Kokoda Track campaign

The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primarily a land battle, between the Japanese South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitarō Horii and Australian and Papuan land forces under command of New Guinea Force. The Japanese objective was to seize Port Moresby by an overland advance from the north coast, following the Kokoda Track over the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range, as part of a strategy to isolate Australia from the United States.

Japanese forces landed and established beachheads near Gona and Buna on 21 July 1942. Opposed by Maroubra Force, then consisting of four platoons of the 39th Battalion and elements of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, they quickly advanced and captured Kokoda and its strategically vital airfield on 29 July. Despite reinforcement, the Australian forces were continually pushed back. The veteran Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) 21st Brigade narrowly avoided capture in the Battle of Mission Ridge – Brigade Hill from 6 to 8 September. In the Battle of Ioribaiwa from 13 to 16 September, the 25th Brigade under Brigadier Kenneth Eather fought the Japanese to a halt but ceded the field to the Japanese, withdrawing to Imita Ridge.

The Japanese advanced to within sight of Port Moresby but withdrew on 26 September. They had outrun their supply line and had been ordered to withdraw in consequence of reverses suffered at Guadalcanal. The Australian pursuit encountered strong opposition from well-prepared positions around Templeton's Crossing and Eora Village from 11 to 28 October. Following the unopposed recapture of Kokoda, a major battle was fought around Oivi and Gorari from 4 to 11 November, resulting in a victory for the Australians. By 16 November, two brigades of the Australian 7th Division had crossed the Kumusi River at Wairopi, and advanced on the Japanese beachheads in a joint Australian and United States operation. The Japanese forces at Buna–Gona held out until 22 January 1943.

Australian reinforcement was hampered by the logistical problems of supporting a force in isolated, mountainous, jungle terrain. There were few planes available for aerial resupply, and techniques for it were still primitive. Australian command considered that the Vickers machine gun and medium mortars were too heavy to carry and would be ineffective in the jungle terrain. Without artillery, mortars or medium machine guns, the Australians faced an opponent equipped with mountain guns and light howitzers that had been carried into the mountains and proved to be a decisive advantage. Australian forces were unprepared to conduct a campaign in the jungle environment of New Guinea. The lessons learned during the course of this campaign and the subsequent battle of Buna–Gona led to widespread changes in doctrine, training, equipment and structure, with a legacy that remains until the present day.

In consequence of the rapid Japanese advance and the perceived failure to quickly counterattack, a "crisis of command" resulted, in which manoeuvring by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area, and General Sir Thomas Blamey, commander of Allied Land Forces, resulted in the sackings of three high-ranking Australian officers. The generalship of MacArthur and Blamey has been criticised for unreasonable and unrealistic perceptions of the terrain and conditions under which the campaign was fought—to the detriment of the troops committed to the fighting. The Kokoda Track campaign has been mythologised as Australia's Thermopylae and incorporated into the Anzac legend even though the premise of a vastly numerically superior enemy has since been shown to be incorrect.

After the fall of Singapore, the Australian government and many Australians feared that Japan would invade the Australian mainland. Australia was ill-prepared to counter such an attack. The entire 8th Division, deployed to Malaya, Ambon, Timor and Rabaul, was lost or rendered ineffective as the Japanese rapidly advanced. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) lacked modern aircraft and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was too small to counter the Imperial Japanese Navy. The RAAF and RAN were greatly expanded, though it took years for these services to build up to their peak strengths. The Militia was mobilised but, although a large force, it was inexperienced and lacked modern equipment. In response to the threat, the Government appealed to the United States for assistance, and the 6th and 7th Divisions of the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) were brought back from the Middle East. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill attempted to divert them to Burma, but the Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin, refused to authorise this movement. As a compromise, two brigades of the 6th Division disembarked at Ceylon, where they formed part of the garrison until they returned to Australia in August 1942.

The Japanese Imperial General Headquarters considered invading Australia in early 1942 but decided against doing so in February that year, as it was judged to be beyond the Japanese capabilities, and no planning or preparations were undertaken. Instead, in March 1942 the Japanese military adopted a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States and preventing Allied offensive operations by capturing Port Moresby, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Samoa and New Caledonia. An attempt to capture Port Moresby by an amphibious assault, Operation Mo, was thwarted by the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. A month later, most of the Japanese carrier fleet was destroyed in the Battle of Midway, further reducing the possibility of major amphibious operations in the South Pacific. Following this, the Japanese began to consider an overland advance on Port Moresby.

Meanwhile, the Allied Supreme Commander in the South West Pacific Area, General Douglas MacArthur set about developing airfields for the defence of Port Moresby, and to strike against the Japanese. The first of these, Operation Boston, was authorised on 20 May and initially planned for the Abau–Mullins Harbor area. Milne Bay was subsequently determined to be preferable and a garrison force was sent by ship from Port Moresby on 22 June. Another strip at Merauke, on the south coast of Dutch New Guinea was authorised on 22 June to protect the western flank. On 9 June, MacArthur questioned General Sir Thomas Blamey, the commander of Allied Land Forces, as to measures taken for the defence of the overland approach from Buna. This set in train the deployment of forces to Kokoda. MacArthur began to consider the development of an airfield in the Buna area. An initial reconnaissance, landed by flying boat, was conducted on 10 and 11 July. Orders for the airfield construction, Operation Providence, were received by New Guinea Force (NGF) on 17 July, but were postponed by seven days on 18 July, and cancelled following the Japanese landings that shortly followed.