The Cadet Corporal

by Christopher Cummings

  Capt Conkey checked his watch then began. “Ok troops, these are the orders for the big exercise. We are taking the opportunity to brief the entire company in one go. I will be mostly directing my orders to the platoon commanders but HQ and the section commanders need to copy down what is important to them. Platoon sergeants obviously need a copy in case their platoon commander becomes sick or gets captured.”

  Graham followed Capt Conkey’s gaze and saw that Sgt Yeldham did not have his notebook out. Watching Yeldham’s flustered and embarrassed groping in his pockets gave him a small spurt of malicious satisfaction.

  Capt Conkey went on, “This exercise is to be the culmination of the challenges by Heatley and St Michaels. In August most of you took part in the exercise against Mackay near Bowen. I hope this one isn’t as memorable.”

  There was a ripple of murmuring and Graham glanced over his shoulder and met Barbara’s eye. She made a wry face and blushed. Then Cpl Parnell called out, “Don’t get lost this time Dimbo!”

  That resulted in an eruption of laughter. Capt Conkey held up his hand. “Keep it down. We think there is a Heatley patrol up on the other bank somewhere.” Most of the company glanced that way. Capt Conkey re-assured them. “Don’t worry, we have some sentries over there. Now, let’s get through these orders. First the situation.” He paused while they all wrote ‘SIT.’ Then he said, “Topography.”

  Using his pointer Capt Conkey moved to the model. “We have this very accurate model courtesy of Corporal Peter Bronsky, Corporal Forman, LCpl O’Brien and Cadet Carnes. They carried out a twenty four hour recon patrol to map the whole area. They have done very well. Thank you HQ.”

  ‘Lucky Pete,’ Graham thought. ‘He is certain to be a sergeant now.’ He knew he was jealous of his friend and felt guilty about it. ‘I wish I’d been given a chance like that!’

  Capt Conkey had them refer first to their maps. Graham noted that they were only two hundred metres from the point where the Canning River joined the much bigger Bunyip. The Bunyip came around from the west in a huge sweeping curve of several kilometres. After joining up with the Canning it straightened out and flowed due South for the next ten. Opposite the junction of the two rivers Graham noted a half-moon shaped ‘island’ which was separated from the far bank by a series of flood overflow channels or ‘anabranches’. This was nicknamed ‘Ruin Island’ because the remains of an old farm stood in the middle of it.

  “I am going to call them the Anabranches,” Capt Conkey said . “This is so we do not confuse them with the flood channels in the bed of the main river.”

  The Anabranches split off about a kilometre and a half upstream of the junction, and ran diagonally across the ‘chord’ of the river’s huge curve to rejoin close to the western end of the highway bridge. In the main river bed were clumps of trees, some growing beside the water and others on sand dunes that had built up around their roots.

  The topographical briefing lasted for twenty minutes and covered minute details. The bit that interested Graham most was about the railway bridge itself. He knew, from having seen it in the distance, that it was a steel ‘through truss’ girder bridge. He now learned it was held up on 7 huge concrete pylons.

  “The bridge was built in the eighteen eighties,” Capt Conkey said. “The cement and steel was all imported from England. Because it is an old bridge they have just begun replacing it with a new structure about fifty metres downstream of it. This will finished in a year or two. The bridge is about a thousand metres long and the railway is fifty metres above the river bed. For the purposes of this exercise the railway is the Main Supply Route of the enemy army. If we can destroy, or even damage, both the road and rail bridges our army will win the battle which is being fought near Townsville at this moment.”

  He paused to ensure they understood then went on, “For this exercise we are a company of elite paratroopers who have been dropped in to try to blow the bridge. The enemy knows it is vital to him so he is guarding it with at least two companies of troops. So, Two, Enemy.”

  Graham wrote this. By this time he had calmed down a bit and was becoming absorbed in the idea of the exercise. Being an elite paratrooper really appealed to his romantic streak. He was also very interested in the exercise enemy.

