Arguably Bert Kienzle did more for the victory of the Kokoda campaign in New Guinea PNG than any other man.
Having grown up in PNG he knew the local dialect, terrain and was responsible for assembling the Fuzziy Wuzzy Angels to support the Australians along the track and it tells of Bert’s life pre and post the Kokoda Campaign. The Japanese stretched, poor supply lines and the efforts by men like Bert who pioneered the track and then organised the huge numbers of native carriers to carry food and ammunition to the troops and evacuate the sick and wounded. He founded the Myola lake beds where supplies could be air-dropped to exhausted troops. His knowledge of Papua-New Guinea was crucial in helping Australia's weary army, firstly withdraw in the face of fierce opposition and then turn and attack with such ferocity that the Japanese were eventually forced out of the territory.
This book is written by someone with intimate knowledge, Bert's daughter-in-law Robyn Kienzle, who describes Bert as the "man who made the Kokoda Track". This is an excellent book and describes Bert’s times from a young boy in Fiji, to his family's internment in the First World War as German sympathisers, to his early work in New Guinea and then development of plantations and gold mines in the Kokoda area in the north of the country.
This is an excellent book, well written and incredibly interesting.