One of the most disgraceful chapters in New Zealand history was the wellington Dock Strike (1942). The First Marine Division was given the assignment of taking Guadacanal in the Solomons from the Japanese. It would be the first American offensive of World War II and the first American amphibious landing of the Pacific War. The airfield the Japanese were building on Guadacanal was part of a larger Japanese effort to cut the sea lanes between America and Australia and New Zealand. The losses at Midwat had impaired that undertaking, but theJapanese had no abandomed it. The 1st Division's men and equipment was scattered all over the Pacific. Much of the Division and support units were either in New Zealandc or in the way to New Zealand. Loading the Division's equipment for the assault force was tremendously complicated by the Wellington dock workers strike. The workers had gone on strike before the orders came in, but they refused to come backnin to assist the American Marines who were preparing to fight for New Zealand. The Marines had to do all the loading themselves, including the vital reconfiguration from administrative to combat assault. What resulted was 11 days of dockside mayhem (July 1942). Combat loading was critical because even after Miday, the Japanese still held naval superority in the Paciffic and it was vital that the most critical equipment be landed as quickly as possible. The Marines cursed the doickworkers. Rain destoyed cardboard packging. One naval officer recalls walking through 100 yards of sodden corn flakes. Food abd amunition supplies were reduced. [Birkitt, p. 21.] The 89 ships carrying the 1st Division finally departed Wellington (July 22). General Vandergrift described landing exercizes on Koro Island as a "disaster" (July 28-30). The Marines landed (August 7). Thankfully, the Japanese did not believe the American forces were capable of an offensive action. There were no Japanese combat units on the island. The Marines landed unopposed. Korean workers fled into the jungle. The mayhem at Wellington, however, would affect what the Marines were able to load and what they were able to unload on the beaches before Japanese naval and air forces began to target the Marine bridgehead.
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Today's Featured Article - History of the Nuffield Tractor - by Anthony West. The Nuffield tractor story started in early 1945. The British government still reeling from the effects of the war on the economy, approached the Nuffield organization to see if they would design and build an "ALL NEW" British built wheeled tractor, suitable for both British and world farming.
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