In the last couple of weeks, we have covered both the American and Japanese
general plans for the future, delving into the minds of important figures
like General MacArthur, Admiral King, General Hyakutake or Admiral Yamamoto.
Although the American plans haven’t quite gotten in motion yet, the Japanese had started their
Kokoda Track campaign in the last episode; and today, we are going to cover the continuation
of the Japanese advance on Kokoda, as well as the resistance offered by the Maroubra
Force and the plans that were brewing in Burma for future operations in the region.
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Back on July
22, the invasion of Buna-Gona as part of Operation RI had successfully concluded,
with SNLF marines completely occupying Buna and with the Yokoyama Advance Party landing
at Gona and immediately preparing to advance south towards Kokoda.
During the invasion, patrols from the Papuan Battalion had observed the Japanese landings from
a distance, reporting the events back to camp and to General Morris’ headquarters at Port Moresby.
In response, Morris quickly decided to concentrate the 39th Battalion at Kokoda,
placing Lieutenant-Colonel William Owen in charge of Maroubra Force and tasking him with preventing
any Japanese penetration southwest of Kokoda. If Owen failed to stop the advance of the invaders,
then he was to retire to previously prepared positions on the southern terminus of the Kokoda
Track. Meanwhile, Captain Sam Templeton of B Company took command of the Allied units north
of Kokoda and established some defensive positions on Awala and Gorari. By the afternoon of July 23,
Colonel Yokoyama’s advance was in full swing, with his vanguard , led by Lieutenant-Colonel Tsukamoto
Hatsuo, reaching Awala and quickly defeating a detachment of Papuan soldiers, thus forcing them
to retreat into the jungle. The rest of the Allied forces would also have to withdraw from Awala to
Wairopi with orders to only execute contact and rearguard actions while closing back on Kokoda.
The next day, the situation appeared more stable as Tsukamoto’s men looked like they
had spent the night at Awala, but in reality, they were close behind the Papuan lookouts.
Advancing with speed, the invaders fell on the unsuspecting Allied soldiers and forced them
to retreat back to Gorari , where Colonel Owen had finally arrived to take command of Maroubra
Force - many PIB soldiers deserted using the confusion. There, Owen had decided to make a
stand 800 yards east of Gorari, dispersing his Australian soldiers beside the track with some
of the Papuans in the thick bush on their flanks. By midday on July 24, the Japanese troops finally
walked out of the bush track into the ambush laid out by the Australians, suffering many casualties
against the defenders before the Allied forces had to withdraw back to Gorari. Yet the invaders were
swift and determined in their pursuit, and after a couple of hours they had managed to engage the
enemy again, successfully routing them and making them flee in despair towards Oivi. The Australians
were exhausted and had also suffered many losses at this point, so Owen knew that he desperately
needed some reinforcements if he hoped to hold Kokoda against the attacks of the enemy. In that
regard, he asked General Morris for the aerial transportation of two companies towards Kokoda,
but the Australians only counted with two aircraft at Port Moresby, so Morris was only able to fly
some 30 men to reinforce the defenders by July 26. These 30 men were immediately sent forward
to Oivi, where they arrived in the afternoon just before the start of the Japanese attack.
Initially, the attackers were halted just outside of Oivi by the strength of the Australian fire,
but the defenders would eventually be outflanked and would have to retreat towards their main
positions on the plateau on which Oivi stood, comprising a 50 yards perimeter.
During the next hours, the combatants only exchanged some desultory fire between them,
with the Australians successfully managing to keep the Japanese outside of the perimeter.
Despite the apparent calmness, many losses were suffered on both sides, such as Captain Templeton,
who was allegedly captured and later executed by the invaders. The tale of a Japanese soldier
tells that he would then be interrogated by Colonel Tsukamoto, during which the Australian
laughed at his enemy and lied stating that there were 80000 Australians at Port Moresby.
This angered Tsukamoto, who in his rage killed Templeton with his own sword. In his honour,
the first point where the Kokoda Track crosses Eora Creek would be named Templeton’s Crossing.
With dusk falling, the Japanese at last started to encircle the tired defenders and moved in for
the kill, but they were held at bay by the strong machine-gun fire of the Australians.
