A snapshot of Australia's military efforts
Compiled from various sources
Before the start of World War II it had been recognised that if Japan were to strike into South-East Asia (to secure much needed raw materials), they would need to do so when Britain was preoccupied by a European War. The opportunity was taken at the end of 1941.
The advance of the Japanese shocked the Western World. The Japanese attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and had secured the Malay Peninsula with the fall of Singapore by February 1942.
The next advance was the capture of Port Moresby. This advance would facilitate the capture of other centres, and weaken the Allied line of communication from the United States to Australia.
The Battle of the Coral Sea spoiled Japan’s plans to take Port Moresby by seaward assault and changed the advance to take place by a military attack over the Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda track.
On July 21, 1942, Japanese troops land in the Gona-Buna area and Australia’s 39th Militia Battalion (untrained and untried troops who were initially deployed to PNG to assist with the eventual building of an airstrip at Dobodura) were forced into a series of short but critical engagements with the advancing Japanese troops as they are pushed back along the Kokoda Track.
After fighting to hold and then retake the village of Kokoda and its airstrip, the 39th Battalion withdrew to Isurava.
Reinforcements were sent from Port Moresby: first the 53rd Battalion, which protected a side-track behind Isurava, and then the veteran 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions, which had previously served in the Middle East.
At Isurava, in the last days of August, the 39th and the 2/14th Battalions, with support further back from the 2/16th and 53rd Battalions, were able to temporarily hold the Japanese during an intense five-day action.
Three days into the battle, on August 29, in the face of yet another enemy assault, Private Bruce Kingsbury, 2/14th Battalion, was killed as he rushed forward with his Bren gun, driving back the enemy in a determined counter-attack. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross, the first VC awarded during the New Guinea campaigns.
Throughout September, the Australian units withdrew down the Kokoda Track, being joined by the 2/27th Battalion. They made further stands against the Japanese at Eora Creek, Templeton’s Crossing, Efogi, Mission Ridge and Ioribaiwa.
Allied airmen dropped supplies and made repeated attacks on the enemy’s supply lines. During those gruelling days, the Papuan men employed as carriers played a vital role in the battle. They carried supplies forward for the troops and then, as the number of troops who were wounded or fell sick increased, carried back to safety those who were unable to walk.
By September 16, after more troops had come forward from Port Moresby and dug into a defensive position at Imita Ridge, the Japanese were exhausted. They had been forced to fight hard to cross the mountains and had almost run out of supplies. Following setbacks on other battlefields against the allied forces (which robbed them of further reinforcements) the Japanese on the Kokoda Track were ordered to withdraw. As Australian patrols pushed forward of Imita Ridge on September 28, they found that the enemy had slipped away.
During the next six weeks, the Japanese fell back over the mountains. They were pursued by troops of the 25th Brigade – comprising the 2/25th, 2/31st and 2/33rd Battalions – and the 16th Brigade – comprising the 2/1st, 2/2nd and 2/3rd Battalions – along with the 3rd Battalion and men from medical and supply units. Significant actions were fought at Templeton’s Crossing, where it took more than a week of hard and costly fighting for the 25th Brigade to push back the enemy, and at Eora Creek where the 16th Brigade also doggedly attacked enemy strong points to slowly make ground.
The Australians were plagued by supply shortages that increased the difficulties of jungle warfare. Finally, on November 2, Kokoda was retaken. The Australians had one more tough battle to fight at Oivi-Gorari, where the Japanese were determined to make another stand, before they were able to finish the advance over the mountains.
By November 18 the Australians had reached the Kumusi River. The battle for the Kokoda Track was over.
The Australian military was then assigned the task of advancing further and capturing the coastal villages of Gona and Sanananda and for a further two months what was left of the 21st and 25th Brigade, along with the remaining 39th Militia joined forces with the 18th Brigade from Milne Bay and fought in oppressing conditions, suffering further casualties until the final defeat of the Japanese in Papua on January 23, 1943.
More than 600 Australians were killed and some 1680 wounded during perhaps the most significant battle fought by Australians in World War II.
The crucial triumphs along the Kokoda Track stemmed the Japanese tide of conquests and the bloody beachside battles signalled the enemy’s final and irreversible loss of military initiative.
By the end of January 1943, the path of future conflict stretched away from Australia – not towards it.
