Kokoda: Countdown To Battle (Part 3)

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1:32Once you got on that trail, there was for most people that sense of personal pride or ego, call it what you like, to keep battling, to go a bit further, a bit further, and not realising a bit further was getting you more and more into trouble, and to the stage where it didn't matter how severe things had been up to that point. The next day was going to be worse. And the following day was going to be worse again. And that was Private Bert Ward of the 2nd, 27th Battalion.

2:01Al Murray: Yeah, and he's talking about the Kokoda Trail itself there before a shot is fired. Then we have Lieutenant Bert Keensel, who's an officer with Angau, which we'll be finding out about in a minute. He was tasked with running the supplies into the battlefield. So this is one of the really important issues. A carrier carrying only foodstuffs consumes his load in 13 days. And if he carries food supplies for a soldier, it means six and a half days supply for both soldier and carrier. This does not allow for the porterage of arms, ammunition, equipment, medical stores, ordnance, mail and dozens of other items needed to wage war on the backs of men.

2:38Al Murray: The track takes eight days, so the maintenance of supplies is a physical impossibility without large-scale cooperation of plane droppings. So, welcome to our third episode of the story of the Battle of the Kokoda Trail. And in our first episode, what is Papua, we looked at. Why are the Australians there? And then, of course, the story of the Australian Army, the big personalities involved in it, some of the politics to come. mccarthur's arrival in australia a man who should have had his tail between his legs but somehow um i think he at an early age docked his own tail so had no way of having his tail between his legs and and now we come to the beginnings of this epic struggle this australian thermopoli no two ways about it port moresby the prize yes after all for the japanese is 150 miles from australia it means they can they could stage an invasion or or dictate terms to the australians if they if they take port moorsby and the australian australian strategy is in a tangle because macarthur's turned up he doesn't really care too much about that he wants to go back to the philippines um one way or another yeah it's all me me me with him isn't it it's extraordinary and yet they the australians regard themselves as so desperate and and burn have burned their bridges with the British that they fall on MacArthur's mercy, which is a very, very peculiar decision and that results in all sorts of tangles to come at the high political command level.

4:13Al Murray: But at the centre of this is Kokoda, the Kokoda Trail or track. And Kokoda itself is a Papuan administration point. It's a classic sort of colonial outpost. It's 1 ,200 feet up in the northern foothills of the Owen Stanley Range. It's like a lot of these places we've looked at in Burma that get fought over. There's a magistrate's house, the assistant magistrate's house, there's some police houses, there's a hospital, a native hospital, there's a rubber plantation, and there is, crucially, and this is why we looked at the supply problem, the only airfield in the region is at Kokoda. If you've got an eight-day march but a 15-minute flight, the thing to do is to hold on to the airfield.

4:55Al Murray: This is why this place, why this name rings through australian history the name of this of this outpost before the second world war papuans would use different routes to reach it there isn't one trail or track in particular um one includes a route over the mountain range which is a foot track which is three or four feet wide single file traffic which is nothing is it i mean it's nothing it's nothing and to bring a brigade into battle gym which is what we're looking at here and these tend to be brigade size encounters You know, we've just finished this Barbarossa campaign with, you know, millions of Soviet soldiers being deployed.

5:33Al Murray: Millions of Soviet soldiers being rustled up out of nowhere. And this is, but this is brigades, battalions, companies, platoons, to start with, of Australian militia fighting the Japanese. Sections. And sections. At distances, you know, there's stories from later in the battle of two platoons being 80 yards apart. An officer sends a runner to the other platoon, never sees him again because the jungle is so intense, so thick that you can be lost in that kind of short range move. So this is super intense and really no Papuans, no non-Papuans really know the routes, know about the trail. And there is this core logistic issue.

6:18Al Murray: An eight day trail, local carriers who use essentially half of what they carry to get there. It's an incredibly punishing journey. And and really, as we'll see in the battle, not until the sort of toughened guys have been fighting in Syria turn up, hardened soldiers who can cope with the trail. Until then, the Australians are running on fumes in the defence of Kokoda because they've sent militia. And we looked in the last episode of that battalion of men who are sent who don't know where they're going. who are simply mustard stuck on a ship and sent to Port Moresby. And, you know, they haven't been in intensive training.

