For a second Graham stood stunned. His mouth opened and then he shook his head in shocked disbelief. “My section sir?” he managed to croak.
Capt Conkey nodded. “Well, not all of them. You are keeping a couple, and you are having a couple added to make up the numbers again.”
“But... but... I don’t understand sir,” Graham said. He was still trying to make sense of what he had heard, to relate it to his fears.
“We are doing a bit of regrouping for this exercise,” Capt Conkey replied. “Lance Corporal Lucas is sick so we are putting Lance Corporal Dunning in 6 Section in his place.”
‘Roger!’ Graham thought in dismay. ‘My best friend!’ He groped in his mind for some argument to have the decision reversed. “But sir, we are working well together as a team,” he managed to croak out.
Capt Conkey consulted his notebook. “Maybe, but this is the plan. Cadet Weldon and Cadet Sheehan are going to 5 Section, and Cadets Williams and Hind are going to 6 Section.”
‘The girls!’ Graham thought. A wave of shame coursed through him. ‘Capt Conkey is moving the girls out of my section. He has heard and doesn’t trust me.’ As the implications flamed in sharp pulsations of shame Graham also realised that it must mean that he had not been found out. ‘He can’t have any real proof, or he would be demoting me or chucking me out,’ he thought. It was small comfort to his battered feelings.
Capt Conkey then said, “You keep the others. That is Andrews, Halyday and Bragg.”
‘Oh bloody hell!’ Graham thought, ‘The three noddies!’ Then he modified that. ‘No, that’s not fair. Halyday has turned into quite a good cadet.’
He was just comforting himself with this when Capt Conkey again stunned him. “You are getting four people from 4 Platoon to replace the ones transferred. Lance Corporal Franks will be your new 2ic, and you will be getting Cadets Pike, Waters and Moynihan.”
‘Pigsy and his mates!’ Graham thought with dismay. It was so astounding that he felt mentally punch-drunk. “But. but .. “ he muttered.
“No buts,” Capt Conkey said grimly. “They have outlived their welcome in their own platoon and are joining your section. Now don’t argue about it and go and tell them. Do it now, and have those people I named with their new sections by the time I start giving orders in ten minutes.”
For a few seconds Graham stood facing Capt Conkey. His mind and emotions were now in turmoil. Despair and resentment fuelled feelings of rebellion but he knew he deserved to have the girls taken away. But to lose Roger! And Pat! And to get his worst enemies in their place! Then Graham bit down on his protests as he recognized what was really bothering him.
‘I’m afraid!’ he told himself. ‘I’m scared of Pigsy and Co.’
Shame at admitting he was a coward, even to himself, mingled with bitter and desperate thoughts as he tried to think of some honourable way out of the mess. None came to mind and he again despised himself when he found he could not open his mouth to argue with Capt Conkey.
“Yes sir,” he heard himself say, and it all tasted sour. ‘I haven’t even got the guts to stand up for myself!’ he thought bitterly. With self-loathing and contempt surging in his heart he turned and went walking back towards his section. ‘Or what was my section!’ he thought.
CUO Masters walked back with him. Neither spoke and Graham had to struggle not to burst into tears as self-pity welled to the top of his feelings. As he approached the section he could see their faces looking at him, some curious and some expectant, but all unsuspecting. Determined to salvage a few scraps of pride he gritted his teeth and tried to act calm. But all the while rising panic at how he would cope with Pigsy and Co kept building until he felt nauseous.
To Graham’s relief CUO Masters called Sgt Grenfell over and explained the changes, then told the cadets. That gave Graham a minute to master his despair. He was then gratified at the way the cadets all cried out in protest.
“It’s not fair Sir!” Kirsty cried. “We are a team. Now is not the time to break us up.”
“Don’t argue Cadet Weldon. You go to Five Section,” CUO Masters replied.
Seeing the dismay and resentment on Roger’s face added to Graham’s feelings of inadequacy. Likewise, hearing the others arguing vehemently against the change made him feel he was a weakling for not having done so himself. He saw Stephen and Gwen looking at him sympathetically but they only looked a bit unhappy.
The arguments were cut short by CSM Cleland coming along and telling them to move to the briefing area at the model. Graham met Roger’s eyes and gave a wry grin. He was now feeling shattered. Some of Capt Conkey’s words about Pigsy and Co were starting to hammer in his brain. ‘They have outlived their welcome,’ he had said. ‘Does that mean I am on the outer too?’ he wondered. But Capt Conkey had not said anything about him leaving 2 Platoon and CUO Grenfell acted as though he was still a section commander in his platoon.
