“ Turning Point “ by Michael Veitch

“ My best description of Milne Bay would be that if you were going to give the world an enema, you’d push it in at Milne Bay . It was bloody terrible ...”

RAAF 75 Squadron Kittyhawk pilot P/O Bruce ‘ Buster ‘ Brown giving an emphatic description of his time at Milne Bay.
Author Michael Veitch gives us another great read in his book which covers the lead up to and the battle at Milne Bay where units of the Australian Army and RAAF inflicted the first land defeat on the all conquering Japanese forces in WW2. A victory made possible by the extraordinary efforts of US engineers who were able to carve a fully operational airfield, No 1 Strip out of the Lever Brothers coconut plantation in just twenty two days . A feat only achievable through the first operational use of Marston matting to surface the waterlogged soil.

This airfield allowed the Kittyhawk fighters of 75 and 76 Squadron RAAF and a flight of Hudson bombers of 6 Squadron RAAF to give the close air support to the Army units which culminated in the major defeat of the Japanese in the bloody battle at No 3 Strip and their subsequent retreat and withdrawal.
Milne Bay was at the time a largely unknown malaria infested swamp on the eastern end of Papua deluged by over 200 inches of rain per year with almost nothing in the way of infrastructure. To the Japanese however it was a prized base to be used for their final push to capture Port Moresby.

The authors obvious passion for his subject comes through strongly in his writing and with
excellent research and attention to detail he held my interest through out . Veitch has been interviewing veterans from an early age including some of those who fought at Milne Bay and is able to personalise many of the events. With 334 pages and 17 photos “ Turning Point “ is published by Hachette Australia in paperback and available from all the usual outlets.


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