6:55Al Murray: They aren't combat fit. In fact, they're rated F from ABCD through to F, A being ready to go, gleaming people to F, F being no fucking way, right? And in Australian high command circles, there is a notion among some people. There's a thing called the Kokoda Gap, which is literally a gap in the mountains, a pass that could be dynamited with explosives or something or held with just a handful of men rather than the kind of terrain this is the kind this is the kind of terrain the Japanese has shown themselves to be so brilliant at fighting in you know a strong central attack to hold you up flanking through seemingly impassable jungle you know sending probes out looking for your flanks and exploiting the flanks right and it's just the kind of terrain that the Japanese have shown that they're brilliant at and the bombing of port moorsby starts on february the 3rd 1942 the natives flee of course they do desertions from coastal ships are high there's chaos in the city itself and the um fighter planes then show up and sink three catalina flying boats off the coast on the 28th of february 1942 the japanese eras so there's just two catalinas and one hudson left to defend the garrison um there's meant to be kitty there's not a lot there's meant to be kitty hawks turning up to join in and they're known as never hawks because they never turn up they never appear and they they turn up they turn up you know they turn up weeks later and then do feature um uh um in the battle later and then there's this sort of strange hiatus where no one really knows what's going to happen and the japanese opt for an overland invasion there's not much preparation from the australians having been bombed is there i mean you'd have thought what you would then do is if it's so crucial reinforce it wouldn't you yeah yeah but the lockers bear you know they they need to bring soldiers back from the um back from the mediterranean theater the north african theater they they haven't got any planes right you know that and because they bet the farm on singapore or deterring Japan.

9:00Al Murray: What can they do? So the Japanese can then prepare at their leisure effectively, can't they? They've got plans for invading the Guadalcanal, the Solomon Islands. So they're doing all that at this time in this first half of 1942. They're also, of course, sort of running amok in Burma at this time. They're up through, this is exactly the period that they are marauding through Malaya and Singapore. Of course, Singapore falls in February 1942 and then pushing on up into Burma, clearing Burma by the middle end of May 1942. So they're quite busy, and they are preparing for this assault on Guadalcanal at the same time, but they're also preparing to get onto Papua New Guinea because they realise...

9:42The whole point about the Japanese is to create this line, is it's a stop traffic between America, the United States, the west coast of the United States, and Australia. And the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea are kind of sort of like blocking islands between that route. And that's why this is so important to the Japanese. And also, it's only 150 miles from Australia. So, you know, why wouldn't you? So this is left to Lieutenant General Hayakutaki, who is the commander of the Japanese 17th Army. And he has issued orders on the 14th of June 1942 to prepare a plan for the overland attack on Port Moresby.

10:22I mean, it does sound quite mad, though, doesn't it? I mean, going across Papua New Guinea with the Owen Stanley mountain range, thick jungle and all the rest of it. And yes, the Japanese are very good at jungle warfare. But even so, you know, all the logistic problems cut both ways, right? Anyway, they only planned to use 1 ,500 soldiers for the initial operations, a mere 1 ,500. A sign of Japanese ignorance, I think it's fair to say, about the geography and military needs to be successful in Papua New Guinea. So, yes, the Australians are really, really badly underprepped and don't have the right people and haven't really fought it all through.

11:01But I think there's fairly clear evidence that Japanese haven't either. Anyway, the force is built around Lieutenant Colonel Tsukamoto's 1st Battalion of the 144th Regiment. They're going to be the spearhead and a company of the Crack 5th Sasebo Naval Landing Force. And these are the units that are going to ultimately spearhead the Kokoda Trail campaign. and the insignia of this force is is is two crossing anchors and a chrysanthemum and a men

11:26Al Murray: also have an anchor on their belt buckles the thing is is the this would be all very well if they were going to take port moorsby but from the sea um this landing force and all this sort of stuff and and before the war they have wrecked port moorsby and japanese officers in disguise on freighters and stuff have been looked at port moorsby but the thing they don't know about is the overland route. They've wrecked the wrong bit, given the circumstances as they turn out. Why don't they just go straight to Port Moresby? Because the Americans have made it navally impossible for them. And also, as you say, Guadalcanal's on their mind.

