In late 1932, Western Australian farmers faced a bizarre crisis: over 20,000 emus migrating inland found newly cultivated wheat fields irresistible. Desperate, the Australian government deployed Major G. P.
W. Meredith of the Royal Australian Artillery, armed with two Lewis automatic machine guns and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. What was expected to be simple target practice quickly devolved into a comedic logistical disaster.
The primary weapon, the Lewis gun, was heavy and temperamental. Each gun required cumbersome wooden ammunition boxes that weighed over thirty pounds. Transporting these heavy ammo crates across the rugged, roadless Outback proved nearly impossible for the foot soldiers.
In one infamous attempt to adapt, soldiers mounted a Lewis gun onto the back of a truck to create a mobile strike unit. However, the Outback terrain was so rough that the vehicle bounced violently, rendering the gunners completely incapable of aiming while moving. The severe vibrations even threatened to shake the gunner and the precious, unwieldy ammo boxes entirely out of the truck bed.
Meanwhile, the emus ran at speeds up to 30 miles per hour, easily outpacing the heavily laden military transport. Reloading the drum magazines from the awkward transport boxes under field conditions was painfully slow, allowing the emu packs to scatter into small groups before effective suppressive fire could be established. Major Meredith famously remarked that if Australia had a military division with the bullet-stopping capacity of these birds, it could face any army in the world.
After expending thousands of rounds with minimal impact on the emu population, the military retreated, soundly defeated by feathered guerilla tactics and poor logistical equipment.