ages of how the pyramids of Egypt were erected.

The manpower of those ancient days must have been directed by a superior mind like that of the W.O. from the coastal artillery. He had the right idea about orders too.

As the boys put all their weight on the ropes attached to the hefty lumps of fashioned steel, he sometimes let go a burst of A.I.F.cum-garrison verbiage that meant what it said. In a twinkling, three years of V.D.C. politeness was shattered like an egg-shell. He realized that shifting seven and a half tons was a danger to the lives of inexpert men and every order had to be implicitly obeyed. The slightest hesitation which interfered with the correlation of efforts might mean a tumble that would result in irreparable loss for somebody in the V.D.C. if the weight rolled on top of him.

Our Colonel and the C.I. exchanged a twinkle of suppressed mirth which bridged two wars. Old soldiers of this and the last, they understood. We all knew then what no other words could adequately convey. We were being accepted as equals and comrades in-arms by these battle-scarred veterans of the war of 1940.

Seeing the guns completely stripped down provided the opportunity to learn a lot that we would not have been able to learn other wise. The guns were of late pattern. In fact our two had once stood proudly on the deck of an auxiliary cruiser and had helped to end the career of an enemy raider. That story gave a touch of romance to the fort.

The guns poked their long painted barrels ("pieces" we called them now) through the swiveling shields just as if they were on shipboard again. They looked formidable as ~utters went up and they searched the blue waters for an enemy target. Inside the hall, the varnished walls gave a ship-shape picture and teams sprang into position at a sharp word of command. With the lap of the waves below it was easy to imagine the scene on the ship when these same guns roared and hurled death at the distant raider.

The training area-our tight little training fort-was soon completed with all the necessary installations-directing station, searchlights housed snugly in concrete emplacements, engine-room and oil store. They were models of modem military building. Wires were laid for intercommunication, loudspeakers, and electrical gun equipment. Fortress company engineers and L.H.Q. signallers did these jobs.

A local platoon gave a helping hand with the initial protective wiring around the station and our engineers completed the job aimed at keeping out crowds of small boys and protecting an expensive collection of ordnance and stores.

Even before all this was completed our men were divided into their various branches of future activity-gun-layers, gun numbers, searchlights, and engine hands.

'Some were learning an entirely new game; some had had experience bearing on the work ahead. For instance, when an instructing sergeant asked a question regarding an engine, a young V.D.C. member gave a good account of certain parts and their usages.

"Where did you find that out?" asked the sergeant.

"I make these engines," said the pupil.

The W.O. had been detailing an operation on the gun.

"Anyone like to have a go?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," volunteered one young student.

His effort staggered the instructor.

"Good God! How did you pick that up so quickly'," asked the W.O., genuinely surprised.

"Well, sir, I have been studying a good deal lately. You see I am going for leaving honours soon and--"

Instructors never had such attentive listeners or willing crews as these part-time soldiers-men and boys. They were called 46gunners" now instead of privates, and erstwhile "Corporal So-and-So, V.D.C." got a great kick when addressed as "Bombardier So-and-So" by a charming young bombardier instructor on range finding who wore the uniform of the A.W.A.S. and the colour patch of the Coastal Artillery.

The specialists were found jobs to do. "I" men could be seen importantly moving about in groups taking bearings and measurements and making necessary maps; transport men shone on engine-room stuff after they had parked their vehicles; mortars and engineers were quite at home at the fort; the signallers fitted into the intercommunications branch of gunnery, and the medical section brought out their panniers with an anticipatory glint in their eyes.

But there was one man who seemed to enjoy above all others putting into practice the lessons he had learned at schools where he had found out a dozen ways to cook a fish-from abo-mud and hot coals to the modem electric stove-that was the sergeant cook.

You could see him with his off-siders starting his fires any Sunday at 8 a.m. On week-days you might have seen him in the city attired in an immaculate civvy suit, perfect cut, a managing director from his Homburg to his spats, gloves and stick. But he was never so important in a city boardroom as when he presided at the cook~house in khaki drill.

Rations were "drawn" for Sunday's dinner and the utility truck took utensils to the fort before the proper cookhouse came to light. On would go the line of dixies on the trench fire for tea and vegetables. If a roast was on the menu, baking dishes would be used in the cookhouse; if a grill, a cyclone gate made a Gargantuan griller for amazing quantities of sausages and chops; and if stew, the copper did the job and the sea-breeze bore an aroma like a gravy powder advertising poster as succulent brown cubes of meat bubbled merrily with spuds and onions and peas and other tit-bits in the brown juice beloved of stew addicts.

"What, you had stew for Sunday dinner-" asked incredulous V.D.C. widows of returning gunner-trainees.

"That's right," answered the gunners, engine hands, and searchlight men with a gourmet's reminiscent gaze.

Benny was an artist where stews were concerned.