12:02Al Murray: So one of their issues is they're dividing, they're caught up. They're dividing their punch, aren't they? Exactly. And that's a big contributing factor to how this campaign plays out for the Japanese, is that Guadalcanal, they get stuck in Guadalcanal. Guadalcanal doesn't happen as they hope and this doesn't work out as they hope and they basically they find themselves caught between two stools. I would say that it doesn't work out as they hoped. It is basically the leitmotif of the entire Japanese war. Well I mean it's the surrender is not the war has not turned out to Japan's favour isn't it?

12:36Al Murray: I mean it's the advantage. It's right there isn't it? The whole thing right? perhaps only only singapore and hong kong and um and malaya work out to you know as they hoped so command of this assault over the own stanley range is going to be with major general tomitaro hori um with his south sea force which is built around 144th reg and hori is described as a small plump and bespectacled figure he campaigned with his troops and directed operations for headquarters was never far behind the most forward outposts. His troops saw him occasionally astride a carefully groomed white thoroughbred, a remote, powerful and dignified being.

13:15Al Murray: He found a horse and would ride the horse. Surely not on Papua New Guinea. He found a horse and he would ride a horse. And he's very, but he's very much, you know, dynamic, leads from the front, cares about his men, you know, gets stuck in as much as anyone else. And, you know, eventually, spoiler, this will cost him his life. Yes, appearances can be deceptive. And we also, we will see plenty of Australian officers of a similar spirit who lose their lives with the same sort of right down the front gumption, lead by example gumption. But the eventual Japanese build up as planned, if the operation is approved, is going to comprise 13 ,500 troops.

13:56Al Murray: And some of these are veterans from China, from Guam, from Rabaul and Salamaua. So experienced soldiers with experienced commanders. But that's also, that's a similar garrison to, say, Pelleloo, for example. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a division. Yeah, exactly. So we're talking about a Japanese division and an Australian brigade here and a brigade of militia. On the 21st of July at 2.40 in the afternoon, the Japanese arrive and they begin by machine gunning the Buna Station, which is on the north coast. And then they convoy masters just off the coast near Ghana, which is also on the north coast.

14:34Al Murray: And these are places that by the end of the year, the Australians will have to will have to wrinkle the Japanese out of. And we'll come to those in later episodes, which and that's a that's a grim and bitter story. Allied aircraft do rock up and do do what they can. But by the afternoon, the Japanese are ashore. They're disembarking. It's an unchallenged landing. They invade successfully through the afternoon into the night. Because after all, the Australian weight of strength is down in Port Moresby, the other side of Papua. The Australians have set up the Australian New Guinea administrative unit, which is set up in March after the air attacks by the Japanese.

15:12Al Murray: And the purpose is to provide two things. District services, policing territories, maintaining law and order, all that welfare of the locals providing and controlling the native labour because they know they're going to need to lean on it. Production services, providing food for the natives, transport for men from district services and plantation workers and technical director direction of production. and they end up with seven observation posts along the north coast as an early warning radio system. And they also have the Papuan Infantry Battalion as part of them. So the landings are reported by the PPIB.

15:43The PPIB, the Papuan Infantry Battalion, they also, they do attack the Japanese and there's a patrol led by, I think, Lieutenant Chalk. They shoot up some of the invaders. They do what they can. They disappear and melt back into the jungle.

15:58Al Murray: Exactly. But it's a patrol and basically we're looking at this massive, massive Japanese strength. Angau relies on people like Bert Keensel, who we met at the start of the episode. And he's a second generation plantation owner. He's a miner. He's six foot two. He's 18 stone. And he knows the air is a giant bear of a man. Jesus. He's a big boy, isn't he? Big, big lad. And you know, that's a lot of... 18 stone. That's a lot of yourself to lug around the jungle, isn't it? But he knows the place as well as any Australian. And he's been tasked as follows. commanding officer Ango to make arrangements to fulfil requirements up to a maximum of 1 ,000 native labourers.

