This period would see the RNZAOC continue to support Regular, Territorial and Compulsory Military Training, while also providing ongoing support to Kayforce.[1]
Key Appointments
Director of Ordnance Services
- Lieutenant Colonel F Reid, OBE
Southern Military District
Ordnance Officer
- Captain A.A Barwick.
Compulsory Military Training
During this period three CMT intakes marched in;[2]
- 3rd intake of 3011 recruits on 2 August 1951
- 4th intake of 2981 recruits on 3 January 1952
- 5th intake of 2694 recruits on 27 March 1952
Unlike the previous intakes of 18-year-olds, the 4th intake consisted of many 20-year-olds.
On completion of CMT recruit training, recruits were posted to Territorial units close to their home location to complete their CMT commitment, with RNZAOC CMT recruits posted to either
- 1st Infantry Brigade Ordnance Field Park Platoon, Hopuhopu.
- 2nd Infantry Brigade Ordnance Field Park Platoon, Mangaroa.
- 3rd Infantry Brigade Ordnance Field Park Platoon, Burnham.
- 1 Armoured Brigade Ordnance Field Park Platoon.
Kayforce
In July 1951 the New Zealand Government decided to increase its commitment to Kayforce with an expansion draft. Between July and 2 August 1951, the RNZAOC would outfit and equip the expansion draft with the necessary clothing and personal and equipment along with many additional stores and equipment for Kayforce including,
- 12 Twenty-Five pounders [3]
- A Battery truck
- Tentage and camp equipment
- Gun Ammunition
The expansion draft of 579 officers and men departed Wellington on 2 August 1951. However, on 15 August 1951, a day after departing Darwin, the Wahine ran aground in the Arafura Sea. All the crew and soldiers safely evacuated, continuing their journey to Korea by air, in what would be the first mass airlift of troops conducted by New Zealand. In an attempted salvage attempt a small number of personal kitbags and thirty cases of rifles were saved, with the 25 Pounder Guns disabled by the removal of their breech blocks, the remainder of stores and equipment remaining in the hold of the Wahine to this day.[4]
The loss of stores shipped on the Wahine threw an unplanned and additional task onto the RNZAOC. Within fourteen days, RNZAOC units would assemble and pack the required replacement stores to ensure that no hardship would be occasioned to the Force in Korea.[5] The replacement stores were dispatched by sea from Auckland on 4 September 1951.[6]
During this period, the RNZAOC provide the following reinforcements to Kayforce;
- 3rd Reinforcements, SS Wanganellella, 21 January 1952,
- Lance Corporal Owen Fowell
- Corporal Leonard Farmer Holder
- Private Desmond Mervyn Kerslake
New Zealand Army Act, 1950
The New Zealand Army Act 1950, together with the Army regulations 1951 and the Army Rules of Procedure 1951 issued under the authority of the Act, came into force on 1 December 1951, Placing the administration of the New Zealand Army entirely under the legislative control of the New Zealand Government and independent of the United Kingdom
Ordnance Conference 11 -13 April 1951
The Director of Ordnance Services hosted a conference of the Districts DADOS and the Officer Commanding Main Ordnance Depot (MOD) at Army Headquarters over the period 11 -13 April 1951.[7]
Items discussed at the conference included.
- Corps Policy
- Kayforce
- TF Recruit intakes
- Estimation of expenditure
- Payment of Accounts
- Provision
- Vehicles and MT Spares
- Personnel
- Ammunition
Pay and Allowances
During this period, new scales of pay and allowances for the Armed Forces were authorised. The new pay code provided an opportunity for the introduction of an improved system of “star” classification for all Other Ranks. The “Star” Classification system would by utilising trade tests allow pay to be related to trade ability.
Routine Ordnance Activities
Over this period the RNZAOC in addition to its regular duties of provision, holding and the issue of multitudinous stores required by the Army and the issue and dispatch of equipment and personnel for Kayforce had undertaken several other significant tasks.
