Battle of Kokoda

On 21 July 1942, Japanese forces landed on the northern Papuan coast at Basbua, between Buna and Gona, as part of a plan to capture the strategically important town of Port Moresby via an overland advance across the Owen Stanley Range along the Kokoda Track, following the failure of a seaborne assault during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 and further losses during the Battle of Midway. The advanced landing forces, consisting primarily of the Colonel Yosuke Yokoyama's 15th Independent Engineer Regiment, sailed from Rabaul and came ashore unchallenged as there were only a small number of Australians stationed in the area, and shortly afterwards a small advanced element, supported by elements of the 1st Battalion, 144th Infantry Regiment, began moving south-west towards Oivi, mounted in motor vehicles and on bicycles. These troops were initially tasked with proving the route over the Owen Stanleys before the main body of the landing force, Major General Tomitaro Horii's South Seas Detachment, arrived. Following the landing, several minor skirmishes took place between the advanced elements of the Japanese landing force – Yokoyama Force – and small groups of Australian and Papuan forces primarily from the Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB) around Awala and Giruwa. Brushing these aside, the Japanese began advancing steadily towards their objective on the southern coast. Meanwhile, the Australians, who had deployed only limited forces north of Port Moresby attempted to delay the Japanese along the track long enough to bring reinforcements forward. In this vein, a bridge at Wairopi was destroyed by the withdrawing PIB troops who had been reinforced by a platoon of Australians from the 39th Infantry Battalion, with a brief fire-fight on 24 July, before the Japanese began forcing a crossing of the Kumusi River in rubber assault boats supported by mortars and machine gun fire. The following day, a force of around 100 Australians and Papuans ambushed the Japanese around Gorari, killing two Japanese and wounding 13 more before withdrawing towards the higher ground. As the Australians and Papuans began massing in some numbers, with several plane loads being landed at Kokoda on 26 July and moving north, they attempted a stand around Oivi under Captain Sam Templeton, commander of 'B' Company, 39th Infantry Battalion. Encircled, and having suffered heavy losses – including Templeton who was captured and executed – the surviving Australians and Papuans withdrew to Deniki under the command of Watson, and guided south around the Japanese on the track by Lance Corporal Sanopa of the PIB. At Deniki, they linked up with reinforcements from the 39th Infantry Battalion that were preparing to move forward to Kokoda, with the intent of holding the village and its logistically important airfield. Positioned on a plateau north of the Owen Stanley Range to the south of the Mambare River which runs roughly north-west to south-east, Kokoda lies around the northern approach to Port Moresby. Further to the south, the track rose steeply towards Deniki, where it entered the Owen Stanleys. Bounded to the east by Eora Creek – flowing roughly south from the Mambare – and beyond that the village of Pirivi, in 1942, the village's airfield which lay to the west offered both the Japanese and the Australians an important logistical hub into which supplies and reinforcements could be flown with which to prosecute the fighting in the mountainous area to the south or the flat country to the north. ==Battle==

First engagement The first engagement at Kokoda took place after skirmishes around Awala, Gorari Creek and Oivi, which had seen the Australians and Papuans of Maroubra Force fall back towards Deniki, south of Kokoda. On 28 July, a force of around 130 to 148 Australians and Papuans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William T. Owen, marched north from Deniki and re-occupied Kokoda village, after receiving information from an advanced party that the Japanese pursuing the survivors from Oivi had not yet reached the village. These troops were mainly from the 39th Infantry Battalion – mostly survivors from the fighting around Oivi – but also included small numbers of men from the PIB, the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, the Royal Papuan Constabulary and several signallers from the 30th Brigade headquarters, Flanked by parallel tracks which cut back south of the airstrip, Kokoda was not easily defendable, particularly by a company-sized element. Nevertheless, Owen positioned his force north of the village on the eastern tip of a "tongue-shaped plateau" that ran to the north-east of the airstrip. The Australians were set down in a horseshoe shaped defensive line, with three platoons forward and one back amongst the rubber trees guarding the Deniki track. From there, the Australians subsequently attempted to hold Kokoda village from an assault by around 200 Japanese from advanced elements of the 144th Infantry Regiment under Captain Tetsuo Ogawa. In withdrawing from Kokoda, the Australians had carried what equipment they could, but had left behind a large number of grenades, five machine guns and 1,850 rounds of rifle ammunition. The Japanese troops, who were issued with inferior grenades that had to be struck on the ground to prime, relished the find. Second engagement A brief lull in the fighting along the track followed before the second engagement around Kokoda took place over the period 8 to 10 August 1942. In the wake of the first engagement, both the Japanese and Australians had paused to bring up reinforcements. After sending the surviving members of 'B' Company back to Eora Creek, Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Allan Cameron – the brigade major of the 30th Brigade – took command of the 39th Infantry Battalion and advanced from Deniki on 8 August with around 430 men, intent on recapturing Kokoda to re-open the airfield. At the same time, the Japanese force, which had grown to around 660 men with the arrival of the remainder of Hatsuo Tsukamoto's 1st Battalion, 144th Infantry Regiment and supporting elements, began their advance on Deniki. The circuitous route that 'A' Company had to take to withdraw from Kokoda meant that it was subsequently unavailable for the fighting that followed around Deniki in the days that followed, as it was ordered to withdraw to Eora village to rest. It was replaced by fresh, but inexperienced troops from 'E' Company – formed from the battalion's machine gun company – who were ordered to move up to Deniki from Isurava. Ironically, the day after the engagement Allied aircraft, unaware that the village had fallen due to communications delays, arrived over Kokoda dropping the supplies that Symington's company had been expecting. These fell into Japanese hands, alleviating some of their supply problems. Several hours later, Allied aircraft returned to bomb the village after news of its capture reached the Allied high command. ==Aftermath==

While not ultimately successful in holding Kokoda, the attack by Cameron's force had the effect of surprising the Japanese commanders and subsequently delayed the advance on Deniki by four days. In the wake of the action, the Japanese estimated that the Australian force holding Kokoda had numbered around 1,000, to 1,200. ==References==