Weather and War

Shot of reporter speaking to camera.

REPORTER: Weather affects every part of our lives, and often it's just a matter of what
clothes to wear, and whether it's a good day to do the washing. But around Anzac Day, it's
worth remembering that weather can turn the tide of a battle or perhaps even a war. I spoke
to war historian Jack Ford about one of the most notable events in Australian military history.
Shot of reporter speaking to war historian Jack Ford.
REPORTER: Jack Ford, thanks for joining us on The Weather Quarter. The weather played
a major part in the campaign in New Guinea during World War II. The winter of 1942 was
unseasonably wet. Can you describe the conditions?

JACK FORD: Well, it rained constantly, and when it didn't rain, the heat from the
jungle would cause steam to rise. So, in the non-rain periods, you couldn't see
anything either because of the jungle mist.
Archive footage of mist covering the mountains of Papua New Guinea.

JACK FORD: Um, so it was atrocious weather to be fighting any kind of campaign
in.Archival footage of the Kokoda campaign.
REPORTER: So what was the goal of the campaign?

JACK FORD: Well, the Japanese's goal was to take Port Moresby. and because
they haven't been able to do that in May, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, through a
sea invasion, they decided to come through from the north coast of Papua, across
the Owen Stanley Ranges, and take Port Moresby from the rear. And the Australian
objective, obviously, was to stop that.
REPORTER: For much of the Kokoda campaign, the Australian forces were in retreat. Did
the weather give an advantage to the other side?

JACK FORD: Well, the rain enabled the Japanese, often, to, um... disguise their
movements. So they're able to launch attack suddenly. because they are able to
creep up on the Australians, with the sound being muffled by the rain And the
Japanese often used the rain to hide that they were bringing up heavy guns or
mortars. And it was very hard for the Australians to spot where the Japanese fire was
coming from until they were actually being shot at.
REPORTER: It seems very hard to conceive of the enormously difficult conditions, and I
guess it's a huge tribute to our troops that they prevailed in the end.Archival footage of
Australian troops trekking through the Papua New Guinea wilderness.

JACK FORD: Well, the weather actually helped Australians sometimes as well.
The... In July 1942, the Australians had retaken Kokoda for two days. The Japanese
had surrounded them and they were gonna be wiped out, but the mist that came in
during the day when it stopped raining was so thick, the Australians called it a 'white
mist'. And it was like a fog that just coated everything. The Japanese couldn't see

them and they managed to get away. So... the weather was useful in occasions to
both sides.
REPORTER: A couple of years ago, I spoke to George Palmer, who was in that iconic
Damien Parer photo on the Kokoda track.Shot of photograph taken by Damien Parer of
Australian troops on the Kokoda Trail.
REPORTER: And he told me that the conditions were terrible - 'We struck, unfortunately, a
very, very wet winter and the rain would come down during the day. And you'd be wet
through the night, and the clothes will dry on you because they had no spare clothes and the
track was very narrow, so it became very muddy.' Was that the experience of everyone?
Archival footage of Australian soldiers in Papua New Guinea during the Kokoda campaign.

JACK FORD: The soldiers on both sides suffered through lack of supplies and that
was largely because of the track. It was muddy and steep, and very hard to climb.
And so supply lines were very long, and depended on native carriers, the Fuzzy
Wuzzy Angels. The Japanese also used native carriers that they brought from
Rabaul. So, if your uniform was rotting away from the rain, there were no spares
because food and ammunition were the two things that were brought up, not spare
uniforms.
REPORTER: Jack Ford, thank you very much for joining us on The Weather Quarter.
JACK FORD: That's alright.