Chapter 10 Morobe-Lae carrier Route; 2nd Div recall good old days; Growth of 3rd; ...

MOROBE-LAE CARRIER R0UTE

THE grim struggle of the Kokoda Trail marked the change-over of our forces from the defensive to the offensive in New Guinea. Since then, our operations have grown daily in intensity and strength, sweeping the Japanese out of their bases and regaining practically all territory lost on the island since the Japanese southward drive in 1942.

Early in May 1943, the S.O.-in-C. anticipated these offensive actions and formulated the idea of a Signals unit-to be known as 19 Aust. L. of C. Signals-which would supply communications to follow up the intended recapture of Salamaua, Lae, the Markham Valley, Finschhafen, Madang and other northern bases. The commander selected was Lt-Col. H. H. Woodford, O.B.E., who had recently returned from the Middle East after serving with Signals 6th and 9th Divisions. Early in July, the H.Q. was established at the Central Signals Training Depot where the commander began the formidable task of raising one of the largest Signals units ever to be formed in Australia.

Many of the personnel had Middle East experience and were well trained and efficient. They formed an excellent nucleus for the unit. Personnel were allotted to their various sections-line, telegraph, maintenance and wireless-and the unit was ready for movement to New Guinea.

Early in September, the unit began the task for which it had been formed. The Markham Valley operations had succeeded in expelling the Japanese from the Nadzab-Dumpu area, enabling 7 Aust. DIV. to advance up the Ramu Valley. Station commands were set up at both these points to control and administer air transport of supplies, etc. An operating section and a line maintenance section moved by air to these centres to establish and maintain communications. These station commands were extended, naturally, from time to time.

New Guinea wide system

After the fall of Lae, the commander decided to establish a Base Sub-Area there. Later when the 9th Division advanced past Finschhafen a similar office was established there. While the forward troops were consolidating, arrangements were made for strengthening our advanced bases by linking them to a communication system involving the whole of New Guinea. The basic idea of the project was the establishment of a carrier telephone and telegraph system linking New Guinea Force H.Q. with advanced bases. This meant a trunk network of some four to five hundred miles. Under normal circumstances such a scheme, though large, would not warrant undue comment.

Transport and supply problems

The proposal, as far as New Guinea was concerned, presented enormous difficulties. Transport and supply and the problem of construction through dense jungle across terrain varying in nature from rugged heights to fever-infested swamps, were but a few. The task was divided into four parts. The first section of the route-from Port Moresby to Inonda -was already built, having followed the Kokoda Trail over the Owen Stanleys. The second-from Inonda to Morobe-fell to the lot of 18 Aust. L. of C. Signals. The third and longest section-Morobe to Lae -was 19 Aust. L. of C's task. The carrier system to Finschhafen and up the Markham Valley was taken over by the United States Signals Corps, assisted by two 19 L. of C. line sections. The three line sections detailed for the Morobe-Lae route were divided into detachments and allotted specific sections along the route.

Line Station at Labu 2

Safety from falling trees

The wire chosen for the route was a 200-lb. hard-drawn copper with P.V.C. insulation. Although heavy, the advantages of strength and durability were considered to outweigh difficulties of porterage. It was necessary to clear a track through the jungle sufficiently wide to ensure reasonable safety from falling trees and earth faults from the undergrowth. The line, itself, was tree-slung through barrel type insulators, which were suspended from 60-lb. galvanised-iron wire tree-slings. The span between the bays was not to exceed forty yards. The wire at any given point had to have a clearance of at least four feet from the ground and the space in between the two wires had to be a uniform distance of nine inches. By limiting each bay, and allowing a large sag in each, trees falling on the line would cause the wire to run through the insulators and be carried to the ground without breaking.

Crossing mangrove swamps

A detachment of fifty natives supplied by A.N.G.A.U. was employed on clearing the track, carrying stores and laying out material.