The relocation of stores from Waiouru and Seaview to Mangaroa
The transfer of stores from Waiouru to Mangaroa was completed during this period. The transfer of stores from Seaview to Mangaroa and Trentham continued, with a further ten thousand square feet (930 square meters) of storage at Seaview made available to other Government departments.
Inspection of Ammunition
The Inspection Ordnance Officers Group (IOO Gp), which remained understaffed, was fully extended in the inspection of ammunition required for ongoing training requirements.
Small Arms Ammunition
Production of small-arms ammunition commenced in December 1951 at the Colonial Ammunition Company factory at Mount Eden in Auckland. The Proof Officer reported that the ammunition so far received was of high quality.
Introduction of New Equipment
As new equipment was introduced, the RNZAOC would play an essential role in the acceptance processes. Upon delivery from the supplier the equipment, its accessories and spares would be received into an RNZAOC Depot. The equipment would be inspected and kitted out with all its accessories prior to distribution to units. Depending on the equipment, several examples may have been retained in RNZAOC Depots as War Reserve/Repair and Maintenance Stock. Maintenance stocks of accessories and spares were maintained as operating stock in RNZAOC depots. If the new equipment was or contained a weapon system, ammunition specific to the equipment was managed by RNZAOC Ammunition Depots.
During this period, the following equipment was introduced into service.
- Four 5.5-inch Mark III Medium Guns.[8]
Support to the French War in Vietnam
In a move to calculated to enhance New Zealand’s national security by being seen abetting our allies in their efforts to contain Communism in South-East Asia, The New Zealand government in 1952 provided tangible support to the French in Vietnam by authorising the transfer of surplus and obsolete lend-Lease weapons and ammunition to the French Forces. Transferred from stocks held in RNZAOC depots, the following items would be dispatched to Vietnam;[9]
- 13000 rifles
- 700 Machine Guns, and
- 670000 rounds of small arms ammunition.
The rifles, machine guns (and ammunition) were lend-lease weapons that had urgently been provided to New Zealand in 1942 when the threat of Japanese invasion was very real. Chambered in the American 30-06 calibre the weapons served with the Home Guard and New Zealand units in the pacific, notably with RNZAF units co-located with American Forces.
Fiji Military Forces
Captain E.R. Hancock IOO SMD undertook a tour of duty in Fiji.
Enlistments into the RNZAOC
- George Thomas Dimmock – 2 August 1951
Discharged 31 March 1952
- Corporal R.C Fisher (Ammunition Examiner IOO Branch)
Notes
[1] “H-19 Military Forces of New Zealand Annual Report of the General Officer Commanding, for Period 1 April 1951 to 31 March 1952 “, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (1952).
[2] Peter Cooke, Fit to Fight. Compulsory Military Training and National Service in New Zealand 1949-72 (Auckland: David Ling Publishing, 2013), 539.
[3] Howard Weddell, Trentham Camp and Upper Hutt’s Untold Military History (Howard Weddell, 2018), Bibliographies, Non-fiction, 184-5.
[4] I. C. McGibbon, New Zealand and the Korean War (Oxford University Press in association with the Historical Branch, Dept. of Internal Affairs, 1992), Non-fiction, Government documents, 199.
[5] “H-19 Military Forces of New Zealand Annual Report of the General Officer Commanding, for Period 1 April 1951 to 31 March 1952 “.
[6] McGibbon, New Zealand and the Korean War, 200.
[7] Conferences – Ordnance Officers, Item Id R17188101 (Wellington: Archives New Zealand, 1950).
[8] A total of 16 guns, delivered in groups of Four on a mixture of MkI and MkII carriages would be supplied to the NZ Army between 1951 and. Damien Fenton, A False Sense of Security : The Force Structure of the New Zealand Army 1946-1978, Occasional Paper / Center for Strategic Studies: New Zealand: No. 1 (Center for Strategic Studies: New Zealand, Victoria University of Wellington, 1998), Bibliographies, Non-fiction, 21.
[9] Roberto Giorgio Rabel, New Zealand and the Vietnam War : Politics and Diplomacy (Auckland University Press, 2005), Bibliographies, Non-fiction.
"To the Warrior His Arms" 