"V357154"

FIFTH COLUMN-MOBILE

THE C.R.P. rang up H.Q. of the Guides and Reconnaissance Corps at Nowra one night to report Morse signalling from the Bomaderry heights-obviously directed out to sea.

It was at the time when the Japanese were suspected of operating off the coast of New South Wales. All was in a ferment at once. A casual inspection confirmed the report. Despite the lateness of the hour - it was nearly midnight-Corps H.Q. in Sydney was rung up and the matter reported. Corps must have roused L. of C. and half the Eastern Command judging by the messages which began to come through.

Anticipating instructions, two patrols were sent out, one to take the Bomaderry heights from the rear, the other to make a frontal assault up the cliffs from the river bank.

Meanwhile those on H.Q. who had not joined the patrols waited patiently, watching the signalling from the heights and answering the inquiries from Sydney. Military priority had been invoked and all telephonic communication with Sydney had been suspended to permit of Corps asking every five minutes if there was anything fresh to report.

"Can you read the signals?" was one question. "No."

"What language are they in? "

"Well, sir, we don't quite know. The only man here who knows German says they are not in that language. We think they may be in Japanese, but nobody here knows any."

Hour by hour, or rather minute by minute, during some hours those inquiries went on.

It was obvious that a perfect galaxy of brass-hats must have been aroused in Sydney to hear the news. Eventually in the early hours of the morning the patrols drifted in. Who gave their report to Corps, who conveyed it to L. of C. and Eastern Command, and what was the reaction of each will never be known.

There had been intermittent lights showing in the wooded and sparsely built-upon Bomaderry heights. Those lights certainly looked like Morse, but they were caused by the hurricane lamp upon the back of the local sanitary contractor's cart. As the cart passed a tree or a cottage the light was obscured only to flash out again as it passed from backyard to backyard.

The language used by the patrols was not German or Japanese.

"N244817"

SMOKO

Break off! Ten minutes smoko!

The platoon straggled over to the shade of the camphor laurels ...

". . . And that reminds me - did you hear that one about Rommel and the camel?

". . . This is real clean humour ...

"Aw, shut up!"

". . . Where does all the money go to, I'd like to know. The Government must pour it down a sink."

In Russia under the Five Year Plan

". . . Do you know that one about the bank teller and the deaf lady? . . ."

Drink! Of course you can do without it. Never tasted it in my life-and look at me!"

"Yairs-Tooth's would give a thousand for yer photo. And it'd be worth lots more."

". . . Under the Czars . . ."

11. . . An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotchman . . ."

". . . Whv shouldn't the dorgs ... ?

. Me! Course I've got nothing as you say. But I got the value of it Just the same. I'll bet I've drunk a good big terrace of houses in my time

Should have hanged Chamberlain..."

The Labour Party was quite right . . ."

I've drunk enough to float a battleship, no not a cruiser-I said a battleship. And she'd be able to manoeuvre a bit too."

". . . And why shouldn't they have dorgs? You must have sport in wartime, and how could you have sport without dorgs?"

"In Russia they don't have . . ."

"Talk sense, man, they had the opera going in Moscow while the Nasties were bombing the place. Didn't they, Mick?"

"My oath."

". . . But they didn't have dorgs. Folk next to me have three filthy brutes that moan and yelp all night. And they wash them in the bath! "

"Oh, that's all right. The dorgs don't mind!

". . . Fancy one and twopence for a schooner! "

And no stingo in it no more."

There's no freedom in a country like this. She's rotten to the core."

. . . Did you hear that one about the curate who had a bath in a cask?"

". . . In Russia they do things differently."

Served Darlan right-that's the way to ...

". . . No Fifth columnists in Russia-they are all six feet under ground there."

"No flies on Joe."

. . . As I was saying, about them schooners . . ."

". . . You saw what Bishop Burgmarm said about education in U.S.S.R.?"

". . . Did I tell you about the bishop and his nephew in Paris?"

". . . You can't -tell me that beans should be one and nine a pound . . ."

". . . Those dorgs eat ten bobs' worth of meat a week, and I pay one and ten . . In the Socialist state . . ." Under the New Order . . ." Anyway, I says hats off to the W.R.A.N.S."

"Do talk sense. Haven't you read 'From Munich to . . .'"

". . . Not a General among them. Why don't they send them to Timoshenko and learn how. . ."

It's the poor man's sport. I say

There was a barmaid who lost her lipstick and .

. . . Now look at Ghandi

England never won any wars herself -look at Bunker's Hill."

". . . One and twopence is scandalous . .

Too right. It's a pity they don't come

Say as they like they'll never do any good till they open a second front

". . . England! Bah! She's just run by Fascists."

". . . Well, I'm sick and tired of hearing the praise of Russia by blokes who never ...

Russia's the only . . .

" Big filthy thieving . .

Dad said to Dave ...

Did you read

One and tup Poor man's .

Dave looked Russ . . ."

Marker! Platoon! Fall in!

"N425623"