  “Thanks to two patrols, one by Cpl Bronsky and HQ, and the other by the Hutchie Men, we know a fair bit about the enemy deployment,” Capt Conkey said. There were muted cheers of, “Hutchie Men!” which made most of them smile. Capt Conkey went on to explain, “We think they have deployed in two main defence lines with Heatley closest along the line of the highway, and St Michaels at the rear, guarding the actual railway bridge.”

  At that Sgt Yeldham commented, “That’d be St Michaels, hiding at the back!”

  It raised a few snickers but Capt Conkey was not amused. “That will be enough of those sorts of comments thank you! Don’t interrupt,” he snapped, flashing an angry glance at Sgt Yeldham. Then he went on, “We know Heatley have been patrolling this area and we suspect they may be watching us even now. They certainly have patrols forward so we can expect contact as soon as we leave this location. There are also sections guarding the ends of each bridge and the bottoms of all the pylons.”

  He held up a map board with the known ‘enemy’ patrols and guard posts shown in red. To Graham it made a formidable array. ‘They don’t mean to lose this time,’ he thought.

  Capt Conkey emphasized the same point. “We have badly dented their pride with our raids on the airfield and the actions at Sandy Ridge and Black Knoll the other night. They want their revenge. It is going to take our very best efforts to get past them to the target. As well, there are umpires from the army staff and from Fifteen A.C.U. They will have white armbands and are supposed to be impartial.”

  He then went on to talk about civilians and not to annoy or frighten them, to keep out of private property. A new map was handed around to all NCOs and CUOs showing the ‘out-of-bounds’ areas shaded in. Luckily there didn’t seem to be many.

  “Meteorology, weather will be fine. Temperatures forecast at a twenty degree minimum. Moon is not up till nearly zero four hundred tomorrow morning, which is good. However, we suspect that both Heatley and St Michaels have several night vision devices, ‘Ninox’ and the like, on loan from the army. So good fieldcraft is essential.”

  That was sobering news and Graham wondered how on earth he could hide from a Ninox night sight on a bright starry night.

  Capt Conkey paused for a drink of water, then said, “Mission. Our mission is to destroy the Bunyip River rail and road bridges.”

  He repeated this and Graham felt a thrill of excitement. This was exactly the sort of exercise he had been hoping it would be. ‘I am going to enjoy this,’ he thought, until he remembered who was in his section.

  Next came the ‘Execution’ paragraphs. In the ‘Scheme of Manoeuvre’ Capt Conkey explained that there were to be six raiding parties. That got Graham’s interest. Capt Conkey showed their routes and targets on the model. Having done this quickly he went over it again in detail when he covered ‘Groupings and tasks.’ “First are the Hutchie Men. Their grouping is the CSM, the Hutchie men, plus one signaller from HQ. They are to go upstream to the right and come around the end of the enemy via the railway from Bunyip Bend. Their target is the steel power pylon on the West bank near the rail bridge. Next is to be Four Section. Grouping is Four Section, plus one medic and one signaller from HQ. They are to go upstream to the Anabranches and then south via the ruins of the old meatworks, then attack the western end of the rail bridge, the concrete abutments or Pylon Number Seven.”

  When he heard this Graham at first did not comprehend. It was only when he heard what the others were going to do that he realised that he was not to operate with his own platoon. 2 Platoon (minus) was to move down the west side of Ruin Island and attack the road and rail bridges. Their main targets were Pylons Five and Six. Four Platoon, plus Peter as a guide and signaller, plus a medic, was to do a wide detour bac
k over Sandy Ridge and around to the south of the rail bridge to attack from the South against Pylons 3 and 4. 1 Platoon was to go cross-country between the river and Bare Ridge to attack the eastern end of the rail bridge, Pylons 1 and 2. 3 Platoon was to advance south along the eastern bank of the river to attack the highway bridge, and the enemy HQ near a picnic area toilet block.

  “Three Platoon is to move ahead of 2 Platoon and 1 Platoon and is to break up the pattern of the enemy defences at the highway,” Capt Conkey explained. When he was sure that each group knew their objectives he went on to the ‘Co-ordinating Instructions’. During that Graham learnt that his section was moving with the remainder of 2 Platoon at 1700, along with the Hutchie Men and 4 Platoon. Once across the open sand of the river bed they were to split up and 4 Platoon was to do a big circle of three kilometres back to their previous night’s bivouac area. They would then march back to this location.