16:35Al Murray: Construction of road to Kokoda to commence not later than the 29th of June. Road to be completed by the 26th of August. So they want him to build a road all the way up to Kokoda. A road, Jim. Across the whole... Across this jungle plain that is basically a track that's basically impassable. In two months. In two months. And he said of this later, I have heard of Superman, but have yet to see him in action. He knows it's impossible. And Keenzel is one of these characters in the campaign who always seems to be everywhere. And he's the expert, but no one ever quite listens to him. You know, he's sort of got this Cassandra quality as he goes about the battlefield.

17:15Al Murray: Yes. And another officer, Major Noel Symington, or Symington, said to Keenzel later, he was very highly regarded in the civil community up there and a very good operator. I do not consider the sufficient recognition was made to this gallant officer by the army commander or his country. They gave him an MBE or something, a bloody insult. But Keensall works tirelessly with the carriers and the one top people who could speak to and motivate and understand. And there are obviously tensions with with the carriers and all this. But, you know what, they use carrot rather than stick. And the Japanese lean into using the stick to get local people on side.

17:52Al Murray: you know encouraging them against their imperial overlords and everything but treat them terribly abominably yeah abominably kinesville is very successful in keeping supply going major general basil morris who's the fellow on the ground he then orders to a battalion up to kokoda he wants a battalion concentrated there and he orders lieutenant carl owen of the 39th militia battalion to fly to kokoda on the 23rd of july but but is there not a kind of a bit of a concern from Major General Basil Morris that these Japanese have landed and a battalion is not really going to cut it he's going to send what he's got and also there's this thinking that there's this gap there's this this this if if you can just block them there you'll be fine and a failure really to get to grips with the fact that the Japanese aren't going to fight like that they aren't going to they aren't going to take no for an answer if if there's resistance at Kokoda yes and so this is where where Sam Templeton enters isn't it yeah who's quite another one of these extraordinary characters um and he'd fought in the great war his men think he's 50 you you found a thing saying he's 42 but he's older than the others why is franfinger born in 1900 yeah you see some of the men think he's at least 50 but they don't know that the blokes and he's really experienced so he's fought in the first world war rumor has it he's fought in the irish civil war he's super experienced for which side i'm not sure he's super experienced um so there are there are people in the militia who do know what they're doing sam templeton's b company which is a rifle company the 39th they're sent ahead of the rest of the battalion to secure kokoda ahead of plans to build an airstrip near buna um which is up on the coast the japanese aren't going to let them get to to get to buna but the plan is there'll be an airstrip at buna by mid july so the plan to send them up there to build this airstrip is before the japanese invade obviously it's still wildly inadequate um and b company get to kokoda on the 14th july um and the and the code word for taking a kokoda is marubra so that this then becomes marubra force it's talked about as marubra force um you know because the pib the papen infantry battalion join join up with them and sort of coagulate around kokoda and then we come to the first battle of kokoda itself which is late july early august 1942 and you think this is this is after the gazala lines battle yes yes after the fall of tabrook yes so the japanese land on on the evening of the 21st of july um and at this point templeton's already pushed two of his three platoons forward to stage sort of delaying actions because obviously he gets radioed in or someone or maybe the angau or the uh the pib sort of scuttle back and and let him know but anyway he knows that the japanese have arrived hasn't And the third platoon of his company is occupying Kokoda.

20:41And the Japanese are within spitting distance of Kokoda by the afternoon of the 23rd of July. So it's only taken them a couple of days because they land about 5.30 p.m. on the afternoon of the 21st of July. And the Japanese push these forward platoons back very, very easily because they massively outnumber them. And as you were saying, really, I mean, you know, the Japanese method of attack here is you send scouts forward, knowing quite a good chance that they get killed, then follow up with immediate strong frontal attack. And it is accepted that you're going to get casualties, but the speed of movement is going to win you the battle.

21:16That's the idea. And they also sort of outflank, encircle and destroy with speed. Their equipment's light. This is very much the Japanese way, isn't it, at this stage of the war? You go in with a very small amount of food, just the ammunition you're carrying. It's all light weapons only. and you feed off what you capture. That's sort of basically the idea. At this time, they're much more competent than at jungle fighting than the Australians they're up against. You know, the 39th Battalion, this militia battalion, is courageously engaging, but they're being overwhelmed, aren't they? And on the 26th of July, Uncle Sam Templeton heads off to guide a party that's reached Kokoda.