No. 12 Line Section commenced building the first section of some twenty miles as far as Mupora. The country was exceedingly rough, covered with dense jungle and in parts miles of mangrove swamps had to be traversed. At Mupora, this portion of the route was joined to the Natter Bay section, which had been constructed by 18 Line Section. Construction along the coast was also difficult owing to the very rugged and rocky nature of the foreshore. Men frequently worked waist and chest-high in water. Lack of water transport frequently held up the sections working on the coast for days simply because line stores were exhausted and nothing could be done until further equipment was brought forward.

Rivers, crocodiles and sharks

Another problem, and a common one, was the large number of river crossings which had to be constructed. Improvised transport in the shape of rafts and canoes had to be used. In addition, there was the constant danger of crocodiles and sharks which were responsible for many uneasy moments. The natives allotted to the sections were Warria boys with a high standard of physique and intelligence. At all times they were cheerful, loyal and had a complete disregard for hardships. Incidentally, the villagers along the coast, since the completion of the route, have frequently saved maintenance parties incalculable trouble and delay by cheerfully trekking through miles of jungle to report broken insulators, faulty tree-slings, falling timber and so on.

Markham River crossing

At this stage, the line had been completed as far as the southern bank of the Markham River. This wide expanse of treacherous, swiftly flowing water was full of unpredictable eddies and currents, subject to swift, fierce floods, dotted with ever changing mud-banks and bars, and flanked on either side by wide, almost impassable swamps. The problem was to build an aerial crossing involving a span of one thousand four hundred yards. The assistance of engineers was obtained for the construction of a seventy-five feet high pylon on an island two-thirds of the way across the river. From trees on either bank, with a height of from sixty-five to seventy feet, a bearer cable of half-inch steel to carry the P.V.C. carrier wires was erected and secured to the pylon. This was accomplished by ten men from 20 Line Section in ten days. The line was ready to carry communications from Moresby to Lae on the 9th of January 1944.

Grey hairs, hazards

Since that date, the Markham Crossing has been a constant menace to the peace of mind, sanity, and moral uprightness of the commander and his men. Shortly after installation, it was struck by lightning, involving extensive and exasperating repair work. This completed, the lower-slung Labu section was dismantled by the mast of an unmentionable watercraft guided by some malignant force into waters where it had no right to be. These and similar hazards caused more grey hairs, mental torture and fluent, unchecked profanity than any other feature of the unit's work.

Every ship was regarded with distrust and suspicion. Low-flying aircraft from the nearby strip were cursed with a vindictiveness that would have surprised the unwitting pilots. Every electrical storm was the signal for fervent hope that, regardless of the temporal authorities, whose wrath may have been incurred, the unit would be spared the final and crushing disaster of having offended the Almighty.

Isolated outposts

Though the carrier route had been completed this far, constant maintenance was necessary to keep it working. Twenty-two posts were established along the route and manned by 18 Line Section on a
basis of two or three white troops and three native boys to each station. Their task was not an enviable one. Isolated in the heart of the jungle, far removed from even the most meagre social amenities, dependent upon the monthly ration boat for their supplies, they carried on their task of maintenance which amounted, in some sections of the route, to almost reconstruction of the line.

As the forward troops advanced, our bases were expanded. A complete system of area communications was Expanding necessary to service units in our bases the Lae area. A two-hundred-line switchboard was installed and establishment of D.R.L.S., air and sea courier services came into being. The wireless sections, two of which were attached for a time to 7th and 9th Divisional Signals, handled a great volume of traffic. As time went on and the U.S. Signals Corps constructed a line from Lae to Finschhafen, the unit took over communications in the latter area.

SECOND DIV. RECALL THE GOOD OLD DAYS

SIGNALS 2 Aust. Div. had its birth after the last World War as a Militia unit under the old compulsory training scheme. In those days, Signals formed only a part of the Engineers. Not long afterwards the Australian Corps of Signals was formed and a new color patch was designed, but it still retained the original purple background in honor of its gallant parent unit.