  “This is our deception plan,” Capt Conkey explained. “I am sure that Heatley will have a patrol watching the river bed and I hope they will see lots of troops go across the river to the west bank. As most of company will actually be raiding down the east bank I am hoping that will decoy a lot of their patrols over that way. Sorry Four Platoon, but you are going to have to demonstrate that you are big and tough and can march those extra kilometres. I want you back here by eighteen hundred.”

  Other timings were given. The raiders were to try to pass the highway at about 2030 and to hit the railway bridge at about 2100. They were all to be home by midnight, or were to report to the nearest unit for a safety check. The routes were then covered again in detail, with map references. Graham was satisfied he would have no navigational problems.

  Boundaries were made clear, rendezvous allocated then the ‘Action on Contact’ was explained in detail. Capt Conkey held up two red cloth epaulets and two yellow cloth epaulets. “The red epaulets are being worn by St Michaels and the yellow ones by Heatley. We are to wear two green ones.”

  He held one of these up. It was a bright green colour. Then he explained. “If you are captured, or if an umpire says you have lost the battle, you are to hand over one of your epaulets to the enemy. When you have lost both you become a prisoner and stay with them. If you win you get their epaulets. If you get their last one then they are out of the exercise and must go to their HQ and take no further part in the battle. Is that clear? Yes Cpl Bell?”

  Stephen had his hand up. “Sir, if we capture a set of enemy epaulets can we wear them to trick them?”

  There was a ripple of applause and laughter. Capt Conkey shook his head. “No Cpl Bell. We are using skill and fair play, not low trickery. The CSM has already suggested this afternoon that we whip into Charters Towers and buy the right coloured cloth to make full sets of enemy epaulets.”

  Graham met Stephen’s eye and he grinned. ‘Trust Steve to think of that!’ he thought with a mixture of admiration and disapproval.

  Capt Conkey then went on to remind them of the standard safety rules. “No physical contact. No hitting. No throwing. No running in the dark. Safety first!” To back this up he gave detailed information on the locations of safety vehicles and the medics. Graham learned that each platoon, plus his own section, each had a medic attacked. ‘I wonder who that will be?’ he thought, gloomily running through the HQ roll in his head.

  The action at the objective he found fascinating. Capt Conkey explained that, in reality, it would take tons of explosives placed in exactly the right place by skilled engineers or demolition experts to knock down such huge bridges. “We are lucky,” he said. “We have the latest technology bombs, ‘Supersemtex’. A tiny amount causes enormous damage.”

  He bent down and picked up a plastic container out of the ration pack boxes and held it up. It had BOMB written on it in felt pen, plus the unit name. “All you have to do is get one of these to the base of a pylon, or the end of a bridge and leave it. If you do we have won.”

  “What’s inside it sir?” Cpl Griffin asked.

  “These are formal orders Cpl Griffin. Questions at the end. But the answer is nothing. They are just empty boxes. You can put a piece of paper saying ‘Bang!’ and your names if you like,” Capt Conkey replied.

  “But sir,” Dimbo called out, “What if the other mob hide it and deny we put it there?”

  “We have to hope they will be fair,” Capt Conkey replied.

  “But they could lie sir!” Dimbo persisted.

  “Maybe, but we won’t. So you can add your names in felt pen on the concrete, just to be sure. They won’t be able to remove that in time.”

  That satisfied them. Capt Conkey had a bomb issued to every section commander, each sergeant and each CUO. He then covered ‘action if lost’ and went on to Administration and Logistics and then Command and Signals. During that Graham learned that his section would be given a signaller. He noted that the Coy Radio Net had ten sets on it: one at the CP, one with the OC, six with the raiding parties, and two with safety vehicles. Capt Conkey would be moving with the other OOCs, except Lt McEwen, to be at the exercise HQ. Lt McEwen was to stay with five sick cadets at this location and would man the unit CP and base radio station. The platoon nets were still the small hand-held CB radios. They were then given the password and countersign- SANDY- SAHARA.

  Capt Conkey then did as time check and said, “Any questions?”

