Episode 2015
Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign
Thu, 2022-Nov-10 00:16 UTC
Length - 3:45
Direct Link
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The featured article for Thursday, 10 November 2022 is Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign.
During the Second World War, Allied logistics in Papua played a crucial role in bringing the Kokoda Track campaign to a successful conclusion. "The great problem of warfare in the Pacific", General Douglas MacArthur declared, "is to move forces into contact and maintain them. Victory is dependent upon solution to the logistic problem."Although identified early as a vital strategic outpost, Port Moresby, the most significant Papuan town, had just two airfields and basic port facilities in early 1942. An enormous amount of work was required to transform it into a major base for both air and land operations against the Japanese. This was done in the face of frequent Japanese air raids. During the course of the Kokoda Track campaign, the two original airfields were improved, and five new airfields were developed. To make them operational, the engineers had to construct more than just runways; taxiways, hardstands, facilities and access roads all had to be built. The operation of the base depended on shipping, but the port facilities were limited. To increase the capacity of the port, a causeway was built to Tatana Island, where pontoon docks were emplaced. Engineers also built roads, warehouses, and a water treatment plant. They ran the town's electricity and water supply, and quarried stone for the roads and airstrips.
The Allies were confronted with an interior covered with rainforest and tall mountains where wheeled vehicles could not operate. The Australian Army was forced to rely on air transport and native carriers, two modes of transportation that it had never used before. The techniques and technologies to deliver supplies by air were in their infancy. There were few aircraft available, and these were of a variety of different types, complicating maintenance. Air operations in New Guinea were restricted by the weather. Transport aircraft were vulnerable in the air, and required fighter escorts. They were also subject to destruction on the ground by Japanese air raids. The loss of the airstrip at Kokoda led to the adoption of air dropping. Due to a shortage of parachutes, supplies often had to be dropped without them, and loss due to breakages and unrecoverable goods was high.
Thousands of Papuans were conscripted to help the war effort. Trucks and jeeps carried stores, ammunition and rations only part of the way; pack animals and a flying fox took them a bit farther. The rest of the journey was completed on the backs of Papuan carriers, who struggled over the mountains lugging heavy loads. The environment posed the danger of endemic tropic diseases, particularly dysentery, scrub typhus and malaria. Medical units had to combat these, while caring for the sick and wounded, many of whom had to walk back to the base area along the Kokoda Track. Often the Papuan carriers had to carry the wounded on the way back, earning them the sobriquet of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels".
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:16 UTC on Thursday, 10 November 2022.
For the full current version of the article, see Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign on Wikipedia.
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