Good old days

In those days training was carried out one night a week at the Engineer and Signals' Depot in Park Road, Paddington, which had moved from the old fort at Dawes Point where the southern pylon of the Sydney Harbor Bridge now stands. Camps of three to seven days were held in the Daceyville-Botany area. Equipment was so scarce and useless in those days that it was a wonder to all (after using the present-day modern equipment) that a message ever did get through. Back in 1924 the Marconi spark
set was "wireless". It didn't need earphones. Everybody within a couple of hundred yards heard strength five (plus) signals.

Wild boys

It is not surprising that the "wild boys" of Signals even back in those days were the cable sections. They had to handle the horse cable waggons and limbers. The horse took priority over man. The drivers were first up in the morning and last to bed at night. Their horses were fed, groomed and tethered at any cost. And, of course, there were always the doubtful joys of horse-line pickets. In
the present war, things are different. In the Middle East, fast, mobile motor trucks relegated the horse to a "nightmare". Of course, things are not so simple in the jungles of New Guinea, but at least the lineman does not have to worry about the comforts of a quadruped in addition to his own - a fact for which he must give thanks to the modern W.E.

Training, simple but good

In 1935-36, camps were held at the Hospital Block, Liverpool. Training exercises were in the green hills of the Casula bounds. Retrospect is inclined to regard those exercises with a smile. The elementary equipment used then seems ridiculous compared with modern material. Still, many members of the Australian Corps of Signals thank those early exercises for the training which has stood them in good stead in all parts of the globe. What a day it was when three 11 tanks", especially imported from England, gave the wireless officer a chance to test his "C" and "A" sets under mobile conditions. Admittedly, messages were passed from one tank to another but the electrical interference ... ! One thing this test did prove was that, given the right type of set, communications could be supplied for mobile armor. Montgomery and Rommel proved that not so many years later.

"Pass horse and be mechanised"

In 1937, Howard tractors took the place of the horse for hauling cable and telephone waggons. The old six and four-horse teams were on their way out-a glimmer of the things to come. During the 1939 camp at the Sydney Showground, war was declared and many officers and men answered the call. Training took on a new importance. From then on things were serious. In 1940, the angle of realism
was introduced. Night exercises for mobile operations were sprung on everyone at a moment's notice.

Further three-month camps were continued at Wallgrove. During this period, the unit provided many recruits for the

A.I.F. In September 1941 the unit, then in continuous training, moved to Bathurst. While there, it was required to supply personnel for Darwin Force and all its equipment for the Middle East. At this stage, improvisation came into its own. In January 1942, the Signals H.Q. moved to Parramatta and the remainder of the unit to Wallgrove from where it went to Narellan. It was at this time that the unit asked to be sent overseas as a whole. This request was denied but an ever-growing number of men continued to be supplied to A.I.F. Signals units.

Move to the west

Everyone thought that the big day had at last arrived when the division was ordered to move to Western Australia to face the expected Japanese onslaught on the 17th of June 1942. At this stage the Signals sections attached to the 14th Brigade and the 14th Field Regiment were detached from the unit and sent to New Guinea. The day that changed the outlook of Signals 2 Aust. Div. was the 26th of March 1943 ' when the unit was officially designated A.I.F. Still, the only excitement was provided by a few unidentified recce aircraft over the area and a full course of amphibious training. The latter, however, has since proved its worth.

GROWTH OF THE THIRD

SIGNALS .1 Aust. Div. was firmly established as a Signals unit back in the balmy days of peace. Since then it has grown greatly in strength and experience.

Between the outbreak of war and April 1940, training consisted of two thirty-day camps at Rokeby and a ninety-day one at the old Seymour camp.

