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.
Background
Strategic context
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.
Geography
In 1942, Papua was a territory of Australia. There had been little development and it was largely devoid of infrastructure beyond that around Port Moresby. The pre-war economy was based primarily upon copra and rubber—with plantations established intermittently in coastal regions—and mining. The administrative centre of Port Moresby had basic airfield and port facilities. There were no roads beyond the vicinity of Port Moresby and, by modern standards, these were little more than tracks. As a result, travel north of Port Moresby was largely undertaken by air, or sea. There were a few landing fields around Port Moresby, with others on the northern side of the Owen Stanley Range at the government stations of Buna and Kokoda.
The village of Kokoda is positioned on a plateau in the northern foot-hills of the Owen Stanley Range. It overlooks the Yodda Valley (formed by the Mambare River) to its north. The Mambare runs roughly south-east to north-west. Kokoda is approximately 100-kilometre (62 mi) direct line from the coastal village of Buna, which formed part of the Japanese beachhead positions occupied on their landing. However, the overland route was approximately 160 kilometres (100 mi). The track to the coast crosses the Kumusi River at Wairopi, approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of Kokoda. The river was spanned there by a wire-rope bridge (Wairopi being pidgin for wire rope). There was a wide track leading from there to the coast which the Japanese subsequently set about developing as a road for vehicle traffic.
In 1942, the village was the site of a government station, rubber plantation and strategically important airstrip. The Kokoda Track is a foot track that runs roughly southwest from Kokoda 96 kilometres (60 mi) overland (60 kilometres (37 mi) in a straight line) through the Owen Stanley Range towards Port Moresby. It was known before the war and had been used as an overland mail route. While there is a "main track" that is associated with the fighting during the campaign, there are many parallel, interlocking tracks that follow much the same general course. The southern end of the track is now considered to start at Owers' Corner, 61 kilometres (38 mi) from Port Moresby. The vehicle track from Port Moresby originally terminated at McDonald's [Corner], where it serviced the McDonald homestead. Between June and late September 1942, around 11 kilometres (7 mi) of road was completed, extending it to Owers' Corner.
The Kokoda Track passed through what was referred to during the early war years as "the (Kokoda) Gap". To the Japanese, who had learned of the Gap through vague explorer's accounts, it potentially offered a corridor from Buna through the Owen Stanleys along which they could launch a quick advance on Port Moresby. Conversely, the Allies believed it was a narrow and largely impassable path that could be blocked and held with only limited resources. In reality, the Gap is a dip in the Owen Stanley Range about 11 kilometres (7 mi) wide, convenient for aircraft crossing the range to pass through.
The track reaches a height of 2,190 metres (7,185 ft) as it passes around the peak of Mount Bellamy. The terrain rises and falls with regularity, up to 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) up and down over the full length of the track. This markedly increases the distance to be traversed, although there are several flat areas, particularly around Myola. The vegetation is largely dense jungle. The climate is mostly hot and humid with high rainfall, although the higher parts are cold, particularly at night. The higher elevations are frequently above cloud level, resulting in fog.
Myola is close to the watershed. A stream flowing from Myola is part of the headwaters of Eora Creek on the northern watershed. On the northern part of the track, its course, to Deniki, is determined by Eora Creek. It follows along the side of the steep valley formed by the creek. It crosses the creek from one side to the other at several points along its course. From Deniki, the track descends to the Kokoda plateau.
Disease
Operations in New Guinea were impacted by tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, scrub typhus, tropical ulcers, dysentery from a range of causes and fungal infections. Walker observes that the Kokoda Track "starts and ends with malaria". Malarial vectors were substantially absent from the cooler, higher elevations along the track. Most cases observed in these areas were relapses rather than primary infections. The immediate vicinity of Port Moresby is relatively dry. While this tends to mitigate the risk of malaria, significant rates of the disease were observed in troops, mainly militia, sent to New Guinea for defence of the port, leading up to the campaign. The risk from malaria was particularly high for troops operating in the coastal area around the southern end of the track and when the Australian forces had been forced back to Imita Ridge. AIF units returning from the Middle East were more aware of the threat this disease posed and arrived with supplies of quinine. For these reasons, the disease did not have the same degree of significance or impact on operations as it did at Milne Bay or the subsequent operations at Buna–Gona.
Anderson recounts the prevalence of dysentery among Australian troops, while James reports that "more and more [Japanese] succumbed" to diseases, including dysentery, as they withdrew along the track. Walker attributes enteric infections to poor field hygiene, contaminated and unpurified water, and a failure to make adequate sanitary provisions along the track during the early part of the campaign. He also identifies that a proportion of diarrhoeal disturbances were attributable to the poor diet (particularly the high-fat content of tinned beef) rather than infection.
Japanese forces
The Japanese 17th Army under Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake was a corps-sized command, based at Rabaul, involved in the New Guinea, Guadalcanal, and Solomon Islands campaigns. Following Coral Sea, the 17th Army considered an overland advance on Port Moresby. This was based on pre-war intelligence that a road existed linking it with Kokoda. Initial aerial reconnaissance was inconclusive but plans were made for a reconnaissance in force and to exploit the possibility of an advance along such a route. The 15th Independent Engineer Regiment (less one company) and the South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitarō Horii were assigned to these tasks. At the time, Horii was unenthusiastic as to the possibility of success, in consideration of the logistical difficulties that would be faced, but he did not press his objection.
An advance party, under command of Colonel Yokoyama Yosuke of the 15th Independent Engineer Regiment was to consist of the main force of the regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 144th Infantry Regiment, and the 1st Company, 1st Battalion of the 55th Mountain Artillery Regiment. It also included 500 Korean and Formosan labourers and 2,000 native labourers from Rabaul. A naval force based on the 5th Yokosuka Naval Landing Party was to land at the same time as the advance party and commence construction of an airfield at Buna. Japanese planning proceeded on the premise that an overland assault would occur.
The initial landing took place from the evening of 21 July 1942. An infantry company was immediately dispatched towards Kokoda. A second component of the Yokoyama landing party arrived on 29 July. The landing was reinforced by successive convoys over the following weeks. The main force of the 144th Infantry Regiment landed on 18 August. The 41st Infantry Regiment (less 1st Battalion) landed on 21 August, with the 1st Battalion landing on 27 August.
Horii linked up with the advance party at Kokoda and began to assemble his force for the overland advance. By 26 August, it consisted of the 144th Infantry Regiment (three battalions), the 41st Infantry Regiment (2nd and 3rd Battalions, with the 1st Battalion yet to arrive—joining the main force on 14 September) and 1st Battalion, 55th Mountain Artillery Regiment. The 3rd Battalion was tasked with protecting the force's line-of-communication. The 41st Infantry Regiment fielded only 1,900 troops since both the 1st and 3rd Battalions had approximately 400 detached from each for road construction and supply tasks. The force has been estimated at 6,000. Horii commenced his advance with each man carrying sixteen days' rations. Troops of both regiments were seasoned veterans. The 41st Infantry Regiment had fought against Australians in Malaya.