22:01and um as someone says you know we knew he wasn't coming back and he doesn't ever come back and his body was never recovered actually later on his son that is it tries to find out what happened to him and manages to find someone one of the japanese is still alive who'd been fighting there and he says that what happened was was he was wounded taken to see the japanese commander colonel um hatsuo uh sukamoto um and and um templeton was boasting that there were 80 000 aussie troops in port Moresby and Tsukamoto loses his rag and kills him with his sword and then Kainsall goes on to name a crossing through the Aurora Creek Valley as Templeton's crossing in his memory.

22:44But yes, but there's more actions to follow, aren't there?

22:46Al Murray: We will, of course, we will post a map, although it's just a wiggly line from north to south, basically. Exactly. The maps do no justice to the terrain, to the idea of the terrain at all. OEV is, is if we want up the trail towards uh uh the the northern coast um away from kokoda so this is the this is the falling back retreat there's a place called wire ropey further up that's called that because it's named after the wire rope bridge because it because it's all pigeon there's a big battle at oev on the um on the 26th 27th july and the and the you know the japanese do this thing they concentrate force their firepower they bring it around at the rear of the defenders The Australians respond with grenades, rifle fire, and then they panic and they abandon their position and fall back.

23:31Al Murray: And some push forward to their original front while others move towards their rear, facing almost certain death. One of the things I think we need to just briefly mention is these Australian soldiers, they've got a handful of Tommy guns. They don't have any Vickers guns because it's been decided that they're just too difficult to handle in the jungle and not suitable for jungle warfare. They don't have any artillery. They don't have any mortars because someone, Sunbright Spark has decided that mortars will detonate in the trees when they go. And so they're not any use in the jungle. Whereas the Japanese have arrived with lots of light machine guns because that's the way they do things.

24:05Al Murray: And there's a story about, you know, Bren guns turning up and some bloke going, I need company headquarters, battalion headquarters for these Bren guns. And the bloke goes, oh, I'm battalion headquarters and takes the Bren guns because. And he's never seen them before. The men have never seen them before. Or what do we do with these bring guns? And they figure out how to operate and clean them and use them. It's because the Australian cupboard was bare at the time. And, you know, you need automatic weapons in this environment. Very much so. Certainly Tommy guns, because the close range encounters that you're looking at in the jungle need automatic, light automatic weapons.

24:43Al Murray: Anyway, Owen, who's the commander of the 39th Battalion. And Owen really, Owen survives none of this with any reputation at all. he reckons that after this that what they need to do after av they need to pull back kokoda the trail will be easier to defend in the village so to pull out of kokoda rather he sets fast some buildings and some stores and he falls back to a place called deniki further up the trail he discovers that the japanese have not yet occupied kokoda so he puts a new bunch of blokes together and sends them off to to reoccupy um the village on the 28th of july and he thinks what i'll do is we'll reinforce it by air and he leaves a small force of 80 soldiers to hold the Kokoda airstrip in the meantime.

25:27Al Murray: And you think, given the Japanese numbers coming, how is that possibly going to work out? And I think we'll take a quick break. We'll come back to find out and we'll meet some more of these absolutely amazing people who figure in this campaign.

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27:37Al Murray: Welcome back to We Have Ways of Making Talk with me, Al Murray, James Holland. Jim, we left the Kokoda airstrip. Colonel Owen has decided that 80 blokes will be able to hold the airstrip. Yes, this doesn't seem the shrewdest of moves, does it? No, but what can he do? I mean, this is the thing. He has been sent on an essentially impossible job. Let's enter some more characters. So there's a, obviously, you need a medical officer in this situation. And so step forward. Dr. Geoffrey Vernon. Now, Vernon is a doctor, but he's also a planter from Daru in Western Papua. He's 60 pretty much by the time the war breaks out.