The first batch of recruits called up under the Defence Act joined the unit early in February and with the addition of these keen 21-year-olds the unit reached full strength. Training in those days was unorthodox. Equipment and transport were urgently needed for the A.I.F. so it was necessary to fall back on a meagre supply of antiquated equipment which was mounted in an odd assortment of civilian vehicles. Original members will never forget L/CpI Allwell with his giant picnic vans" or the eight ex-"Herald" Bedfords, each with 80,000 miles of Last Editions beneath their battered bonnets. Nevertheless, everyone understood the position and worked enthusiastically.

Between August and October 1941 the unit once again ate the dust of Seymour. At the conclusion of this camp, officers, N.C.Os and men who were key personnel remained in training to form the nucleus round which a majority of raw recruits would revolve.

On the 1st of January 1942, the whole unit was called up for full-time duty. By his time, only about fifteen per cent of the originals remained. Many had joined he A.I.F. and the other services. Several were held by the manpower authorities in reserved occupations. A large body of reinforcements - lads of eighteen and nineteen years of age - marched in on the 8th of January. Soldiering was something new and unreal to them, but they soon knuckled down to the intensive job of being trained as specialists.

After three months' training, the unit was given its first job in the defence of Australia. In May it proceeded to Queensland and remained there for nine months. In July 1943, Signals 3 Aust. Div. was officially classed as A.I.F.

Late in February of that year, the unit embarked for New Guinea. Sections were flown from Moresby to Wau and by April the whole unit was assembled in the Bulolo area. For the next five months it provided communications for the Salamaua campaign. In twenty-one weeks the men of "B" section and two attached brigade sections laid 2,000 miles of line. Without previous training in such work, the linemen laid two copper pairs totalling 120 miles through the dense jungle.

The work done by the line sections in this campaign resulted in Lieut. C. P. Hodson receiving the Military Cross. For six months he lived on the tracks without respite and walked some 1,500 miles over the rugged countryside. Capt. G. A. Williams of the 15th Brigade Signals Section received the M.B.E. Eight other officers and men were mentioned in despatches. On the 22nd of September the unit moved to Lac and for the following three months installed and operated the Base Sub-area Signals Office there. Communications were maintained with Corps H.Q. and the 7th and 9th Divisions - in addition to four Infantry brigades and four Artillery regiments.

GOLDEN VOICES OF NEW GUINEA

FLASHES of daring, perseverance and a ceaseless battle against odds and nature illuminate the story of one of the strangest and least known of Australian Signals units - the New Guinea Air Warning Wireless Company.

Little known outside those actually concerned with its work, this unit has played an important part in the various New Guinea campaigns. Many of the Air Warning Wireless Company personnel have served for two and a half years-some for over three years - on the island and the number of decorations awarded to members of the unit testifies to its efficiency.

The Air Warning Wireless Company has provided the "spotters" who, for weeks and months on end, have spent lonely

vigils in observation posts, sometimes many miles inside enemy territory and often within calling distance of Japanese patrols, reporting enemy air, troop and shipping movements. The vital information they have flashed back to Allied bases has been responsible for thwarting any attempts to catch unaware the defenders of our strong posts and supply points. These men have truly earned for themselves the title of "Golden Voices of New Guinea".

The origin of the Air Warning Wireless Company is closely bound up with the early civilian, Navy, Army and Air Force wireless networks. In civil times, Teleradio networks, sponsored mainly by Amalgamated Wireless, kept the plantations, government stations and isolated settlers

in touch with civilisation. The main A.W.A. networks were controlled from Rabaul, Port Moresby and Samarai.

At the outbreak of war, the Navy used some of the most suitable civilian stations for coast-watching and the reporting of enemy shipping movements. It was on this Navy network that the Air Warning network was modeled to a great extent. When Japan entered the war, the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles organised a network in the Mandated Territory with a rear link working back to Port Moresby.

just after midnight on the 3rd of February 1942, what was probably the first air warning in Papua was flashed back to Moresby by a station at Tufi. This station reported aircraft overhead flying southwest. They were the flying boats which gave Moresby its first raid.

