The "War"
Military involvement was due to begin in October 1932. The "war" was conducted under the command of Major G.P.W. Meredith of the Seventh Heavy Battery of the Royal Australian Artillery, with Meredith commanding a pair of soldiers armed with two Lewis Automatic Machine Guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The operation was delayed, however, by a period of rainfall which caused the emus to scatter over a wider area. The rain had ceased by 2 November 1932, at which point the troops were deployed with orders to assist the farmers and, according to a newspaper account, to collect 100 emu skins so that their feathers could be used to make hats for light horsemen.
Read more about this topic: Emu War
Famous quotes containing the word war:
“The dead have been awakened—shall I sleep?
The world’s at war with tyrants—shall I crouch?
The harvest’s ripe—and shall I pause to reap?
I slumber not; the thorn is in my couch;
Each day a trumpet soundeth in mine ear,
Its echo in my heart.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“Only in war are you holy, and when you are robbers and cruel.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)