An infantry officer fires on a mock enemy force from Whanganui's Languard Bluff training camp. Photo / Bevan Conley
An infantry officer fires on a mock enemy force from Whanganui's Languard Bluff training camp. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui’s Languard Bluff was engulfed by simulated gunfire as New Zealand Defence Force personnel carried out a mock urban combat engagement.
The scenario was part of Exercise Baghlan, a week-long exercise aimed at training soldiers to command a rifle platoon in both bush and urban environments.
Around 200 personnel from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps were stationed out of the bluff to complete the urban phase of the course.
Major Haedyn Jenkinson, the officer in command of Victor Company, First Batallion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, said the exercise involved tracking down a mock enemy insurgency group in the city.
“We’ve established ourselves in this forward operating base to patrol out of to try to reassure the public, reassure the host nation’s security forces within the scenario and basically establish control within the city and do some kinetic actions against those terrorist groups established in the city,” he said.
They chose Whanganui for the exercise because of its proximity to Linton Army Base, the facility at Languard Bluff and because of the varied environments to train and practice in.
“We’ve utilised the substation, we’ve utilised the mill, we’ve utilised the township itself.”
Once the platoon established itself at Languard Bluff, the mock enemy began observing them and slowly escalating action against them, with the platoon in turn conducting reconnaissance on the enemy.
“The intelligence built up from our patrolling led to us being able to identify where they were, and this morning we went through and conducted an ordnance search ... on the enemy stronghold,” Jenkinson said.
The search led to a scenario in which the insurgents would stage a retaliatory attack on the bluff from the top of “Bunker Hill” across the road from the base.
“Effectively, the enemy has engaged the operating base from the top of the hill [and] the soldiers have reacted, and they’ve returned fire to try to suppress the enemy and push the enemy back off the hill, and basically win the firefight.”
The base platoon’s weapons ranged from smaller assault rifles to light machineguns, and two trucks with mounted guns on their roofs joined the fight later.
Both platoons were firing blank rounds and had laser receptors on their uniforms to inform them if they had been shot and whether they had been fatally wounded, with speakers simulating the sound of bullets whizzing past.
Initially, the platoon fired on the enemy from inside the base but, eventually, the defending platoon made its way out of the base and up the hill to directly confront those who were trying to escape.
“What they did was, once they got the enemy back through, suppressing them from the hill, they effectively sent a group around the back of the hill to come up the back,” Jenkinson said.
Major Haedyn Jenkinson. Photo / Bevan Conley
An infantry support dog was also part of the platoon, with the exercise ending when the dog took down one of the attackers who was clad in a bite suit.
Asked how it was decided who would wear the bite suit, Jenkinson said it usually went to the person who snored loudest in the tent.
He said the training was designed to be able to bring together all parts of the army to allow them to train together, which would lead to them operating more effectively.
“What it’s allowing them to do is integrate together, so the engineers learn how to work with infantry, they learn how to incorporate dogs into their patrol, they learn about the different capabilities and different options they have available to them.”
He was thankful to the Whanganui people, who he said had been awesome to the trainees while they were in the city.
Once they were done with the exercise, he said the next event for the group would be Anzac Day commemorations, which would give them a much-needed break from the combat gear.
Image 1 of 19: The army Exercise Baghlan at Whanganui's Landguard Bluff. It involves Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and Royal New Zealand Armoured Core officers and non-commissioned officers. Thursday, April 20, 2023 Whanganui Chronicle photograph by Bevan Conley.