On the 7th of March, the Japanese made large-scale landings at Lae and Salamaua. The Lae landing was flashed back to Wau by Sgt Mitchell of the N.G.V.R. from a hill known as Sugarloaf, seven miles from the township. Mitchell remained in the area until the 17th of March when he was forced to withdraw. Flight-Lieut. Vial, a former patrol officer with a thorough knowledge of the country, reported the Salamaua landing back to the R.A.A.F. at Moresby from the hills behind the town. Vial remained at his post for six months despite all enemy attempts to locate him and earned the original title of "Golden Voice". He was later awarded the American Distinguished Service Cross by General MacArthur.

A hundred-mile circle of "spotters" placed around Moresby proved its worth to such an extent that raiding enemy aircraft often changed course after passing this circle, so an inner circle became necessary to give our fighters and A.A. defences ten minutes' warning.

Around this perimeter were placed eight stations, some in country which was too wild even for the natives. The "spotters" had to hack a site for their stations out of mountain-side covered with dense jungle and moss often two feet thick.

Early in the morning of the 7th of May 1942, the opening salvos of the Coral Sea battle were heard at the station at Konebirubiru and reported as "heavy gunfire, probably Naval". All "spotting" stations were told to expect a major Japanese landing in the vicinity of Samarai and to remain at their posts under all circumstances. However, the landing did not eventuate and after the battle the crews of two planes from the aircraft carrier Lexington were rescued by "spotters" from Sudest Island and Milne Bay.

In June 1942, CpI Kirkwood of Signals N.G.F. with two scouts established an O.P. 300 yards south of the Salamaua airstrip. Unsuspecting enemy aircraft constantly roared over a hundred feet above the station. Kirkwood remained there for three weeks and from the information he supplied the R.A.A.F. and the 5th U.S. Air Force were able to repeatedly strike at Japanese aircraft, shipping and troops. The R.A.A.F. station manned by Flight-Lieut. Vial was still operating at the same time from a different site overlooking Salamaua.

At 1900 hours on the 25th of July, "spotters" on Normanby Island reported four flying boats passing over, headed south west. These aircraft raided Townsville, which thus had over four hours' warning.

In October 1942, it was decided that air warning and coast-watching stations under Army and R.A.A.F. control should be incorporated into one company, consequently the New Guinea Air Warning Wireless Company came into official existence as a part of Signals New Guinea Force. The "spotters" had established a good reputation by this time. In addition to their normal work, they had rescued airmen forced down in their isolated localities, buried those who had perished, gone out on patrols to spy out enemy activities, forwarded enemy documents and material to Intelligence and settled disputes among the natives pending the arrival of the A.N.G.A.U. officer.

In one case when medical aid was wanted urgently at Porlock Harbor for the injured crew of a Marauder, which had crashed there, the "spotters" radioed for a doctor and then made a flare path on the water for the incoming flying boat by lighting fires placed in native canoes. Men sick with malaria or black-water fever were treated by wireless, the doctor giving directions from the control station. On one occasion, the war correspondent, Vern. Haughland, who had crashed in a Marauder, wandered for thirty-two days in the jungle before being brought to the "spotting" station at Abau by two missionaries. Haughland was suffering from exposure and starvation. Acting on radioed instructions from a doctor at Moresby, he was given suitable treatment at the station and evacuated by plane to Moresby.

In January 1943, the Lae O.P. was moved to a ridge 2,000 feet high, seven miles west of Lae and one mile from the nearest enemy camp. The camp was camouflaged to look like a native village from the air. The battery charger was in a depression to muffle its noise and no fires were lit during the day. No shooting or loud noises were permitted and conspicuous clothing was barred. Two police boys were stationed at the camp as sentries and three other natives were used for general work. The natives were specially useful for "spotting" work, their keen eyes locating camouflaged objects and faint gun flashes in Lae with ease.

