How Did Kokoda Destroy Australia

On the 22nd of July 1942, Japanese forces advanced toward Port Moresby in an attempt to isolate Australia from the United States. A battle in which Australia would be fighting in the fear of invasion. Japanese forces attempted to advance through the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range to enclose

Port Moresby. Kokoda was an important turning point for Australia as it was the battle that ended Japan’s dominance and permitted the Allies to go on the offensive. Kokoda, although not the first triumph against Japan, it marked the first major retreat of Japanese ground forces during the Pacific War allowing American forces to ‘island hop’ and fundamentally win the war. The conditions suffered by both Japanese and Allied forces were abhorrent. Although

these soldiers suffered immensely, this sacrifice made breakthroughs in the Pacific War and ultimately won WW2 for the Allies. Without Port Moresby, Japan could not invade Australia.

On the 7th of December 1941, Pearl Harbour was bombed in a surprise attack by Japan, bringing America into the war.

This attack was strategically designed to destroy America’s Naval Fleet to enable Japan to control the Pacific and its resources. With the American Fleet (apart from its air craft carriers) disabled, Japan continued this aggression by taking Singapore in February 1942, capturing 80000 allied troops including 15000 Australians. Darwin was bombed on 19 February 1942 (by 188 Planes launched from the aircraft carriers used in Pearl Harbour killing 243 people). It is against this background that Port Moresby was so important. With the majority of Australia’s troops and war resources situated in the African and European theatre, under the direction of Britain, Australians felt and were vulnerable from their near neighbour. Japan has little to no resources necessary to mount and maintain a war. The Japanese invasions of their near neighbours were conducted to secure access to oil, rubber, tin and iron (Figure 1). It is against this backdrop that Port Moresby was so important to be defended. Port Moresby could be a launching pad for an invasion into Australia as it had a Deep Harbour, a reliable water supply and an airfield. From Port Moresby, Japan could launch air and amphibious operations. The Battle of the Coral Sea was triggered by a Japanese attempt to move an invasion force from Rabual to capture Port Moresby. Allied success in code breaking meant that the

Japanese intentions were not a secret. It effectively removed three Japanese aircraft carriers and for the time being, ended a threat to Port Moresby.

What were the fighting conditions like in Jungle Warfare?
Not only were Australians fighting the Japanese, they were also fighting in appalling conditions.

The Jungles were barely penetrable, often negotiated only on hands and knees-steeply rising ridges, deep mud, ravines, moss, tree roots, vines, constant wet and mud slides. The rain kept the troops sodden for days, or even weeks, which led to sickness and disease. Malaria was one of the most common diseases among Aussie troops. In the stifling heat and permanently wet jungle, mosquitoes that carried malaria bred continuously. At times, half the troops in a battalion would be shivering and shaking with malaria. The Australian Soldiers had only a singular uniform not designed for tropical conditions. With a lack of nutritious food, fresh water, dry clothing, lodgings. Australian soldiers suffered from Malaria, dysentery, multiple leeches under their leggings and in their boots, disease from fleas, malnutrition, depression and feet reduced to a pulp from the constant wet. Physically the pathetically young warriors of the 39th were in poor shape. “Worn out by strenuous fighting and exhausting movement, and weakened by lack of food and sleep and shelter, many had literally come to a standstill. Practically every day torrential rain fell all through the afternoon and night, cascading into their cheerless weapons pits and soaking the clothes they wore - the only ones they had. In these they shivered through the long chill vigil of the lonely nights when they were required to stand

awake and alert but still and silent” Peter Brune, Those Ragged Bloody Heroes, p79]. The soldiers fighting at Kokoda confronted dense jungle where the enemy was occasionally not seen until he was a few metres away. In nearly every battle in WW2, military vehicles, tanks and artillery supported soldiers in combat. Whilst in Kokoda, none of this was available, making it a foot-soldiers battle, relying on strategic plans and support from fellow soldiers to survive the Jungle. The Japanese were trained night fighters, they were adapted to the night conditions due to their “doctrine that stressed the importance of night fighting” while the Australian troops did not train to fight at night. Both camps were unfamiliar to the Jungle but the Japanese, owing to their night fighting training, found their feet first. (Australian Governernment, 2011) The Japanese were well camouflaged, lightly armed, and were able to move quickly in small groups, seeming to appear from nowhere. (Ross, 1993) Today’s battles have troops equipped for the conditions, satellite reconnaissance, supporting communication, aircraft and drones, better medical treatments, night vision goggles and better supply lines. In Kokoda, the allies relied on native stretcher bearers who become known as “Fuzzy-Wuzzy Angels.” They braved enemy fire to pull wounded back from the front and take them to field hospitals, and also to maintain vital supplies of food and ammunition to those on the track.

To what extent was the Kokoda Campaign a turning point in WW2?

Japans actions in Manchuria, Pearl Harbour, Singapore, Malaya, Darwin, Dutch East Indies, and the planned control of Port Moresby, showed that Japan was on an unstoppable march to control the Pacific and Asia. The Battle of the Coral Sea prevented the Japanese taking Port Moresby by sea, requiring an overland assault from Gona and a push along the Kokoda trail to take Port Moresby from the landward side. The Japanese were beaten by the Jungle, the weather, nature, and the Allied forces who succeeded in destroying supply lines and had been reduced to “eating leaves, grass, and wood in an attempt to survive” (Hillman, 2003)