Judging that the enemy fire was high and wild and that the Japanese vastly outnumbered them,
Major William Watson decided that a withdrawal towards Deniki was their best option, so he led
his forces south during the night under the cover of heavy rain. After stumbling into creeks and
struggling with the bushes while being hampered by the darkness and the rainfall, the exhausted
Australian forces had only managed to traverse two miles from Oivi by the dawn of July 27.
Meanwhile, Colonel Yokoyama was content with the progress of his vanguard and he was also happy to
find out that the road from Buna and Gona inland to Soputa was passable by motor vehicles without
repair. Although the coastal roads were in good condition, some of his units would have to move
through the jungle and occasional grasslands, something that was difficult for the Japanese
due to its many rivers and steep gullies. By July 26, however, the bulk of the advance party
had rejoined the Japanese vanguard at Oivi, and they were now preparing for their final
advance on Kokoda after the escape of Watson’s forces. Hampered by waves of aerial attacks,
Yokoyama would be forced to move by night to remain undetected by the deadly Allied bombers.
At the same time, Owen had lost communications with Oivi and, being uncertain that he could
defend Kokoda with the little forces he had available, he decided to burn down the
town and then withdraw to Deniki. Owen and his small group of reinforcements arrived at their
destination on the morning of July 28, where, to their surprise, they found Watson and the forces
that had safely retreated from Oivi. Reinforced with Watson’s men, Owen gambled that he now
bolstered enough forces to defend Kokoda, so he decided to retrieve the situation with haste,
hurrying back to Kokoda with the bulk of the Papuan Battalion and the B Company.
By midday, Owen had reached the administrative area on the extreme tip of the Kokoda plateau,
deploying his forces in front of the track that led to Oivi,
from where the Australians felt that an attack would soon come.
The two Port Moresby aircraft carrying more reinforcements circled over Kokoda during the
afternoon, but the airstrip was full of barricades and thus the pilots felt it too risky to land,
and were ordered by General Morris to return back to base. Disquieting signs of Japanese movement
then followed until dusk, but to the relief of the defenders, no attack came by the end of the day.
During the night, however, Colonel Tsukamoto had sent forward a vanguard of around 200 soldiers,
led by Captain Ogawa Tetsuo, which approached Kokoda from the east before moving towards the
flanks of the Australian position. In the early hours of July 29, the Japanese began to lay down
machine-gun and mortar fire upon the defenders who had nothing to counter the mortars with,
launching an emphatic attack up the steep slope of the northern end of the area.
Amidst a misty moonlight, the battle saw close fighting as the Japanese charged and
the Australians attempted to beat them back with grenades. While leading the men during
the struggle, Owen himself was throwing down grenades when a bullet hit him above the right
eye and left him very injured. Once again, Major Watson assumed command of the Australian forces,
but he couldn’t prevent his men from becoming separated by the heavy pressure of the invaders.
The relentless Japanese soldiers soon began to infiltrate the northern positions of the
defenders, as well as their flanks, slowly pushing back the Australians and forcing them
to leave their injured behind, including Colonel Owen, who would later die of his wounds . Luckily
for Major Watson, the same mist that had aided the Japanese on their attempts to infiltrate
the Australian positions was now helping the defenders to retreat back towards Deniki.
Although they had only lost a handful of men and had inflicted over 40 casualties on the enemy,
including Captain Ogawa, who was killed in the final stages of the fighting, the loss of Kokoda
now facilitated the Japanese overland offensive against Port Moresby. With his advance on Kokoda,
Colonel Yokoyama had also been able to repair many roads and build many bridges, making motor
transportation possible for 60km from the coast to Sonbo; yet the roads west of Sonbo proved to be
only suitable for pack horse, so the town of Sonbo would be stockpiled with ammunition and supplies.
On Kokoda, the Japanese would also capture a large amount of grenades, machine-guns and ammunition,
as the defenders only carried with them what equipment they could during the withdrawal.
As for the Australians under Watson, they would have a week of respite on
which they could be reinforced by three companies of the 39th
Battalion and could also be resupplied with ammunition. Now, we turn back to Burma,
where new developments were unfolding as the Allies planned what their next steps would be.
As we last saw, the Japanese 15th Army of General Iida, alongside their Thai allies had completely
defeated the Allies in Burma, forcing the British Burma Army to withdraw into India and beating the
Chinese Expeditionary Force of General Stilwell in a series of battles that saw some of his forces
accompany him in his retreat into India, while other Chinese units had to pull back into Yunnan,
where they joined Chiang Kai-Shek’s forces in defense of the region. After arriving in New
Delhi on May 24, Stilwell immediately set out to prepare plans for a renewed offensive in Burma.