That the enemy knew of the existence of the O.P. and kept a listening watch on its frequency was evident. The mere fact of a flash being passed indicated that his movements in Lae were being reported. Craft putting out to sea immediately turned back to the shelter of the A.A. guns in Lae when a flash was passed. The "spotters" countered by holding their flash until the craft were too far out and had not time to return to Lae.

By March, the "spotters" had reached such a peak of efficiency that only one minute lapsed between the transmission of a flash and its reception by the Navy or Air Force at Moresby.

In June, work was commenced on fighter and transport strips at Tsili Tsili. Plans were drawn up and the C.S.O. New Guinea Force arranged for the Lae O.P. to pass plain language reports of the impending invasion there.

At 0613 hours on the 4th of September, the Lae O.P. came on the air with the first news of the Allied invasion fleet and for the next two and a half hours listeners back at Force H.Q. heard what was practically a running commentary of the landing. Four "spotting" stations made the landing with the 9th Division to form an air warning perimeter around the landing forces. At one stage, an O.P. was established by Sgt Gilchrist in the crow's-nest of the "Malahang Wreck", a beached and burnt-out Japanese transport a mile or so from Lae.

He was in contact with his station about a hundred yards away on the shore by telephone line. A near miss by an enemy bomb severed the line at one stage but caused no damage. The spotting station at Mount Nyaranino, a hill overlooking the Nadzab airstrip, in turn reported the Allied paratroops landing on this airfield and the subsequent Japanese withdrawals up the Markham Valley.

During October 1943, the company became a separate unit and was placed under command of H.Q. N.G.F. Major Guiney, who had recently taken charge of the company, called all the officers together for a conference. This was the first time in the history of the unit that all the officers had been gathered together and the first time that some had met each other.

Late in November, the 7th Division attacked Shaggy Ridge and a "spotter" station was established with the 16th Battalion, only 200 yards from the Japanese positions. This station provided air warning and air support communications and also picked up signals from the "Walkie Talkie" sets on patrols when their control station's receiver was unable to do so. In the subsequent successful attacks by Allied forces in northern New Guinea, "spotter stations served our ground and air forces in the Aitape, Hollandia and Tanamerah Bay areas with the same good results as the previous campaigns.

Several members of the unit have received awards for very fine work. Sgt F. J. Parmiter was awarded the Military Medal for a single-handed reconnaissance into enemy territory in the Nassau Bay area and for rescuing, with the aid of a native canoe, the crew of an Allied aircraft which had been shot down in flames into the sea. Sgt Seymour and Cpls Bartlett and English received Military Medals, and CpI Wighton and Signalmen Lampard and Meadth were mentioned in despatches for their work on the Lae O.P. while it was in enemy territory and under constant harassing by patrols. Other awards were given for equally meritorious service to Lieut. Marsh (M.B.E.), Sgts Gilchrist and Church, Cpl Turnbull and Signalman Murphy (Military Medals). Sgt Gilchrist and Cpls Kirkwood, Hill and McGinley were also mentioned in despatches. An excellent record.

JAPS OUTFOUGHT ON TINY ISLAND

SURPRISED and outnumbered four to one by Japanese who attacked their post on a pocket-handkerchief island, a handful of Australians and Americans killed three, captured one and drove off the remainder into a crocodile-infested lake.

Held by three signalmen of an Australian Signals unit and seven Americans, the tiny isolated spot is in a lake fed by one of Dutch New Guinea's longest rivers. The islet is rarely shown on maps. Barely forty-five yards across, fringed on three sides with cane thickets, it has an exposed frontage on to the water. It was there, in an eerie atmosphere of snapping laws and forbidding swamp that the dismal attempt was made to wipe out the small force. Under cover of darkness and the noise of splashing crocodiles, three Japanese parties slid ashore in native canoes.

