WORK OF ENGINEERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 41, 18 February 1943, Page 5

WORK OF ENGINEERS

TROPICAL AUSTRALIA TRANSFORMED

(By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyright.) (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 16.

The change in the War scene in New Guinea is emphasised by the report on the activities of an American engineering unit which today celebrates its first anniversary in the Australasian combat zone. In a year of arduous work only one-third of the unit has had leave.

When the Japanese threat to Australia's north was very grave these troops volunteered to put aside their constructional equipment to fight the enemy. In the past year men from this unit have been tearing down vast areas of the tropical Australasian scene, making airstrips, dispersal bays, and roads, writes the "Sydney Morning Herald's" New Guinea war correspondent. RECORDS FOR SPEED. They have set records for speed in airstrip construction, but speed has in no way hampered the quality of their work. Most of their landing fields have been in continuous use, and despite the torrential rains of the wet season the aircraft using them have never been grounded. This American unit is only one of many engineering groups which, are transforming the appearance of tropical Australia so rapidly that men returning to operational zones after a few weeks' leave are amazed at the changes. It is estimated that in New Guinea alone there is more earthmoving plant than existed in all Australia before the war.

The equipment is in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with only small breaks for maintenance.