The others continued grumbling and muttering about how unfair it was but their discontent was lost in the general chatter as the platoon stood up and began filing along to the briefing area. Sgt Grenfell pointed and ordered Roger, Lucy and Di to go and join Stephen’s section. As Gwen’s section stood up he told Kirsty and Pat to join it. Gwen obviously had mixed feelings but added her weight to Sgt Grenfell’s to get them to obey. They did this reluctantly and Kirsty gave Graham an aggrieved and angry look.
He was left with Andrews, Halyday and Bragg, who all seemed unsure but not unhappy. “Come on!” he snapped.
They walked along the river bed to where Peter and his patrol had constructed the huge ‘mud map’. Capt Conkey directed each section where to sit and Graham found it was not in the usual order of 1 section, 1 Platoon, etc, in numerical sequence. To his surprise he was seated on the very right hand end of the company. The cadets were seated in under the overhanging branches around three sides of the model. The model was orientated and the company mostly sat facing south. Capt Conkey stood with his back to the open river bed and waited while 4 Platoon came trekking in.
‘I hope we still have some sentries,’ Graham thought. ‘We will look really silly if Heatley or St Michaels attack us now!’ He looked around, filled with something approaching despair and wondered what to do. His feelings were pushed lower when he saw Pigsy come into sight. It made him feel even sicker when he saw the reaction of Pigsy and Co when CUO Grey pointed to him and told them to join him. Their sneering disbelief and open contempt savaged Graham’s frail hold on his facade of confidence.
As the four ‘new’ cadets walked towards him Graham forced himself to meet their eyes. Inside his stomach churned and he had to swallow. ‘Don’t let them see you are scared!’ he told himself in desperation. He stood up and pointed to the sand behind Andrews.
“Sit there,” he said, his voice sounding peculiar and false to him.
“Oh bloody hell!” muttered Pigsy, but he was glancing towards Capt Conkey, who only stood a few paces away. The four sat down, their faces masks of anger and rebellion but they said nothing. ‘That’s only because Capt Conkey is there,’ Graham thought. He felt sick just imagining how he would control them once he was off on his own.
Then Sgt Yeldham came over, leading Cadet Milson. As they approached Graham had a sense of more bad news. Yeldham gave him a hostile and derisive look and said, “Here’s another one for you.”
Graham glanced at Capt Conkey, who nodded. ‘Oh bloody hell!’ Graham thought. ‘What have I done to deserve this!’ Milson he only knew as a fat little trouble maker with a loud mouth. Graham pointed to the rear of the section. “Sit in front of Lance Corporal Franks Cadet Milson,” he said.
Franks scowled but moved himself back to make room. To Graham he looked to be a long way back and he did a quick head count. ‘Nine,’ he counted. He had to admit he was doing alright there. Some sections only had six or seven. Gwen’s now had eight and so did Stephen’s. ‘That must make them happier,’ he thought.
Capt Conkey now called for silence. The officers and remaining HQ personnel were moved to sit at the back. CSM Cleland seated himself on Graham’s right, with the Hutchie Men. Unusually, the CUO’s were seated at the very front, forward of their corporals. Graham sat down and only now turned his attention to the sand model. ‘I was really looking forward to this exercise,’ he thought bitterly. ‘Now it is going to be a real trial.’
Capt Conkey picked up a long stick to use as a pointer and moved forward to stand on the model. Graham opened his notebook, took out a pencil and smoothed his map copy on his knee in readiness. As fully half the NCOs had not yet done this gave him some small satisfaction when Capt Conkey told them to do so. He noted Capt Conkey give him a faint nod of approval as his gaze swept along the front row of corporals.
The sand model was 10 metres wide and 15 long. From one end to the other a ditch twenty centimetres or so deep and 2 metres wide had been dug. This obviously represented the river bed. A ribbon of blue ‘streamer’ paper along one side represented the actual water. Two bridges had been constructed out of soft drink cans and pieces of packing case and ration pack cartons. A red streamer ran across one and was the Flinders Highway. A green streamer ran across the other and Graham guessed that was the railway. Various side roads were shown by orange streamers and the hills and gullies were decorated in places with leaves. Rocks and boxes stood for other features.
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 back 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.