Sophisticated weapons are not always the most prominent factor in victory in battle. The war that Australia lost against a flock of emus is a good example, and this event was widely known as the Great Emu War, and this shameful defeat was proof that weapons and gunpowder are not always the best solution.
The combat prowess of the Australian army on the battlefields is not to be underestimated, and Australia’s bravery in the First World War is proof of this, as it sent many military forces to help the Allied forces defeat their opponents, and as a result, the forces of the Allied bloc such as Britain, Russia, etc. were victorious against Central Bloc Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria, until World War I officially ended in 1918 and the war heroes returned to Australia.
Some continued their military careers, others a normal civilian life. The Australian Government recognized them for their accomplishments in bravery, patriotism, and loyal and noble friendship, awarding several veterans a plot of land in Campion County, Western Australia.
What caused the great emo war?
After the storm of the global crisis subsided, the veterans turned to
agriculture and began working in the dry land, and farmers mobilized their
efforts to produce a bumper annual crop of wheat, but unfortunately, the
agriculture needed irrigation, and this attracted the attention of the
Australian emus that usually live in areas The remote and dry ones then
migrate to farmers' farms after the mating season.
In a scene that
raised the astonishment of the whole world, the second largest migratory
birds flock in the world, which amounted to about 20 thousand emu birds,
arrived in the cultivated lands, devastation and chaos, eating wheat,
destroying agricultural facilities and farmers’ buildings, and causing
heavy losses to the owners of wheat orchards. Then the farmers who were
former soldiers remembered How effective machine guns were against emu
flocks Realizing that killing emu without legal permission was surely
against the rules, the farmers immediately submitted a written letter to
the Australian Minister of Defense Sir George Pearce on attacking birds
with machine guns and tanks which he immediately responded with approval
and ordered the dispatch of the Lewis automatic cannon to the Campion
area.
The beginning of the great emo war
The process of eliminating emus officially began on November 2, with a
single condition set by Sir George Pearce for farmers, which is that the
extermination is carried out by the Australian army and farmers have no
right to participate, for two reasons: the first is to train soldiers in
shooting and aiming at a specific target, and the second is the
political gain of his government When she appears in front of the media
that she does not hesitate to help the people.
Sir George Pearce is
confident in this campaign and believes that the whole thing is an easy
process that will soon be completed by the Australian military, and to
document this he sent photographers and media to the Campion area to
record the inevitable victory.
Australian soldiers set out in the
outback in search of emu, and found a flock of about 50 birds, the
soldiers tried to gather them together in a narrow group to make the
goal easier, however, the emu did not succumb to the army's tactics, so
they divided into smaller groups and ran in opposite directions. With
this clever plan by the birds, none of them were killed, although some
of them were injured.
Major Meredith prepared for an ambush near a
local level and more than 1,000 emus were spotted making their way
towards their position, this time waiting until the birds came within
close range before firing. The gun malfunctioned after only 12 were
killed and the remaining emus scattered before killing more.
By the 8th of November, just 6 days after the war, 2,500 rounds had been fired without any spoils. It's terrible running speed.
After these events, the Australian Major Meredith said, feeling disappointed: “We confronted the birds with a military squad that had a terrifying stock of ammunition and bullets. The military was able to somewhat paralyze the Bird Army due to the strategy Meredith's forces used of crowding emus into a small area where they would be slaughtered en masse.
Australian army withdraws from the war
The Australian House of Representatives met to discuss the operation on 8 November and views were mixed, with Sir George Pearce receiving heavy criticism for the outcome of the battle thus far, and after much debate, the group decided to withdraw Australian forces from the Great Emu War.
The decision to withdraw from the war did not last long, as the emus became more tame, organized, and bent on destroying crops in the absence of the army, so the army agreed to return to the front lines of the great emu war after a request from farmers to put an end to the devastation, and as a result, Australian forces witnessed An even greater degree of success occurred during the second campaign, with the Canberra Times writing on November 12, 1932: "300 Emo were killed in the second round".
The Australian military faced many obstacles, and rain was one of them. It dispersed the emu herd, making it difficult for the Australian Army to capture it due to its rapid movement.
All the battles with these birds led to the same result, and although no Australian soldier was injured, the Australian government was not able to judge the outcome of the battle, who was victorious in the great emu war?
The genius solution