28:14Al Murray: He's deaf. He's stone deaf. So it goes around yelling at everyone and having to be yelled at. Exactly. He's got good reason to be deaf though, hasn't he? 100%. Yeah. Yeah. He's been at Gallipoli. We doff our Kubras to him. And he's tall. He's thin. He's got deep lines on his face. And he's been in the Papuan Ranges for years and years and years. And so he can he can tab huge distances. He's just completely at ease in the jungle and can go for go for miles and miles. In his feet on a loincloth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And he's working alongside Keensel. He's responsible for the physical well-being of the carriers, the Papuan men helping carry the Australian kit across the trail.

29:01Al Murray: And the burden on these people, on the Papuans, is really, really tough. and obviously we know we're looking at 90 years ago nearly and and so there is the the there is a racialized prism through which the australians look at the carriers and their abilities but um he did acknowledge you know um how tough and really hard it was for the for the for the carriers i think jim you should be dr vernon the native carrier starts with a physique and constitution considerably inferior to that of the white soldier, nor is he anything like so carefully selected medically for service. In addition, the native resisting powers to disease is inferior to the white man's, and both physically and mentally, he is more likely to succumb to sickness.

29:50The sole advantage is that he is more used to the country and to the hardships, inferior diet, exposure to rain and cold, excessive walking, climbing, etc. It imposes on all working along the main range route. Although many carriers were without a single blanket, rice was practically the only food issue, meat was withheld for two or three weeks and tobacco scarce. The regulation governing the reduction of loads to 80 kilograms was often ignored and excessive weights and distances imposed on the carriers as if they were merely pack animals. No day of rest could be given for weeks. So in other words, they're treated like shit basically, aren't they?

30:27Al Murray: Yeah, and what I really love about that description is you have the absolutely classic, while these people are inferior to us, they're much tougher than we are in this environment, right? So his starting position is, you know, these people compared to us physically are nothing, and then goes on to say, you know, they can cope with the country and the hardships, the bad food, the rain, the cold, much better than us. And yet... Yes, and by the way, being six foot two and 18 stone isn't that much of an advantage in Papua New Guinea. No, exactly. I mean, it's really, it's really interesting. The sheer, the open contradiction in his racial approach to this.

31:04Al Murray: That there he is saying it. And yet, and yet with a seemingly with a straight face. It's very weird. So when Owen decides to reoccupy Kokoda, Vernon is in Deniki looking after the carriers. And he can't help himself. The medical officer of the 39th still hasn't arrived. He's still making his way up the trail. So Vernon decides to follow B Company back into Kokoda. They need a doctor, he thinks. And there's another fellow, John Wilkinson, who's the only other person doing any medical assistance in Kokoda. He remembers Vernon's arrival. He says, Captain Vernon arrived out of the fog. Very pleased to see him.

31:40Al Murray: He had some instruments and dressings in two triangular bandages. He nearly got shot when first seen owing to his unregimental dress. Captain Vernon had shorts, a blue pullover, a felt army hat, and a long newspaper cigarette in his mouth. a small dilly bag and some army biscuits and tobacco in it. He saw me and spoke. Jack, I heard there was some action up here and I thought you may need some assistance. Where do I start? What a man. What a man. The calibre of these blokes. So the 29th of July, in the early morning, the Japanese launch a big attack on the 39th on the Kokoda Plateau. And the plateau is where the airstrip is meant to be.

32:18Al Murray: Lieutenant Gough Judy Garland, excellent nickname, is a platoon commander occupying Kokoda at this point. And he recalls... Owen was another one similar to Sam Templeton that wanted to show his leadership and he walked around the top of the perimeter where we were all lying down. Naturally, you would. And I said to him, Sir, I think you're taking an unnecessary risk walking around among the troops like that. Well, he said, I've got to do it. I suppose half an hour later, he got shot right through the forehead. That's what happens if you pronounce around. Yeah, but this leadership from the front thing, you know, we were saying this about Horiye, that this is what the officers are doing.

32:54Well, yes, but I would say it's more advantageous to the troops to not be dead.

