Japan's First Major Land Defeat - The Battle That Saved Australia

TL;DR

Australia was saved when outnumbered Australian troops halted Japan's overland drive across the Kokoda Track toward Port Moresby, their last viable Pacific base.

Key Points

• 1.Japan's post-Midway strategy shifted from amphibious assault to an overland offensive. After losing 4 fleet carriers at Midway, Japan cancelled Operation FS and ordered the 17th Army under General Hyakutake to cross the Owen Stanley Range via the Kokoda Track to capture Port Moresby.
• 2.The Kokoda Track was chosen because aerial reconnaissance suggested it could support motor vehicles. Japanese research identified the Buna-to-Kokoda road as the best of three routes, making a 60km motorized advance from the coast to Sonbo feasible.
• 3.MacArthur's Allied Land Forces totaled around 400,000 men across four commands. By June 1942, he commanded ten Australian and two American divisions under General Sir Thomas Blamey, with the New Guinea Force under Major-General Basil Morris defending Papua.
• 4.MacArthur's bold Operation Tulsa plan to seize Rabaul in 14 days was blocked by inter-service rivalry. General MacArthur requested the 1st Marine Division and three carriers, but Admiral King refused to cede command, calling it 'primarily a naval and amphibious' operation.
• 5.A Joint Chiefs directive on July 2 resolved the Army-Navy command dispute with a three-phase offensive plan. Phase 1 targeted Tulagi under Admiral Ghormley; Phase 2 targeted Lae, Salamaua and New Guinea under MacArthur; Phase 3 was the final assault on Rabaul, also under MacArthur.
• 6.Australian commando raids on Salamaua and Heath's Plantation struck the Japanese before the main campaign began. Captain Winning's 70-man raid on June 29 destroyed a bridge, blew up strongpoints, and captured vital documents without losing a single man, forcing Japan to reinforce Salamaua with 200 extra troops.
• 7.The Yokoyama Advance Party landed at Gona on July 21 and secured Buna by July 22 without resistance. Led by Colonel Yokoyama Yosuke, the force immediately began advancing toward Kokoda while the IJN started constructing an enlarged airfield at Buna.
• 8.The first Battle of Kokoda on July 29 ended with the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Owen and the loss of the plateau. Owen was fatally shot above the right eye while throwing grenades; Major Watson withdrew under cover of mist toward Deniki, having inflicted over 40 casualties including Captain Ogawa.
• 9.An Australian three-pronged counterattack on August 8 briefly retook Kokoda but ultimately failed. A Company re-entered a lightly defended Kokoda, but C and D Companies were repulsed by Tsukamoto's 660-man battalion; by August 14 the Australians were forced to withdraw to Isurava leaving most equipment behind.
• 10.Supply was the Australians' greatest strategic weakness on the Kokoda Track. Brigadier Potts needed 200,000 extra pounds of rations and ammunition requiring 2,000 native carriers over 20 days; MacArthur reinforced with only 9 aircraft, and bad weather made air drops unreliable.
• 11.General Horii's South Seas Detachment landed at Basabua on August 18 with 300 horses and 300 tonnes of supplies. Veterans of the Malayan Campaign at Gemas and Singapore, they reached Kokoda by August 21, though Horii himself doubted there were sufficient carriers to sustain the push to Port Moresby.
• 12.The Battle of Milne Bay represented Japan's first major land defeat of the Pacific War. Commander Hayashi's 950 SNLF marines with two Ha-Go tanks landed on August 25 near Waga Waga but were halted by the 25th Australian Battalion at the Rabi airfield, where mud immobilized the tanks and Kittyhawks provided air support.
• 13.Japanese deception tactics at Milne Bay temporarily tricked 50 Australian defenders. Marines shouted orders to retreat in English, causing a portion of defenders to withdraw to Gili Gili before the ruse was discovered, yet the overall Japanese assault still failed to capture the airfield.
• 14.The construction of a secret Allied airbase at Milne Bay (Gili Gili) proved strategically decisive. Authorized by MacArthur on June 12 and built under Operation Fall River, the airfield's open ground neutralized Japanese armor and gave Australian Kittyhawk fighters a forward base to strafe enemy barges and support ground troops.
• 15.Captain Templeton's defiant capture and execution became a symbol of Australian resistance on the track. After allegedly laughing at Colonel Tsukamoto and falsely claiming 80,000 Australians defended Port Moresby, Templeton was killed by the colonel's own sword; the first Eora Creek crossing was named Templeton's Crossing in his honor.