Jungle Patrol (1944 film)

Jungle Patrol is a 1944 Australian documentary narrated by Peter Finch, and directed by Tom Gurr. The film follows eight Australian soldiers on a fighting patrol in New Guinea during World War II.

Plot

The film starts with the introduction of all 8 members of the infantry section which the film follows. From Port Moresby, the section board a USAF C47 called the Honeymoon Express, then covers their flight over the Owen Stanley Range and Kokoda Trail, with the narrator noting the heavy fighting that took place in the recapture of Kokoda in 1942. The plane land at an airstrip at Dumpu in the Ramu Valley, ten miles from the frontline.

The eight troops them march through the Ramu Valley, fording the Ramu river and then bathing in a pool. The section then pushes on through tough terrain in tropical heat, beginning their ascent of the Finisterre Range, encountering local inhabitants in service with the Australian army as porters and stretcher bearers. When the section arrive at their battalion's position on Shaggy Ridge, the men pitch tent, eat and apply products such as anti-lice lotion and foot powder.

The next day, the men shave, cut their hair and drink treated water, before embarking on a long range patrol into the jungle. Along the way, they radio back to headquarters, and receive airdropped food from a USAAF C-47. Later on their patrol, the men take fire from a Japanese sniper, and are then shot at by a Japanese machine gun hidden in the jungle.