Group 1-
The Kokoda track is a 96km trail which cuts across the Owen
Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea. Research the track’s war history.
The Kokoda track was used by
both Australian and Japanese in WWII during 1939-1945 in Papua New Guinea.
Kokoda was the bloodiest battle of all. It is 96km long with almost vertical
hills. One of the most famous places is brigade hill. Papua new guinea was divided
into 3 pieces (areas). Australia landed at Port Moresby and the Japs at Basabua
Buna. Australia had an army of untrained soldiers whilst the Japanese had the world’s
greatest army. The first conflict between the 2 countries were 65km north-east
of Port Moresby at Awala. More than 600 Aussies were killed and 1680 were
wounded during the most significant battle fought by Australians in World War
II. In late July 1942 as the Japanese advanced towards the village of Kokoda.
They were engaged by forward elements of the Papuan infantry battalion and the
Australian 39th infantry battalion. Despite the Australians’
stubborn resistance Kokoda fell to the larger Japanese force. At Isurava , in
the last days of August the 39th and the 2nd / 14th
battalions with support further back from the 2nd / to the 16th
and the 53rd battalions, were able to temporarily hold the Japanese
during the intense five day action. Throughout September the Australian units
withdrew down the Kokoda track, being joined by the 2nd/27th
battalion. They made further stands against the Japanese at Eora creek, Templetons
crossing, Efogi, mission ridge Isurava.
Allied airmen dropped supplies and made repeated attacks on the enemy’s supply
lines. During the gruelling days, the Papuan men employed as carriers played a
vital role in the battle. They carried supplies forward for the troops and then
as the number of troops who were wounded or felt sick increased, carried back
to safety those who were unable to walk. By the 16th of September,
often more troops had come forward from port Moresby and dug into a distinctive
position at Imita Ridge the Japanese were exhausted. They had been force to
fight hard to cross the mountains and they had run out of many supplies.
Following set backs on other battle fields against Australia and America forces,
which robbed them of further reinforcements, the Japanese on the Kokoda track
were ordered to with draw battle. As Australian patrols pushed forward on Imita
ridge on the 28th of September they found that the enemy had slipped
away. During the next six weeks, the Japanese fell back over the mountains.
They were punished by the troops of the 25th brigade comprising the
2nd / 26th /2nd /31st and 2nd
/33rd battalions- and the 16th brigade.
Group 2-
Find out about the people living in the villages along the
track today. Why was the village of Kokoda strategically important?
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The Kokoda Track
People along the village |
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The KOKODA
village was strategically important during World War II because the village had
a run way where the enemy air craft could land to bring supplies for the enemy
soldiers. Also if they captured that village they could use it as a land base.
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Most of the
people who live in the villages along the track are seventh day Adventists
at some villages if you wash or swim in a nearby creek please observe the
directions of the track leader there may be different areas for males and
females. Koiari people inhabit areas between foothills of the Owen Stanley Range
east of Port Morsey .Orokavia people mainly live in areas between Kokoda and
beach heads.
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Group 4-
What was the difference between the AIF and militia soldiers? Wht were thw militia called 'Chocos'?How did their image change after the battles of Kokoda and Isurava?
There were many differences between the AIF and
the militia soldiers. Firstly the militia soldiers (also known as Chocos) were
untrained and were inexperienced in the battle field. The only reason they
fought in the war was because Australia’s army were occupied in Europe and were
under the commands of Winston Churchill.
The
militia units were so unprepared for battle, so ill-equipped and so
inexperienced, that soldiers in the regular army gave them the nickname
CHOCOLATE SOLDIERS because they were likely to melt in the heat of the war.
Most of the militia units were everyday people working in schools etc. Their
job Was to hold off the Japanese army until the Australian troops arrived.
The
chocos images change because of their bravery to go to war, when they were not
even trained to be soldiers. They went from ordinary men to men of valour. The
people of Australia thought they were cowards until the war in Papua New Guinea
where they held back the Japanese soldiers long enough for the armed forces to
arrive. With the Australian troops they force back the Japanese. The small
number of militiamen that came back were respected by their fellow people.