First attack was made by a captain and three men against the Australian who was picketing the camp. Shouting, the officer made a rush, slashing viciously with his sword. A coconut palm stopped the initial cut, bending the heavy blade. With his back to a low bank, the Australian kicked the captain, forcing him away. He struggled with the other men and was wounded in the arm by a bayonet and slashed about the legs by the officer's sword as he fought his way towards the tent in the centre of the island.

Sgt Colin Stuart of Tweed River, N.S.W., afterwards described the ensuing scene thus:

"At about 0320 hours I was awakened by loud cries. I grabbed my Owen gun and rushed from the tent barefoot. The camp was in an uproar. Men were grappling with each other and the Japs were screaming curses in the darkness. It was impossible to fire without risk to our own men and all we could do was use our weapons as clubs and to block the Jap bayonets and swords.

-Cpl Romeo of New York was wounded by a bayonet. He was saved from further injury by Pte Dennis, a giant logger from Oklahoma, who went to work on the Jap with his bare hands. After about ten minutes of this hand-to-hand fighting, the Japs withdrew to the shelter of a coconut grove and began throwing grenades around the tent.

"I opened up with the Owen gun at the Japs and forced them over the bank towards the shore. Under cover of the bank they continued throwing grenades. I called to an American to shoot up a flare so we could sort things out by its light. I ran to the top of the bank and blazed away, killing the captain and an N.C.O.

11CpI Walker, a Victorian, in considerable pain and bleeding freely from wounds, noticed some Japs approaching the tent from the other side. He killed the leader and then dived under cover of the tent.

"We covered. the Japs who had withdrawn to the beach and others who were along a small jetty. We blasted them into the water where they struggled and screamed. Possibly some of them drowned but many must have been taken by the crocodiles. There were so many crocodiles in the lake that they often kept us awake at night and more than once we've grabbed guns and rushed to the shore thinking the row was an attack.

"I found seven of our men had been wounded, while three including myself had minor scratches. We got the radio working and put through a call for help. We waited for another attack but none came. As daylight broke we searched and found one Jap who had been wounded badly. The only one who escaped was heard calling from a hill about 500 yards away across a swamp. None of his friends was alive to answer him."

Sgt Stuart was later awarded the Military Medal for his exploit.

SALAMAUA WAS FULL OF BEANS
	THE telegraphist, sitting quietly at his instrument writing with unconscious ease, suddenly tensed and, without missing a letter of the message coming over the line, turned his head and said simply: "Sal's gone." Immediately he became the focus of attention and the Signals Office a study in suspended animation. The signalmaster stopped with the phone raised half-way to his ear. The signals clerk's pencil poised over the register.
Sheltering under the eaves from the tropical downpour, the stolid orderly ceased his interested contemplation of a well-fed leech laboriously weaving its way up his gaitered leg. Suddenly the tableau sprang to life. The signalmaster thrust the phone into the hand of the superintendent and walked swiftly over to the operator who was still writing down the all-important message. The signals clerk hurriedly completed his entries and took up a position behind the signalmaster. The switchboard operator risked a permanent kink in his neck trying to focus on the telegraphist and his indicators at the same time. The message came to an end and the signalmaster, fingers itching, impatiently watched the operator filling in the routine entries. At last! The operator's pencil had scarcely ceased writing when the message was snatched from the pad and read aloud to the excited office. The signalmaster turned to the signals clerk: "Register this and give me the orderly's receipt book. It will be worth a wet tail to deliver this personally to the 'G' staff." Inside the Signals Office the low buzz of conversation continued unchecked. This was an Occasion. After all, it had taken a long time, but - at last! The signalmaster walked swiftly out into the pouring rain across to the "G" office. His broad smile as he opened the door was an indication of the good news. His excitement infected the "G" staff. However, "the game must go on" and, after obtaining a very precise signature for the message, he made his way back to the Signals Office in a mental whirl of speculations. Arriving at the door, he grinned ruefully at the commonplace scene which presented itself. The leech had worked its way up to the orderly's knee and that methodical gentleman was carefully exterminating it. The superintendent was saying in a very resigned voice, "Very good, sir. I'll have your phone checked immediately." The signals clerk patiently cleared a stack of newly arrived messages. The officer walked across to the busy telegraphist as though he expected the next message to announce the Armistice. He looked across the operator's shoulder and read: "A.A.S.C. stock return for 11 September. European rations. Potatoes 120 lb. Onions 40 lb. Beans (the operator gave an involuntary shudder) 150 cases." The signalmaster sighed. Beans again. Hell ! Very obviously the war was still on!

