Armies and countries typically move past their military defeats, but some losses are hard to forget, especially when the event becomes a source of endless ridicule, like the defeat of the Australian Army in 1932 during a military operation against emus, large flightless birds, after they destroyed many wheat crops.
It all began, as reported by the French magazine Le Point, in the early 1930s when the Great Depression severely impacted agriculture in Western Australia, plunging farmers into a deep crisis following the collapse of wheat prices. The situation worsened with the arrival of a massive influx of emus to the region. Over 20,000 emus, each reaching a height of 1.9 meters and capable of outrunning a car traveling at 50 km/h, trampled crops and consumed everything in their path, which was a significant blow to the Australians.
In these circumstances, the Australian government, seeking popularity, chose to resolve the issue radically by sending in the army and deploying soldiers equipped with Lewis machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition to eliminate these destructive creatures. The government would fund the soldiers’ movement, while farmers were responsible for providing food and shelter, as well as covering the cost of ammunition.
The initiative was welcomed by local residents, and the army thought that three soldiers would be sufficient to defeat the enemy, especially since emus are flightless birds. However, the army underestimated the intelligence and speed of these birds. Brigadier Gwenyth Purvis, who "fought" in this operation, stated, "The emu proved it was not as stupid as people think. Each group has a leader who stands guard over its peers while they eat wheat, and at the first sign of danger, it signals and dozens of heads emerge from the crop."
The coordinated and reactive emus caused a defeat for Australia without any casualties on their side, making the operation widely subject to ridicule throughout the country, seeming to be a significant waste, with 2,500 rounds of ammunition used to kill about 100 emus.
Australian ornithologist D.L. Serventy aptly summarized the emu war in the Britannica Encyclopedia, writing, “It appears that the emu leadership adopted guerrilla warfare tactics, and soon the army, unable to maneuver much, split into countless small units, making the use of military equipment impractical. Consequently, the disgruntled field force withdrew from the combat zone after about a month,” marking a defeat for the Australian army against thousands of emus.
