The Book of Papua New Guinea

World War Two

Shortly after the Pacific War, the island of New Guinea was invaded by Japanese, most of West Papua at that time was known as Dutch New Guinea, was occupied as were large parts of New Guinea( the former German New Guinea which was also under Australian rule after World War 1), but Papua was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near impassable Owen Stanley Range to the north.

The New Guinea Campaign opened with the battles for New Britain and New Ireland in the Territory of New Guinea in 1942. Rabaul, the capital of the Territory was overwhelmed on 22-23 January and was established as a major Japanese base from whence they landed on mainland New Guinea and  advanced towards Port Moresby and Australia. They had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by the U.S Navy in the battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese attempted a landward invasion from the north via the Kokoda Trail. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them were very young and was untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action against a Japanese advance along the Kokoda Trail, towards Port Moresby, over the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges. Local Papuans were called - Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels by the Australians, assisted and escorted the  injured Australian troops down the Kokoda Trail. The militia worn out and severely depleted by casualties, were revealed in late August by regular troops from the second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in the Mediterranean theatre.

The Japanese were driven back. The bitter Battle of Buna-Gona followed in which Australian and United States  forces attached the main Japanese beachheahs in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona.  Facing tropical diseases,difficult terrain and well constructed Japanese defences, the allies only secured victory with heavy casualties.

In early September 1942  Japanese marines attacked Royal Australian Air Force based at Milne Bay, near the eastern tip of Papua. They were beaten back by the Australian Army, and the battle of Milne Bay is remembered as the first outright defeat on Japanese land forces during World War two. The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943-44were the single largest series of connected  operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces. The supreme commander of operations was the United States General Douglas MacArthur, with Australian General Thomas Blamey taking a director role in  planning and operations being essentially directed by the staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby. Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the largely Australian force and  the Japanese 18th Army base in New Guinea until the Japanese surrender in 1945.

The New Guinea campaign was the major campaign of the Pacific war. In all, 200,000 Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the campaign against approximately 7,000 Australian and 7,000 American service personnel.
Australian naval vessels have arrived in Papua New Guinea to protect leaders at a summit of Pacific Rim nations, giving foretaste of the newly elevated relationship between the two neighbors.

Australian troops at Milne Bay, Papua. The Australian garrison was the first to inflict  defeat on the  Imperial Japanese Army during the World War 2 at the Battle of Milne Bay of August - September 1942.

An Australian soldier private George Dick Whittington, is aided bt Papuan orderly Raphael Oimbari near Buna on 25th December 1942.

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