CHAPTER OF THE FOURTH
	No story of the part played by Signals in the defence of Australia would be complete without the inclusion of the chapter contributed by the hard work and unceasing diligence of Signals 4 Aust. Div. At the outbreak of war, this unit was given the task of training large numbers of universal trainees. Many of the men coached in the mysteries of Signals in those early days subsequently distinguished themselves in practically every theatre of war, from the Middle East to the Southwest Pacific. On completion of training in 1941, the unit took tip the establishment of communication channels around the Victorian coast. The ranks were badly depleted when many valuable men were transferred to the 1st Armored Division on its formation. Upon Japan's entry into the war things moved swiftly. The 30th Brigade Signals section was despatched to Port Moresby. There it formed an essential cog in the machinery that halted the initial Japanese thrusts.
The early training proved invaluable when the section functioned with its brigade in the early days of the New Guinea campaign, including the Owen Stanleys action. After being relieved, the section was disbanded and a major portion of it joined the ranks of Signals 6 Aust. Div. Meanwhile, it was not until April 1942 that Signals 4 Aust. Div. began to function in the eagerly awaited operational role when, under Lt-Col. L. W. Fargher, the unit moved to the west. No time was wasted. Vigorous training for mobile operations began. Communications were extended to cope with the ever-growing forces in the area. Immense distances had to be covered and a coastline of over 300 miles had to be spanned. Extensive field manoeuvres were carried out in anticipation of mobile warfare. One exercise, alone, involved two complete divisions pitted against each other with appropriate air support for each. When the opportunity offered, all officers and the majority of other ranks volunteered for the A.I.F. immediately and the unit was from then on gazetted as A.I.F. After serving in the west for some time, another long trek was undertaken in the move to the First Army area. About this time Lt-Col. L. W. Fargher was transferred to 3 Aust. Div. and he was replaced by Lt-Col. W. B. Murrell, who was in charge on the overland journey of 1.000 miles to northern Queensland. Throughout the move communications between the main body and the forward and rear groups were maintained by wireless. On arrival at its destination, the force took over the technical control of some Signals sections in Dutch New Guinea and men were despatched there to carry out the allotted tasks. While conditions on most parts of the island are not the best, Dutch New Guinea is unique because the terrain consists of swamps with small areas of ground slightly above swamp level. Line-laying with vehicles, even jeeps, was out of the question and all lines had to be laid by hand. These sections accomplished a big task by laying a submarine cable across a fast flowing river in their area. Wireless operators accompanied patrols many miles inland. One patrol went into the heart of the "headhunters'" country. Operators also worked on the small watercraft plying between coastal outposts. These trips were regarded as a respite from the strenuous land work but one operator found his trip anything but a holiday when the launch on which he was operating engaged a Japanese launch and a barge in a miniature naval battle. The 2/9th Field Regiment Signals Section also served in Dutch New Guinea. It was formed in June 1940 and originally came under the command of Signals 1 Aust. Corps. The section went to the Middle East in April 1941 and took part in the Syrian campaign at Merdjayoun before returning to the South-west Pacific. Signals 4 Aust. Div. also had under command the Torres Strait Force Signals section which was responsible for vital communication in areas north of Australia.
Bombed and battered Malahang Mission, Lae.