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Post by Sir John on Feb 18, 2018 21:52:56 GMT -5
The same bunch that had that little altercation in Hawaii paid a visit to the far north Australian 'town' of Darwin. www.skynews.com.au/details/_5736138602001About 250 dead and a hell of a mess in town. Largest single casualty was the USS 'Peary' with almost 90 US sailors dead. SJ |
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Post by hornet32 on Feb 19, 2018 21:53:53 GMT -5
Darwin you say .. hmmm Darwin yes of course Darwin .. doesn't ring a bell though.. but I'll get back to you on that ..
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Post by Sir John on Feb 19, 2018 23:50:13 GMT -5
DING! DING!
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Post by Swampy on Feb 20, 2018 9:14:33 GMT -5
And their buddies would finally be stopped at the Kokoda Trail.
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Post by Sir John on Feb 20, 2018 13:24:32 GMT -5
TRACK man, TRACK!
Australians NEVER use the word 'trail" that is yet another invention of that yank bloke whatsisname.
SJ
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Post by hornet32 on Feb 20, 2018 18:32:31 GMT -5
The Kokoda trail was a defenders dream there were many places on the track where the japs had to go single file .. like shooting fish in a barrel ..
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Post by Sir John on Feb 20, 2018 19:46:14 GMT -5
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Post by Swampy on Feb 20, 2018 20:43:39 GMT -5
You know, I read in one of William Manchester's books that, if you went 100 feet into that jungle, you wouldn't find your way out. Looking at these google images, I find that hard to believe.
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Post by Sir John on Feb 20, 2018 22:13:58 GMT -5
"I find that hard to believe."
Why?
Just outside the town of Atherton on the Atherton Tableland in FNQ, there is a preserved area of original jungle vegetation. I stopped the car to have a look and I can assure you that the 100 feet claim is very accurate.
In fact I would suggest that you could never cover that 100 feet in the first place.
How the hell the early pioneers made a settlement and agriculture/mining economy I will never know. They even built a railway through it!
JMNHO
SJ (and the 25 pounder weighs about 4000 lbs.)
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Post by Sir John on Feb 20, 2018 22:18:02 GMT -5
.....and the pics of the Kokoda Track, first line, far right hand image shows a group of about 6 Australian Diggers. The one at the back in the slouch hat is a Gallipoli veteran!
SJ
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Post by Sir John on Feb 20, 2018 22:22:19 GMT -5
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Post by Swampy on Feb 20, 2018 23:11:29 GMT -5
I'm a city slicker, so I can't understand what it's about, but I'd like to see for myself. Perhaps I can tie a rope to a post in the outside world, go 101 feet, and see what it's like.
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Post by Sir John on Feb 21, 2018 0:03:13 GMT -5
I have stood about a metre from the border of this preservation and I can assure you that at head height you cannot see 5 metres.
This entire area was the main Australian jungle warfare training area in WW2, When my FiL returned from the desert in mid 1942 there were already 70,000 new recruits in camp.
American generals were nowhere to be seen, too dangerous, so were safe in the dugout in Melbourne, 4000kms from the front line!
SJ
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Post by Swampy on Feb 21, 2018 2:59:08 GMT -5
I have to experience it to understand what it's about, I guess. Any place I can travel to, where a tourist can experience it for himself?
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Post by hornet32 on Feb 21, 2018 10:10:11 GMT -5
All one really needs is a compass and a reference point which could be anything that you could shoot a back azimuth with and a watch would be helpful .. nothing to it really ..
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