Hollandia

[Lang]

Here are photos of the troops at Hollandia. Not a camouflage uniform among them. Note the blokes with the heavy machine guns with the shoulder pads.

[Lang]

This is really interesting. The American landings at Aitape - pronounced eye-ta-pee - (500 miles to the east) on the same day as the Hollandia landings.

No camouflage uniforms but what looks like camouflage packs! Or are they just camouflage ponchos wrapped around their packs to keep them dry?

The anti-aircraft trailer is at Hollandia.

[Mike K]

The LIFE pics are another great source , some of these are in colour including the S.W.P.A.

Morotai , I believe only a small area of the island was actually cleared of the enemy and the Japs were left occupying most of the island.

Some of the AWM documents relating to vehicle procurements are interesting. MacArthur at one point informed the Aust. minister responsible , " if you want anything come directly to me "

[Mike K]

From memory these LIFE pics are scenes in Australia

[Lang]

Mike

I don't think it was as simple as that. Australia had a government purchasing commission in USA and deals were mainly done on a commercial basis.

As discussed in another thread unlike UK, Australia had relatively few Lend Lease acquisitions and bought most of its equipment or traded the value for goods and services provided to US forces in Australia.

Macarthur's people may have helped push Australian orders ahead in the queue for certain operational reasons. Remember that for well over a year the only combat troops in contact with the enemy Macarthur had on the ground were Australian units.

Lang

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Lang

Mike

I don't think it was as simple as that. Australia had a government purchasing commission in USA and deals were mainly done on a commercial basis.

As discussed in another thread unlike UK, Australia had relatively few Lend Lease acquisitions and bought most of its equipment or traded the value for goods and services provided to US forces in Australia.

Macarthur's people may have helped push Australian orders ahead in the queue for certain operational reasons. Remember that for well over a year the only combat troops in contact with the enemy Macarthur had on the ground were Australian units.

Lang

There was large scale "unofficial" vehicle procurement as well as the official . The unofficial vehicles in the SWPA would have been in high numbers , in the field vehicle swapping was going on continuously.

I have a book written by RAAF wireless mechanics, they would routinely fly long distances ( from Australia to PNG ) to American aircraft dumps to salvage stuff from discarded US aircraft , this was all unofficial of course bit it happened all the time.

The official records in the archives don't tell the whole story

[Lang]

Mike

Depends what you call "large scale". Lot of jeep in a box mythology surrounds these stories.

There were certainly a lot of private small item deals carried out (particularly when Australian soldiers had a beer ration and officers a spirit ration when nearby American units were dry)

There is nothing to support stories of dozens or even hundreds, according to the teller, of vehicles being "borrowed".

Every vehicle had an owner and even the Americans had to account for each one. They had been transported at huge cost and risk of life to the front. For an officer to write off a vehicle when it had been sold/traded/given away was a criminal offence and would only have been done if there was a really good reason or if something of real value was received in return. Most of these deals were done on a local semi-official basis. "You need one of our tip trucks and we need one of your graders"

Of course theft was a major problem (drilling numbers into bodies etc was some defence) and on all major bases there was a punishment camp with many offenders on their way home to serve prison time before a dishonorable discharge.

Lang

[gjamo]

Mike,s Australian pic. Castle Hill in the background taken from close to the existing air field.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by gjamo

Mike,s Australian pic. Castle Hill in the background taken from close to the existing air field.

I found this on WIKI


By September 1943, the Townsville depot had converted some 175 B-25C's and D's for low-level strafing, and then turned to the B-25G. Between November and the following April, it would add on eighty-two planes two additional .50-cal. machine guns in the nose, two more in the gun tunnel, and a stinger of twin .30's in the tail – modifications requiring 234 man-hours per plane.