Kokoda (81 page)

Major Cameron, who was initially displeased with the performance of the 39th Battalion, discusses tactics with them.

Due to the difficult terrain of the track, supplies were delivered by ‘biscuit bombing’: planes flew low over the ground at Myola and dropped supplies out, often resulting in mini explosions, like the flour bag to the right.
(From Damien Parer’s
Kokoda Front Line
footage.)

Even with biscuit bombing, food was still extremely scarce—these soldiers are making what they can out of flour, egg and sugar.
(Photograph by Damien Parer.)

Eventually the 39th Battalion was reinforced with experienced AIF troops like these boys who had already served in the Western Desert and Syria.
(Photograph by Damien Parer.)

Bren guns were popular with the Australians, partly because they could be fired from the hip while charging forward.
(Photograph by Damien Parer.)

The men who tried to make sure Australians back home knew what their soldiers were facing in New Guinea:
above
, photographers George Silk and Damien Parer, taken in the Western Desert;
below
, journalists Osmar White from the Melbourne
Sun
and Chester Wilmot from the ABC, at the Kokoda front.

Officers of the 2/14th Battalion on the Kokoda Track, they include Lieutenant Bisset
(second from left)
and Captain Nye
(third from left)
. Together with the 39th Battalion, the 2/14th would play a major role in the campaign.

(Left)
Brigadier Arnold Potts, Commanding Officer of the 21st Brigade, which included the 2/14th, at a forward post on the track.

Private Bruce Kingsbury of the 2/14th Battalion played a heroic role in the Battle of Isurava and was awarded a Victoria Cross for his extraordinary courage. His grave is located at the Kokoda War Cemetery
(below).

Eora Creek, a base for the Australians close to the front, was a heaving mass of wounded soldiers, native porters and mud at the end of August 1942, during intense fighting.
(Photographs by Damien Parer.)