Harold's War: Links page

The Australian War Memorial
the website for Australia's national shrine to the fallen from its wars, with further links to educational and other useful links.

A part of this site is a photograph (and other media) database. This database is searchable by keywords and by conflict. By entering "World War 2 - 1939-1945" as the Conflict, you can find a large number of pictures of New Guinea at the time Harold Herman was there by entering "Wau" or "Mubo" or "Salamaua" or "Francisco River" or any of the place names in the narrative as search parameters. Gordon Short was a photographer that shot many of the scenes at the time, as well as the Women's Weekly picture of Harold in a Port Moresby hospital, as well as taking pictures of the Gladys Moncrieff concert party, many of which are on the AWM database.

Pushing Back - Wau-Salamaua
More information on the events in this memoir has brought to light in material published over the last 65 years. The most "pertinent" one (in my opinion) is a web site from the Australian War Memorial website, http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/pushingback/wausalamaua.html. On reading the comments by various "third parties" in this article, whilst I knew we were doing it tough, I certainly didn't realize just how tough it was until I read opinions of men who had not been actually involved:

"... one of the most difficult and unpleasant areas ever to confront troops," declared the Australian official historian, David Dexter, referring to the Wau-Salamaua campaign. It was a little-known area of New Guinea over which thousands of Australians, New Guineans, Americans and Japanese fought and died. These men, Dexter explained, "found it difficult to find enough unpleasant adjectives to describe the country, which, for the most part, consisted of rugged mountains clothed with dense, almost impenetrable jungle, and in the higher areas with moss forest. Occasionally hills covered with kunai grass, such as those in the Snake Valley, stood out against the jungle background."


	Links to other Interesting Sites
	The Australian War Memorial the website for Australia's national shrine to the fallen from its wars, with further links to educational and other useful links. A part of this site is a photograph (and other media) database. This database is searchable by keywords and by conflict. By entering "World War 2 - 1939-1945" as the Conflict, you can find a large number of pictures of New Guinea at the time Harold Herman was there by entering "Wau" or "Mubo" or "Salamaua" or "Francisco River" or any of the place names in the narrative as search parameters. Gordon Short was a photographer that shot many of the scenes at the time, as well as the Women's Weekly picture of Harold in a Port Moresby hospital, as well as taking pictures of the Gladys Moncrieff concert party, many of which are on the AWM database. Pushing Back - Wau-Salamaua More information on the events in this memoir has brought to light in material published over the last 65 years. The most "pertinent" one (in my opinion) is a web site from the Australian War Memorial website, http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/pushingback/wausalamaua.html. On reading the comments by various "third parties" in this article, whilst I knew we were doing it tough, I certainly didn't realize just how tough it was until I read opinions of men who had not been actually involved: "... one of the most difficult and unpleasant areas ever to confront troops," declared the Australian official historian, David Dexter, referring to the Wau-Salamaua campaign. It was a little-known area of New Guinea over which thousands of Australians, New Guineans, Americans and Japanese fought and died. These men, Dexter explained, "found it difficult to find enough unpleasant adjectives to describe the country, which, for the most part, consisted of rugged mountains clothed with dense, almost impenetrable jungle, and in the higher areas with moss forest. Occasionally hills covered with kunai grass, such as those in the Snake Valley, stood out against the jungle background."				Australian Veterans Network - New Guinea 1939-45 presented by the Veterans' Independent Consultation Group, this site has a narrative of the Australian war effort in new Guinea during the Second World War. US Troop Carrier Aircraft in WWII This site, which was maintained by Sam McGowan, no longer exists. It had a detailed history of "air lifts", including some details on the US aircraft used for troop carrying in WWII, including the DC-3 which played such a vital role in troop supply and relief in New Guinea. (The idea of supplying troops from the air was born in New Guinea for the supply of ground forces during the Kokoda Track campaign, as no other option was available. There does not appear to be another website at this time that replicates the information on this site.) RAAF Maritime Patrol Squadrons Information on the maritime patrol group of the Royal Australian Air Force such as the unit in which Hal Dent served.


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Links to other Interesting Sites