Vintage Military - Part 24

WWII - Australian Troops in New Guinea

We've previously seen American troops in New Guinea in World War II, photographed by LIFE magazine war photographers.  But the Allied offensive in New Guinea was a joint effort of American and Australian troops.  Here are some photos from the Australian War Memorial photo archive.

Above: Australian troops sharing an outdoor shower in Port Moresby, New Guinea in 1942.  Port Moresby, on the south shore of New Guinea, was held by Australia before the war, and the Japanese effort to capture it failed.  As the only port serving Allied operations in New Guinea, it was critical to the campaign.

Troops in Port Moresby relaxing in a stream after a march in 1942.  Of course they're swimming naked, because that's what soldiers did in those days.

Troops bathing in the Basari River in Soputa, New Guinea in 1942. 

Another photo of troops bathing in the Basari River in Soputa.

Somehow an American got into the Australian War Memorial photo archive.  This is Private Sal Corona from California swimming In a bomb crater in Buna, New Guinea on Jan. 8, 1943.  The photo is by LIFE photographer George Silk, but it's in the Australian War Memorial archive, not the LIFE photo archive.

Sergeant Ron Nation washing and bathing on Goodenough Island, an island off New Guinea, in June 1943.  The Australian War Memorial site lists the names of the men in these photos, which are now publicly available on the Internet, even when the photos show frontal nudity.  As I've said before, there's no privacy in the Army!

M.C. Curnow (left) & M. McPhail (right) on a tire In a stream in Tsili Tsili, New Guinea, November 1943.

Donadabu, New Guinea, Nov. 9, 1943  Troops of 7th Australian infantry brigade hold an impromptu swimming carnival in the Laloki River.  Lieutenant L. Hatton is standing at left. 

We end with RAAF pilot W.O.K. Hewett shaving in a stream in the Buna area in 1943.  New Guinea is almost on the Equator, and it gets hot.  Who needs clothes?