Kokoda Track Campaign.Battle of Eora Creek

DATE: 21/12/2025

TIME (GMT): 19:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Kokoda Trail

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Aris and Lord for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 54 / 86

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RATING: not rated yet! (0)

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The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primarily a land battle, between the Japanese South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitaro Horii and Australian and Papuan land forces under command of New Guinea Force. The Japanese objective was to seize Port Moresby by an overland advance from the north coast, following the Kokoda Track over the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range, as part of a strategy to isolate Australia from the United States.

The Kokoda Track campaign or Kokoda Trail campaign was part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942 in what was then the Australian Territory of Papua. It was primarily a land battle, between the Japanese South Seas Detachment under Major General Tomitaro Horii and Australian and Papuan land forces under command of New Guinea Force. The Japanese objective was to seize Port Moresby by an overland advance from the north coast, following the Kokoda Track over the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range, as part of a strategy to isolate Australia from the United States.

Australian reinforcement was hampered by the logistical problems of supporting a force in isolated, mountainous, jungle terrain. There were few planes available for aerial resupply, and techniques for it were still primitive. Australian command considered that the Vickers machine gun and medium mortars were too heavy to carry and would be ineffective in the jungle terrain. Without artillery, mortars or medium machine guns, the Australians faced an opponent equipped with mountain guns and light howitzers that had been carried into the mountains and proved to be a decisive advantage. Australian forces were unprepared to conduct a campaign in the jungle environment of New Guinea. The lessons learned during the course of this campaign and the subsequent battle of Buna–Gona led to widespread changes in doctrine, training, equipment and structure, with a legacy that remains until the present day.

In consequence of the rapid Japanese advance and the perceived failure to quickly counterattack, a crisis of command resulted, in which manoeuvring by General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the South West Pacific Area, and General Sir Thomas Blamey, commander of Allied Land Forces, resulted in the sackings of three high-ranking Australian officers. The generalship of MacArthur and Blamey has been criticised for unreasonable and unrealistic perceptions of the terrain and conditions under which the campaign was fought—to the detriment of the troops committed to the fighting. The Kokoda Track campaign has been mythologised as Australia s Thermopylae and incorporated into the Anzac legend even though the premise of a vastly numerically superior enemy has since been shown to be incorrect.

In 1942, Papua was a territory of Australia.There had been little development and it was largely devoid of infrastructure beyond that around Port Moresby.The pre-war economy was based primarily upon copra and rubber—with plantations established intermittently in coastal regions—and mining.The administrative centre of Port Moresby had basic airfield and port facilities. There were no roads beyond the vicinity of Port Moresby and, by modern standards, these were little more than tracks. As a result, travel north of Port Moresby was largely undertaken by air, or sea.There were a few landing fields around Port Moresby, with others on the northern side of the Owen Stanley Range at the government stations of Buna and Kokoda.

The village of Kokoda is positioned on a plateau in the northern foot-hills of the Owen Stanley Range. It overlooks the Yodda Valley to its north. The Mambare runs roughly south-east to north-west. Kokoda is approximately 100-kilometre direct line from the coastal village of Buna, which formed part of the Japanese beachhead positions occupied on their landing. However, the overland route was approximately 160 kilometres.The track to the coast crosses the Kumusi River at Wairopi, approximately 25 kilometreseast of Kokoda. The river was spanned there by a wire-rope bridge.There was a wide track leading from there to the coast which the Japanese subsequently set about developing as a road for vehicle traffic.

Operations in New Guinea were impacted by tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, scrub typhus, tropical ulcers, dysentery from a range of causes and fungal infections. Walker observes that the Kokoda Track starts and ends with malaria. Malarial vectors were substantially absent from the cooler, higher elevations along the track. Most cases observed in these areas were relapses rather than primary infections. The immediate vicinity of Port Moresby is relatively dry. While this tends to mitigate the risk of malaria, significant rates of the disease were observed in troops, mainly militia, sent to New Guinea for defence of the port, leading up to the campaign.

The Australian 25th Infantry Brigade pursues the Japanese who are trying to hold onto several strategic points along the Kokoda Trail.