One of Australia’s bloodiest war campaigns ever fought during ww2. in retaliation to the darwin bombings australia started recruitment mainly young 16 to 30 year old men who have never seen combat before. the japanese first landed ashore near gona on the northern coast of new guinea on the 21st july1942 to begin the invasion of new Guinea how ether this was not there proffered invasion point which was to have been a full blown sea borne assault on port Moresby. earlier on in the 5-8 may 1942 the battle of the coral sea was a failure as a lot of ships where lost on both sides but australia had beaten the japanese navy soundly. the aftermath had left the japanese navy no other choice but to retreat to northern coast of new guinea because they no longer had sufficient naval strength to support an invasion attack by sea. there plan was to isolate australia as a usable base for allies by indirecting the air and sea lanes from port Moresby. the allied forces which were initially allocated to the defense of new guinea in 1941 consisted of the 39th,49th and 53rd militia battalions of the australian army all newly raised for home services only and poorly equipped and trained there were supply problems,training problems, ammunition shortages no mail.
In may 1942 the australian 3rd, 36th, and 55th militia battalions were ordered to port Moresby and the american 32nd and 41st division arrived in australia which later went to new guinea. the papuan infantry battalion (PIB) who were assigned to defend kokoda joined the 39th battalion and later became known as the (maroubra force) defenses and man power was slowly building up however the initial japanese landing of only 2000 later to be followed by 10,000 men in mid august where quick and strong enough to deal with the ill organized australians found facing. in this small force made up of veterans of previous successful attacks in malaya and rabaul moved inland quickly and engaged platoon sized australians forces at awala on the 22nd july and pushed them back towards kokoda the australians continuing to fall back outnumbered 15-1 what they had in man power but they lacked portable fire power the Japanese had nothing to match our automatic weapons like the bren, and tommy guns which could be easily used by a single man.the first battle of kokoda was fought at around 2am on the 29th of july 1942 400 japanese attacked a position held by less than 80 australian although they fought bravely at times hand to hand combat they were outclassed and out positioned there commander was one of many killed by dawn the remainder with there wounded were in full retreat thought the kokoda rubber plantations to the next defensive position at deniki for now kokoda and its strategic airfield belonged to the japanese.at deniki the australians regrouped with there new commander major cameron who arrived with the 39th battalion known as chocolate soldiers now with approximately 500 men whos goal was to reatake kokoda he devised a bold three pronged attack plan each attack consisting of companys strength ten days after the loss of kokoda he put his plan to action which almost worked the two prongs attacked but after hours of fighting had to withdraw as they were withdrawing the japanese had pushed all their solider to harass what they fought was retreating soliders and left kokoda unprotected the third prong of attack A company 39th battalion actually walked into kokoda unopposed and reoccupied it. Not knowing that the other company s withdrew back to deniki the force occupying kokoda heard distant sounds of battle but had no nearby support on which they could call for assistance nor where they able to assist the over companys not knowing there situations. Once they had settled themselves in kokoda the men of company a had no way of knowing that no assistance was coming their way but assumed it was so obedient to there orders they stayed where they where for two and a half days. The japanese quickly responded to this surprise situation in 24 hours they launched four assaults at the dug in australians the advantage of being on a ridge top was all the rain and mud was making it very difficult for the japanese to see them in the dark and let alone the rain. The japanese finally took the position at dusk only to find that the australian soliders had yet again retreated to deniki kokoda belonged to the japanese once again but the australians showed they can fight. Just three months later on the first day of november after weeks of fighting under horrendous conditions the australians were back in kokoda their entry unopposed the japanese were in full retreat. The air strip which the japanese had not used and allowed to become overgrown was cleaned up and kokoda quickly became a central part of the next stage of the campaign.In 5-6 hours walk today you cover a distance that the australians took several days to cover in torrential rain ,damp mists sometimes in complete darkness and with the pressure of the japanese being anywhere> concealment was one of the best things about the war there was cover for the hunter and the hunted and a solider could be either depending on how well he used the available foliage to conceal himself and his movements the japanese mastered this very quick. The australians were losing substantial loss of life during these few months not only by lack of training and supplies but by hope. There was a lot of disease going around such as malaria dysentery and there were reports that when the australians went looking for the injured-dead found that a lot of corpses where missing strips of flesh that had been carved from them there are captured japanese diary accounts that recorded some companies (eating the flesh of captives).
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Also the japanese had no mercy for the local natives or prisoners.there were counts of rape and other acts against humanity. After seeing what happened to their fellow soldiers the australian where showing no mercy. After all this fighting in early november the 39th,55th and all the other frontline soldiers where relived because they were worn out having to go days without sleep, food and there were over 4000+ cases of sickness while they were fighting but proved to their family s the army and the japanese that they could fight even tho they had limited training and fighting under terrible conditions. They were replaced by the 6th division the veterans of war that where a famous company most of them serving in Gallipoli north africa and the greek campaign they only came back from the middle east a couple of weeks before hand but finished the war in days overall out of 13,500 japanese solider that made it to shore 6500+ recorded casualties to Australia’s 625 killed many of the australians that were killled during kokoda where the first on land from the 39th 55th battalions,the biggest savior during this war was the local natives (fuzzy wuzzy’s)) who assisted the australians through new guiena bringing the injured to get treated and risking there lives to help our country out and getting no respect in return from the government back in those days.Finally on november the 16th 1942 the war was finally over after 5 months of fighting under tremendous conditions sometimes days with out sleep and food on both sides they could finally come home as the heroes who defended australia from japan.
