THE KOKODA CAMPAIGN
Japan's second Attempt to Capture Port Moresby and isolate Australia from the United States
Text and Web-site by James Bowen. Updated 12/4/2006
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IS IT "KOKODA TRACK" OR "KOKODA TRAIL"? In this treatment of the Kokoda Campaign, reference will be made to the "Kokoda Track". This was the name by which it was known to Australian soldiers who fought on it in 1942 and to the civilians who were living in Australia's Territory of Papua before the Japanese invaded it on 21 July 1942. Dissemination of war news in the South-West Pacific was controlled in 1942 by the American Supreme Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, and his personal American staff. "Trail" is not Australian usage. "Track" is not American usage. Americans speak of the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. There is a very real possibility that the term "Kokoda Trail" was coined by an American member of General MacArthur's public relations staff writing in terms that would be understood by Americans. The Australian War Memorial has opted since 1992 to use the American term "Kokoda Trail" to describe the location of the most important battle fought by Australians on their own soil in World War II. However, the Memorial concedes that both "Track" and "Trail" have now become acceptable usages. Continued at... |
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- IMPORTANT NEWS - THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL DENIES THE GRAVITY OF THE JAPANESE THREAT TO AUSTRALIA IN 1942 - REJECTS DESCRIPTION OF KOKODA HEROES AS "MEN WHO SAVED AUSTRALIA" - ACCUSES PRIME MINISTER CURTIN OF EXAGGERATING JAPANESE THREAT - UNWILLING TO ADMIT FLAWED RESEARCH The Australian War Memorial is claiming that the Japanese were not planning to make themselves masters of Australia in 1942 and that any Japanese threat to Australia in 1942 was greatly exaggerated by wartime Prime Minister John Curtin for his own political ends. See chapter "Confronting revisionism from the Australian War Memorial". Pacific War historian James Bowen argues that the War Memorial has reached incorrect conclusions about 1942 and Prime Minister Curtin based upon flawed research. |
Returning from the Battle of Isurava, soldiers of the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion trudge through deep mud on the hellish Kokoda Track. In heavy fighting under appalling conditions, these heroes have played a vital role at Kokoda, Deniki, and Isurava in blunting the momentum of the Japanese advance towards Australia. From right to left: Warrant Officer 2 R. Marsh, Privates G. Palmer, J. Manol, J. Tonkins, A. Forrester, and Gallipoli veteran Staff Sergeant J. Long.....AWM 013288
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THE
SPIRIT OF KOKODA
If Port Moresby had been captured in 1942, the Japanese would have secured the anchor for their plan (Operation FS) to cut Australia off completely from American support. Much of northern Australia would have been brought within range of Japanese bombers operating from Port Moresby. The course of the Pacific War would almost certainly have been greatly changed. The heroic Australian Diggers who repulsed a much larger, and better equipped Japanese army under conditions of extraordinary hardship on the bloody Kokoda Track in 1942 deserve to be called "the men who saved Australia". Australians can learn more about the "Spirit of Kokoda" at Adventure Kokoda Treks. |
The capture of Port Moresby was of vital importance to Japan's military leaders in 1942. Port Moresby was situated on the southern coast of the Australian Territory of Papua and separated from the Australian mainland by a 500 kilometre stretch of the Coral Sea. Its capture would deny the Allies a forward base from which to launch air attacks on Japan's newly acquired military bases in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. With the whole of the island of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands under Japanese control, Japan could establish forward naval and air bases on these territories from which it could strike deeply into the Australian mainland and intercept military support for Australia from the United States. Port Moresby would also provide Japan with a springboard for an invasion of the Australian mainland when that became feasible. The first attempt by Japan to capture Port Moresby by means of a powerful seaborne invasion force occurred in the first week of May 1942. This attempt was frustrated by a joint United States and Australian naval task force at the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Despite Japan's massive defeat at the Battle of Midway, and the resulting loss of naval superiority over the United States Pacific Fleet, Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo was determined to press on with the plan to isolate Australia from the United States. The Imperial Japanese Navy had operational responsibility for Japanese military operations in the South-West Pacific area, including the plan to isolate Australia from the United States, but with four of its six best aircraft carriers lost at Midway, and Shokaku badly damaged at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese Navy was no longer capable of mounting a seaborne invasion of Port Moresby. Faced with this dilemma, Japan's admirals decided to pass the task of capturing Port Moresby to the Japanese Army.
INDEX
Cross-section view of the Kokoda Track
"Into the Mouth of Hell" - the 39th Battalion crosses the Mountains
The recapture and second defence of Kokoda
The Battle of Isurava - Australia's Thermopylae
In Preparation
= The Australian fighting Withdrawal to Imita Ridge
= The Japanese Retreat
= The Battle of Milne Bay
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