To Kokoda / Nicholas Anderson.

Collection type Library
Author Anderson, Nicholas Axel, author.; Anderson, Nicholas, Author.;
Call Number 940.542651 A548t
Document type Monograph
Year 2014.
Pagination viii, 236 pages : colour illustrations ; 25 cm.
Publisher Big Sky Publishing Pty, Limited ; Woodslane Pty Limited [Distributor]
Note Includes bibliographical references and index. Annotation. When the Japanese war machine swept through South-East Asia in early 1942, it was inevitable that conflict would reach Australian territory on the island of New Guinea. The ultimate Japanese target was Port Moresby. Conquering the capital would sever communication between Australia and her American ally and allow Japanese air power to threaten Australia's northern cities. When a seaborne invasion was thwarted at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Nankai Shitai landed in Papua on 21 July and lunched an overl and attack. Having captured the village of Kokoda with its vital airstrip, the Japanese headed for Port Moresby, traversing the treacherous Kokoda trail that winds across the might Owen Stanley Range. The Australian Army was ill prepared to confront the J apanese. Poorly equipped, undertrained, and unaccustomed to jungle warfare, the untested militia battalions were the first to face the battle-hardened invading forces. Later, when veteran AIF brigades were rushed forward to bolster the militia, they also fell in the path of the Japanese onslaught. But the over-extension of supply lines and disaster on Guadalcanal eventually cruelled Japanese aspirations and the Kokoda campaign became a bloody and protracted struggle as the Australian troops fought to driv e the Japanese off the Owen Stanleys and out of Papua. While the front-line troops were engaged in a bitter fight for survival, a power struggle erupted at the top of the Allied command hierarchy resulting in a series of sackings, the competing ambitions of the Allied commanders clouding their judgement at a critical time. It was under these conditions, against a determined enemy and on one of the harshest battlefields on earth, that the Australian forces began to learn the crucial lessons that would be n eeded to break the back of the Japanese Army in New Guinea.
Place made Newport : Mona Vale :

Shelf Items

Barcode Call Suffix Volume Part Year Location Status
AWM089600 940.542651 A548t Stacks On Shelf

Related information

Subjects