Tracks Magazine - August 1955
"Archie" McDonald - 1955
Ron Bond - 1955
A couple of decades ago I was travelling through northern NSW and called in to see Archie McDonald, an old 1 Armoured Regiment LAD mate. Archie had kept his copy of the first issue of the Regiment's glossy magazine, Tracks — August 1955. It is this magazine that is re-produced below
Tracks Magazine
Index
Foreword Preface Principles of Employment of Armour Tracks To Tradition Keep An Open Mind Review of Squadron Activities Regimental Headquarters Headquarters Squadron Reconnaissance Troop A Squadron Notes B Squadron Notes Nucleus Squadron Regimental Training Troop Light Aid Detachment, RAEME Signals Troop, RASigsIndex (cont)
Review of Allied Armour Tanks in The Jungle Korean Sidelights Equipments 1954 .. A Royal Occasion On Parade Elevating Gear Officers' Mess Notes Sergeants' Mess Notes In The Realm of Sport It Could be You The Adjutant's Dilemma While Others Sleep [et al] Beauchamps Own Epilogue
FREE VERSE FROM A FREE THINKER
Thoughts upon reading the press announcement of the composition of Malaya Force.
O'doubtful one of the ability of armour, Cast thy mind back, from experience garner, I intrude upon your deep tranquility By clamouring for thought on past stability; Hitting hard in the attacking battle Or boosting morale with the tanks' hard rattle. Wherever it was, in green jungle or desert sands, Mute evidence of rusting hulls there stands, That tank stood the supreme test of war, Providing victorious armies with a hard steel core. Whether in attack or defence Armour was in the forefront in that true sense. And now our Army is again called forth To countries near to the North Clothed in dark avenues of jungle green Are nurtured by our dead in soil unseen. The call has come for the soldiers on foot, Thought mainstay of armies, yet, surely not forsook By your supporters in battle who served you well. Through previous war waged in jungle hell? Have you forgotten Satelberg and Lae? Which proved what tanks were in jungle fray Bouganville and Borneo further showed their worth, To the infantrymen a friend, to Japanese a curse. Come! Don't be prejudiced! Think further afield! To battles of Burma which further healed And welded the infantry and tank as a team, From Impal to Mandalay down Irrawaddy's broad stream. Malaya now beckons, the finger of Asia, Steep mountains and jungle forming facia, Clothing last war's dead in dark shroud, They died not in vain, 'neath the facet cloud. That cloud now threatens in another guise, It must be stopped! But let's not surmise — It can be with rifleman alone. So thought in the past, and the world atoned! On evidence clear stated that Force must include A component of Armour, and let's not delude By old prejudice and rivalries, men once of stirrup Have in tank fighting a future of no limit. Tradition and heritage pave the tanks' way, So that with the Infantry, in looming battles may Fulfil its destiny of bolstering the stand Again at the menace that threatens our land. The tanks' voice is small in the Army today. It must be heard without delay. For it would be disaster for a war to start Without Armour to soften the blow on stout heart. Whatever the cost entail, Let none deny this fact, That along the jungle verdured trail, Still leads to victory the tanks' broad track!
— Anon