Allied logistics in the Kokoda Track campaign played a crucial role in bringing the 1942 World War II campaign to a conclusion. To transform Port Moresby into a major base, engineers built airfields, wharves, roads, and warehouses. The interior was covered with dense rainforest and rugged mountains that wheeled vehicles could not traverse. Few aircraft were available, and they were restricted by the weather and subject to destruction on the ground by Japanese air raids. The loss of the airstrip at Kokoda led to the adoption of airdropping (pictured). Due to a shortage of parachutes, supplies were often dropped without them, with attendant losses and breakages. Trucks, jeeps, and pack animals carried stores, ammunition, and rations only part of the way. The rest of the journey over the Kokoda Track was on the backs of Papuan carriers, who struggled over the mountains lugging heavy loads. They often carried the wounded too, which earned them the sobriquet of "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels".

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_logistics_in_the_Kokoda_Track_campaign

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1945:

Indonesian National Revolution: Following the killing of Brigadier A. W. S. Mallaby a few weeks earlier, British forces retaliated by attacking Surabaya. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Surabaya

1969:

The children's television series Sesame Street premiered in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street

1975:

SS Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, sank in Lake Superior with the loss of 29 lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald

1995:

Writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People were executed by the Nigerian military government. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro-Wiwa

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

kairomone: (biochemistry, ecology) Any substance produced by an individual of one species (often an insect) that benefits the recipient which is of a different species but is harmful to the producer. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kairomone

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Have been unavoidably detained by the world. Expect us when you see us.   --Stardust : Being A Romance Within The Realm of Faerie https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stardust_%28novel%29