AUSTRALIAN DEFENCES
WEAKNESS BEFORE PEARL HARBOUR STARTLING DISCLOSURES. MADE BY ARMY MINISTER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) CANBERRA, February 5. Startling disclosures of Australia’s defencelessness two months before Japan struck at- Pearl Harbour and began her southward drive of conquest were made by the Minister for the Army, Mr Forde, today. Describing the position as “appalling” when the Curtin Government took office in October, 1941. Mr. Forde said: “There was not one modern fighter aeroplane in the Commonwealth. We had only about 15 rounds of anti-tank ammunition per gun. We had less than one week’s supply of field artillery ammunition for fighting on a very limited scale. We had only about 60 pel' cent, of the rifles required to equip our forces. There was a very serious shortage of machine-guns, with hopelessly inadequate supplies of spare parts. The Army was less than half as strong as it is today. Petrol and fuel oil reserves had dwindled to a perilously low level. Industry was working at only 50 per cent, of its total capacity.”
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1943, Page 2
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171AUSTRALIAN DEFENCES Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1943, Page 2
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