Talk:Battle of Wau

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Excellent work Hawkeye7. Very well-written. Grant | Talk 09:18, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 1945

This sentence: "Troops staged at Wau before moving to Bougainville in 1945" doesn't seem to make much sense to me. Given that Wau was an inland town with a poor airstrip, it seems highly unlikely that it would be used to stage troops bound for an island hundreds of kilometres away. --Nick Dowling 05:22, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

But true. During 1944, the Australian Army constructed the Wau-Labu Road, linking Wau to the northern coast. The Wau area was turned into a rest and staging area. With the three AIF divisions at Atherton, the camps there were full so it was decided that a militia division would stage in New Guinea. This would also save on shipping. The Wau area was chosen rather than an area on the coast because the highlands have a more congenial climate and are relatively free of malaria. The 3rd Division moved to the coast by truck, then landing craft to Lae, where it boarded ships for Bougainville. Hawkeye7 09:16, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

OK, that makes sense. --Nick Dowling 07:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)