  There were plenty but Graham had none. He sat and mulled over his part in the exercise and knew it was going to be the biggest test of his cadet career.

  CHAPTER 27

  THE NEW SECTION

  As soon as Capt Conkey finished his briefing Staff Sgt Gayney and Cpl Parnell issued the green epaulets to each platoon sergeant. These were then handed to the section commanders for distribution to cadets. Sliding them onto his shoulder straps made Graham feel quite special and he was torn by a mixture of emotions. He knew he was looking forward to the exercise as an event, yet afraid of failing as a leader. There were also the glimmerings of satisfaction that his section would be operating on its own.

  ‘At least no-one else will see me when things go wrong,’ he thought; for he was sure that things would go wrong. Already he could hear the discontented mutterings from behind him as the initial shock of transfer wore off among his new members.

  Capt Conkey called, “Platoon commanders, get your people moving. Get ready.”

  CUO Masters stood up and called out, “Up you get Two Platoon. Section commanders move your sections back to the platoon area and have tea.”

  Graham had no choice but to stand up and face his new section. The first small test was thrust upon him. “Stand up Four Section.”

  To his relief they did, although there were hostile and rebellious looks from the four ex- 4 Platoon members. Graham made himself face them. “You blokes go and collect your gear and join us,” he instructed, trying to sound at least neutral.

  “Gawd! Bloody hell!” Pigsy muttered.

  “Just do it!” Graham snapped, his own emotions so jangled he was on the edge of losing his temper.

  “But we are senior cadets,” Waters challenged. “Why should we be with a junior platoon?”

  “Ask CUO Grey, not me!” Graham replied. “Or ask Capt Conkey. Now either do what you are told or take yourselves to the CSM.”

  The four scowled but LCpl Franks turned and started walking away towards where 4 Platoon had left their gear. ‘He is the weakest,’ Graham thought as he watched the others reluctantly follow.

  He was amazed to find his heart was beating as rapidly as if he had run a race and he knew he was deeply angry. But at least they had obeyed. “Come on!” he snapped at the others and led them back to where their packs were. Once there he sat down on his pack and dug out his stove and food. By then he was so upset he did not feel like eating but made himself.

  As he lit his hexamine Graham saw that Kristy was looking at him. For a moment their eyes met and she looked quite wistful. All Graham could do was shrug and look down. ‘I don’t understand
either,’ he told himself, although he thought he had a pretty good idea. ‘I’ve been given all the rejects so I must be one too!’

  The four ex-4 Platoon cadets returned while Graham was stirring his food in his mess tins. They were still scowling and grumbling but had obviously not complained to either CUO Grey or Capt Conkey. They sat to one side and in a way that signalled they did not want to be part of the section. Turning their backs on the platoon they began preparing their evening meal. It all made Graham feel quite stressed but he forced himself to pretend he was relaxed and happy. To that end he boiled water for coffee and ate his food with apparent enjoyment.

  All the while he kept glancing at his watch. There was no time to be wasted. The platoon was due to move at 1700 and the minutes seemed to fly. There was so much to do that Graham became quite anxious. As quickly as he could he washed up, packed away his stove and mess gear, added a tin of food and the ‘bomb’ to his webbing, then refilled his water bottles. He even made a point of brushing his teeth. All the while he chivvied the others to hurry, avoiding a direct confrontation with ‘The Four’ as he did.

  The ‘raiders’ were leaving their packs in a row back against the bank and were doing the raid in ‘Patrol Order’, which meant basic webbing. Graham badgered the cadets to hurry, to make sure they had full waterbottles; that they had a spare meal; that they had been to the toilet, and that they had their torches and matches in case of an accident or becoming lost. It all took time and the minutes sped by.

  CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell added to the sense of nervousness by walking around and urging the section commanders to get their people ready. Graham saw that Gwen’s section had all finished and were starting to apply camouflage and that made him even more anxious. He told his own section to do likewise. In none of this was he helped by Franks, his nominal 2ic. All Graham could do was shrug and do the work himself. His ‘original’ cadets were willing enough and quickly cammed up. Even Bragg was keen and helped Milson.