Kokoda Track Wartime History: A Brief Explanation of the WW2 Battles on The Kokoda Trail

The Kokoda track in Papua New Guinea was the scene of ferocious jungle battles during the Pacific War in 1942. The Japanese were heading south towards Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby, while the Australians were desperately trying to halt their advance.

In mid 1942 the Japanese war machine was marching through South East Asia towards Australia. They landed on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, while a small garrison of Australian troops were stationed at Port Moresby, the capital, on the south coast. The Australian troops were colloquially called 'diggers' because of the amount of digging the Australian soldiers did in the trenches in France in WW1.

Australia's Generals considered the Japanese would not attempt to cross the range to attack Port Moresby, instead thinking they would attack via sea and air.

The Owen Stanley Ranges loomed large over Port Moresby as if providing an impenetrable barrier. But a small company of troops were sent over the ranges to secure the airstrip at the township of Kokoda.

The Japanese did have intentions to invade Port Moresby from the land and commenced over the Kokoda Track. There was a skirmish over the town of Kokoda where both parties alternately held the town and airstrip. However, the Japanese with superior numbers pushed the Aussie troops out of Kokoda and back onto the track.

Battles Along the Track

Fresh Australian troops came up the track from Port Moresby and fought the Japanese along the length of he Kokoda Track as the Japanese relentlessly pushed through the jungle towards Port Moresby.

The Australian troops made strong stands at various spots. They dug in at Isurava and held the Japanese at bay in a fierce battle until the sheer numbers of Japanese troops overwhelmed them and they fell back to the next battle site.

At Isurava, Bruce Kingsbury earned Australia’s highest military award, the Victoria Cross, when he ran into an attacking horde of Japanese firing a Bren gun from his hip.

After Isurava, the Australian troops tried to halt the Japanese advance at Brigade Hill, or Butchers Hill as it was known after the battle.

The Japanese push ended at Ioribaiwa. Apparently the Japanese could see the searchlights of Port Moresby from this spot. However, their supply line was stretched over almost 96 kilometres of rugged terrain. The Japanese retreated from this point; and the Australian diggers chased them over the track all the way to the Papua New Guinea north coast, effectively clearing them from the country.

Many historians consider this a significant milestone in the Pacific War as it was the first time the Japanese had been turned on land in their push south. John Costello (1981) said “Papua had been saved by the tenacious valor of the Australian fighting soldiers.”

Australian’s Return to Battlefields

As the Australian troops chased the Japanese back over the track, they returned to the battlefields where they had fought just weeks earlier and found their fallen comrades. According to Ham (2004) in his book “Kokoda” when the Australian troops returned to Brigade Hill there were “numerous bodies lying about the clearing. Groups of bodies revealed the closeness of the fighting”.

A trek across the Kokoda Trail is more than a physical challenge, or a time in the pristine tropical rainforest. It is a chance to pay reverence to the Australian soldiers who fought and died on the track protecting Australia in 1942.

Further information on trekking the Kokoda Track can be found in the following articles.

The copyright of the article Kokoda Track Wartime History in Historical Travel is owned by Bruce Iliff. Permission to republish Kokoda Track Wartime History in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Aug 26, 2009 3:13 AM

Guest :

The Australian troops were colloquially called 'diggers' because of the amount of digging the Australian soldiers did in the trenches in France in WW1.

This comment is wrong. Australians were poor diggers and were really lazy when it came to digging trenches. It was the New Zealanders who were masters at digging because this was done naturally back on New Zealand farms. Austraians use to call on the New Zealanders to do their digging and would do almost anything to get them to do this type of labour. They were so impressed that they kept using the word digger when refering to New Zealanders. It waws the Americans late n the war that picked up on the word and thought the Australians were talking about themselves which they did anyway. My great Grand Uncle Jack was a digger and one of the original pathfinders who dug under german tranches to blow them up. This is a common mistake to refer Australians as diggers but it is still worng.