History

In May 1942, Japans intentions of a sea borne invasion of Port Moresby were thwarted in the battle of the Coral Sea. Their focus then fell upon capturing this strategic port by land invasion. To hold Port Moresby was vital to the Australians as a Japanese Air base there would threaten Northern Australia and further advance Japanese expansion throughout the Pacific region.

When word came back to Australia of the massacre of 150 Australian diggers taken prisoner at the fall of Rabaul, north of Papua New Guinea, it was realised that the looming battle on the Owen Stanley Ranges with the Japanese would be one where no mercy would be shown. General Tomitaro Horii’s South Seas Detachment were Japans best troops, well trained, well equipped, battle hardened and well adapted to jungle warfare. With their Bushido beliefs they were a fanatical adversary, preferring death to defeat. They were a force 10,000 strong.

With the Australian Army speeding back from Africa to meet the Japanese advance the Australian government deployed its militia to Papua New Guinea. The newly formed 39th militia battalion along with the 53rd, were ill equipped and without any jungle fighting training or experience. The combined force of these two Battalions was 1500 and the average age was around 19.

The terrain on the track is so dense and rugged, most of the fighting during the campaign was in close quarters and has been reported as some of the most ferocious fighting in all of WW2. It was during one of the bloodiest battles of the Kokoda Campaign, at Isurava, when the men of the 39th, thought all was lost. Their saviours arrived in the form of the men of the 2nd14th. Stan and Harold ‘Butch’ Bisset were amongst these men. Fit, strong and battle hardened from their time in Africa, they seemed like gods to the men of the 39th. All these young Australian men refused to let their mates down. Out numbered six to one, malaria and dysentery running rampant, poorly equipped, a hierarchy at home who had no idea what they were facing and a fanatical enemy were not enough to break the Aussie spirit.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, local tribesmen, who had spent their lives up until this point worrying about nothing more than the welfare of their family and when their next harvest would be ripe for the taking, were thrust into this conflict. They bought many wounded Australian men back from the front line, working tirelessly. This war was none of their business, but still, they saved countless lives because they are beautiful people who during this time of madness loved their fellow man.

Join Kokoda Brothers on the track and we will show you where and tell you how this band of young diggers stalled the advances of the Japanese against all odds until relief arrived in the form of the 2nd AIF. Come and see first hand where men like Bruce Kingsbury, Charlie McCallum and Brett Langridge gave up their lives with incredible acts of bravery so that their mates might live.

history cross section map

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Sequence of Events

1941
December 7	Japanese launch surprise attack on US naval fleet at Pearl Harbour.
1942
January 3	Australian 39th Battalion arrive in PNG.
January 23	Japanese invade Rabaul, New Britain, slaughtering captured Australian soldiers.
February 15	Singapore falls to the Japanese. 14,000 Australian soldiers taken captive.
April 18	General Douglas MacArthur appointed Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Military Forces in the Southwest Pacific area.
May 5 - 8	Battle of Coral Sea thwarts Japanese aims of invading Port Moresby by Sea.
July 21	Japanese land in force at Buna-Gona-Sanananda beach area and quickly head up the track.
July 22	First conflict on the track when Australian and Japanese troops meet at Awala, 40 kilometres north of Kokoda.
July 28-29	Japanese take Kokoda. Australians fall back to Deniki.
August 7	Allied troops land at Guadal Canal.
August 26 - 29	The Battle of Isurava was fought. The 39th and 53rd battalions are bolstered by the timely arrival of the 2nd AIF. Bruce Kingsbury’s actions won him the Victorian cross. Harold ‘Butch’ Bissett being mortally wounded died in his brothers arms.
September 6 - 8	The battle at Brigade hill was fought. Japanese over ran Australian position.
September 11 - 16	Battle of Ioribaiwa. This is as far as the Japanese advance came.
September 17	The Australians withdrew to Imita Ridge to make ‘a last stand to the death’. The Japanese never arrived.
September 24	Japanese withdrawal commences from Ioribaiwa.
September 27	Australians begin their advance.
October 16 - 29	Australians fight through stubborn Japanese resistance to clear Templetons Crossing-Eora Creek area.
November 3	Australian troops retake Kokoda unopposed.
November 5 - 12	Over 1000 Japanese troops are killed at the battle of Oivi-Gorari.
November 15	Battle for the Northern beaches commences. With the Japanese well entrenched 1522 Austalians are killed in the ensuing months with thousands more injured.
1943
January 21	Japanese resistance ceases in PNG.
1945
August 6	US drop atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
August 9	US drop atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
August 15	Japan surrenders unconditionally.

Map of Kokoda Track

^{(click map to enlarge)}

history cross section map

Sequence of Events

Map of Kokoda Track

Read more about the Kokoda Track