While he planned the training and re-equipping of his Chinese divisions in India, he asked General
Marshall for the arrival of an American division to aid him in his offensive, aiming to retake
Burma and drive the Japanese out of Thailand. He also sent a proposal to the Generalissimo
for a reform of the Chinese Army and for the purging of the higher-ranking Chinese officers,
even suggesting the execution of those commanders who had failed him during the Burma Road Campaign.
On both fronts, however, Stilwell was met with opposition. General Marshall told him that the
American forces were stretched thin and that their priority was for the British to reopen
the Burma Road; and the Chinese argued that they couldn’t realistically undertake such reforms.
During June, Stilwell also fell ill and was restricted by his jaundice from many activities,
yet he was able to meet several times with Chiang to discuss the formation of a joint staff
and the lend-lease of equipment and aircraft. But despite all his progress during the meetings,
Washington had decided to send the 10th Air Force of General Brereton, which was stationed in India,
towards the Middle East and had also decided to halt the shipping of aircraft intended for China.
Following a number of disappointments in regard to lend-lease, aviation projects, and diplomatic
status, this angered the Generalissimo to such an extent that in June 29, he presented the
so-called Three Minimum Demands requesting the transportation of three American divisions to
the Chinese theater, the formation of a 500-plane air force in China and the monthly air shipping
of 5000 tons of supplies to China. If these three essential demands were not fulfilled by September,
then the China Theater would cease to exist by his order . Stilwell, who inherently agreed
with Chiang and had requested the same things many times before, would then present the Three Demands
to Washington, hoping to see them get carried out by the Americans. Yet relations between Stilwell
and the Generalissimo would worsen from this point onwards, with the Chinese even asking President
Roosevelt for his dismissal. In that regard, Dr. Lauchlin Currie would be sent to China to
discuss US-Chinese relations and reach a solution to the Three Demands, arriving there on July 20;
while the China Air Task Force would be formed, mainly consisting of the Flying Tigers of General
Chennault, to support Chinese air power in the region. Meanwhile, seeing that the American
planners and strategists had no real plans for China, Stilwell set out to salvage the situation
by convincing the British to join forces with the Chinese with the objective of liberating Burma.
Shipping of lend-lease through the Hump was restricted due to the monsoons, so he needed
to retake Rangoon and the Burma Road to convince his superior for an increase in the lend-lease
program. Thus, on July 19, Stilwell submitted to Chiang a plan calling for British-Chinese
cooperation in regaining Burma, something that would force the hand of both Washington and the
Generalissimo in regards to the lend-lease problem. This was a huge step in seeking
compromise and reconciliation with Chiang and the Chinese, and this would be further aided by
the efforts of Dr. Currie. On July 29, Stilwell would broaden his plans for a Burma offensive
into a whole Pacific Front offensive calling for the recapture of Burma from Yunnan and Manipur,
then continuing on towards Thailand, Indochina and Hong Kong. Pleased with this plan and with the
recent developments, the Generalissimo approved Stilwell’s proposal on August 1 and then sent Dr.
Currie to present it to Washington. Furthermore, Chiang was so pleased that he would modify his
Three Demands in that one US division, 500 planes, and 5,000 tons would be acceptable to the Chinese
without specifying a deadline for fulfillment. Lastly, Stilwell would address the matter of
the theater’s air war with the formulation of the China Air War Plan of September 8,
proposing that the defense of the airline and of Chongqing was to be carried out by offensive
operations against hostile air concentrations, with Chennault’s task force protecting the
ferry line over the Hump and with the Chinese Air Force defending Chongqing and the Yangtze Valley.
This plan was in direct contrast to Chennault’s wishes, who wanted a more aggressive role with
the destruction of Japanese aircraft, shipping, military and naval establishments and production
facilities. Stilwell instead directed him to make defense of the Hump his primary mission,
and although Chennault didn’t completely like it, he would accept his superior’s commands.
Thus, by the end of September, the diplomatic crisis with China had been averted and Stilwell
was back on track for his desired Burma offensive. Next week, we’ll head to the Solomon Islands,
where a new and crucial offensive was beginning, and we’ll also take a brief look at some
new developments that were transpiring in the Aleutian Islands. If you don’t want to miss any
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