Group 5-
Find out about the 39th Battalion. Who was Private Bruce Kingsbury? How did his actions change the course of the war?
Kokoda Reasearch - Brice Kingsbury and the 39th battalion.
39th battalion
The 39th Battalian was formed on the 21st Feburary 1916. Most of the recruits were from the state’s Western District. It became part of the 10th brigade of the 3rd Australian Division sailing from Melbourne on 27 of May. The battalion arrived in Britain on the 18th of July and started 4 months of training. It moved to France in late November and went into the trenches at the western front just in time for the onset of the terrible winter of 1916-1917.
Bruce Kingsbury
Private Bruce Steel Kingsbury VC was born in Preston just outside of Melbourne on the 8th of January 1918. The son of Phillip Blencowe Kingsbury and Florance Annie Steel. Who immigrated from the U.K prior to the end of world war 1. Bruce attended Melboune Technical Collage on a scholarship and after gradguation qualified to work in the printing industries. Instead Bruce decided to go to work in father’s real estate business, unhappy with this job and the companionship of his best mate (Alen Avery), Bruce found work on a property at Ntya situated in the Mally District of Victoria. His new job was working on a sheep station.
The PNG war
In August 1942 the 2/14th battalion moved to Port Moresby, hoping to halt the Japanese on the Kokoda trail. Kingsbury’s platoon had been holding a position for two days against countinual enemy attacks and servere loses when he made the heroic attack– he ran down the Isurava hill firing a bren gun from his hip whilst hand throwing grenades continuosly. Unfourtunately he was shot and killed by a Japanese sniper. He killed up to 30 Japanese soldiers and injuring many more. His actions gave the Australian soldiers time to recoup and return to their positions. There is a rock named Kingsbury’s rock—it is the rock he died next to.
Group 6-
Find out about other battlesites where Australians have
fought during this war.
The fighting against a Japanese invasion force, was perhaps
the most significant battle fought by Australians in World War II.
The Japanese landed near Gona on the north coast of Papua on
21 July 1942. In the next two months they drove the Australians and their
Papuan allies back over the mountains towards Port Moresby, the Japanese
objective. Port Moresby was vital to the defence of Australia. If they took
Port Moresby the Japanese planned to begin a bombing offensive against north
Queensland and, had they decided to invade Australia, the invasion would have
been launched from Port Moresby. None of this came to pass. The Japanese
approached to within 40 kilometres of their objective but the tide turned in
September. Then the Australians, in a series of costly engagements, pushed the
Japanese back the way they had come. By mid-November the Japanese were forced
to abandon their plan to take Port Moresby. They retired to their north coast
strongholds at Buna, Gona and Santana.
• The
Borneo Campaign of 1945 was the last major allied campaign in the south west
pacific area during World War 2. In a series of amphibious assaults between 1st
of May and 21st of July, the Australian I corps, under lieutenant
general Leslie Morehead, attacked Japanese Forces occupying the island. Allied Naval
and air forces centred on the US. 7th fleet under admire led Thomas
Kinkaid, the Australian first tactical air force and the US
· The Japanese had planned to take Port Moresby by
a sea borne assault. Their invasion armada was halted and turn back after a
tumultuous naval and aircraft battle in the Coral Sea in early May 1942.
Thwarted in their attempts to take Port Moresby by sea, the Japanese opted to
go over land from the northern coastline. In their way soothe daunting bulk of
the jungle-covered Owen Stanley ranges.
But first the Japanese decided to destroy the
allied forces assembling at Milne bay on the eastern tip of Papua, where
American engineers, protected by Australian AIF and Militia units, were
constructing an airfield. On the 25th august 1942 Japanese troops
and light tanks were landed on the northern shore of the bay.
Kokoda track
More than 600 Australians were killed and
some 1680 wounded during perhaps the most significant battle fought by
Australians in WW2
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Borneo Campaign |
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Milne Bay |
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PNG |