The Kokoda Track was one of the most strategic and important locations for Australia during the war. Australia’s future depended on it.
From early March 1942, after Japan had captured their new base in Rabul, New Britain, the Japanese had an idea to extend their territory and increase their chances of winning the war. Their aim: to capture Port Moresby and other important locations, to try and break the ties between Australia and United States of America and then force Australia to surrender. In early May 1942, the Japanese struck in the Coral Sea. The Japanese failed to capture Port Moresby and other locations in the Pacific. This made Japanese think of new tactics and on the 21st July, 1942, the Japanese set foot on the Northern Coast of New Guinea with the aim to capture Port Moresby.
This was a massive campaign by the Japanese because the only way for them to get to Port Moresby was by going through harsh, rugged jungle type-mountains on a path called the Kokoda Track. This was going to be a tough campaign for both sides, especially the Australians. Many inexperience and poorly trained Australian soldiers were sent to fight on the Kokoda Track against well jungle trained Japanese soldiers because so many Australians were fighting over in the Middle East. This was costly for Australia because a lot of them didn’t know what they were doing and in some incidents it cost them some lives. For the next seven months, the Australians and Japanese both gained and lost territory with the Japanese looking like they were going to defeat Australia until Japanese soldiers started to starve and then the Australians took advantage and pushed them back. On the 15th of November the Australians had pushed the Japanese back to where they had started. By January 23rd 1943, all the Japanese positions had been captured and ‘The defence of Australia had been successful.’ The Battle for Australia - Overview. 2014
The Kokoda Track accumulated approximately 625 of Australian...