Battle Group Black brings the aggression at Exercise Sangro

Exercise Sangro has highlighted the lethal effectiveness of the New Zealand Army when combining different Army capabilities onto a specific objective.

The exercise has included a range of coordinated effects on targets in the Argo Valley in the Waiouru Military Training Area, including an artillery detachment, New Zealand Light Armoured Vehicles (LAVs), combat engineers, combat signallers, and infantry—collectively operating as Battle Group Black. 

During one scenario, Lieutenant Trent Morris, a troop commander from Queen Alexandra’s Mounted Rifles (QAMR) armoured regiment, manoeuvred his call sign around the battle space to best position his team for success on the assault.

“We conducted the manoeuvre on to the position, which included artillery fire support to allow the task group to advance onto an objective, or, by directly assaulting the objective itself,” Lieutenant Morris said. 

“Our task group is lethal; we have different units providing offensive support, anti-armour, engineering and integrated logistics. Combining all of these assets allowed us to accomplish a wide variety of tasks.”    

Once the LAVs were at the objective, infantry soldiers dismounted and advanced on the objective as the leading assault force.

The attack required soldiers to both systematically clear enemy positions and hold ground; two core principles of land warfare. 

Corporal Matthew Schmidt, a section commander from 1^st Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, moved his troops to fight through enemy positions and clear the battle group’s objectives. 

“As soon as we dismount, it’s straight into the assault,” Corporal Schmidt said. 

“I commanded the soldiers to assault enemy pits and conduct trench warfare, where we aim to eliminate any enemy that we encounter.

“The most rewarding aspect of the exercise for me was the ability for our team’s rapid deployment and aggressive assault.”

1st (NZ) Brigade Commander Colonel Mike van Welie says high intensity and realistic scenarios like Exercise Sangro are vital in order for Combat Teams to refine their lethality, agility and effectiveness as war fighters, while also enabling seamless integration with partner nations. 

“The land domain remains the decisive domain where war is won or lost – whether that be in combat situations or through humanitarian assistance – and so every high quality training opportunity we can take advantage of to enhance our soldiers lethality and survivability in conflict, is vital.”    

Exercise Sangro is serving as a lead-up activity to Exercise Diamond Strike and Talisman Sabre, a series of multi-national exercises led by the Australian Defence Force (ADF).