33:00Al Murray: Yes, I know. I agree completely. I agree completely. It's not really your job to get shot. The plateau battle descends into chaos very, very quickly. Soldiers don't even know who's the enemy because this is how close fought this is and who's their mate. One thing stays clear, though, the enemy is breaking through the perimeter and they're going to have to withdraw again. the Japanese are just putting them under too much pressure Yep, so Doc Vernon recalls he says

33:50moisting his mouth and cleaning him up. Among the impressions of that exciting night, none stands out more clearly than the weirdness of the natural conditions. The thick white mist dimming the moonlight, the mysterious veiling of trees, the almost complete silence, as if the rubber groves of Kokoda were sleeping as usual in the depths of the night, and the men had not brought disturbance. It's quite an image, quite a vivid description, that.

34:14Al Murray: Yeah, yeah, that's shades of the thin blue line, isn't it? where there's, you know, the shots of nature playing itself out while you have the battle raging somewhere else, isn't it? Poor old B Company, they cannot hold Kokoda and they withdraw to Daniki and the rest of the 39th Battalion join them in early August. And Major Alan Cameron of the 30th Brigade, he arrives to assume command and Warrant Officer John Wilkinson notes in his diary, Cameron is very bitter towards the men. He says they are cowards. He must have met up with a few who shot through. These youngsters, these militiamen who've been sent there, They're untrained, unprepared, who've been fighting at OEV in Kokoda.

34:50Without telling their mums.

34:51Al Murray: Without telling their mums. They buggered off. And Cameron won't acknowledge these men at all. Won't look them in the eye, doesn't want anything to do with them. Says they're cowards. That's not very helpful, is it? No, I don't know. And then he decides to undertake a new operation to retake Kokoda. But it starts fairly well. But the battalion don't have enough ammunition to apply enough pressure on the Japanese as they come in. so then there are various more intense attacks on Daniki and the 39th have to withdraw again to a place called Isurava yes I mean it's not far is it it's about it's probably about 10 10 10 kilometers so what's that six miles south of Kokoda so Daniki is probably about three miles it's this these relentless assaults these sort of piecemeal withdrawals um uh and so on um so we now come to this stand at Isurava in the last week of August 1942.

35:45Al Murray: We should zoom out and go and look at what's going on at high command level while this is happening to see what the considerations are. So, because as we mentioned earlier on, you know, Guadalcanal is a big part of the picture here. It's happening at the same time. The American centre of gravity and what's going on isn't necessarily this desperate struggle at Kokoda. MacArthur's sort of underestimating, isn't he? he's not particularly bothered by the Japanese taking Kokoda because he just reckons it's an advance to take, you know, secure a beachhead and an airfield. And to be honest, that's not an entirely unreasonable assumption when you think, what the hell are the Japanese doing trying to get to Port Moresby over land?

36:26I mean, you know, logistically, that makes no sense whatsoever. So, you know, I can see why he comes up with, you know, why he draws that conclusion. and he also thinks that the Japanese will probably withdraw the troops from Papua to Guadalcanal anyway once the American marines land in early August which is when they're due to cover shore there so again you know it's not an entirely unreasonable assumption but of course you know he is now the southwest pacific commander isn't he so he's you know he is the overall top man including of these Australian troops as well as Americans you know who are about to launch this campaign in Guadalcanal.

37:04But anyway, by early August, he gets intelligence that convinces him to reinforce Papua. So on the 1st of August, Raoul is ordered to Port Moresby. Remember, we mentioned him in the last episode. Sid Raoul, yeah. To assume the command of the New Guinea Force. And his task is to secure the defences of Port Moresby, then destroy the Japanese in Papua. Brigadier Potts, Alan and Raoul all head up this operation. And Alan and Potts brief Basil Morris, who we mentioned before the break is now commanding Angau on the 13th of August and 21st Brigade is required to recapture Kokoda as a supply base for future operations against Gona and Buna.

37:44Crucially though, Allen and Potts also tell Morris that their troops will be carrying their own supplies to Maiola i.e. they can't rely entirely on Papuan carriers. Morris understandably protests this very forcibly and robustly pointing out that it's just that's really really hard to navigate through the jungle terrain let alone carry loads of um loads of goods but but his superiors aren't uh they're not having it are they they just absolutely insist that this is how it's going to be um and meanwhile japanese soldiers are continuing to land at gona which is you know 4 000 more and then of which 1800 are combat troops so you've got your initial 1500 then another 1800 combat troops so you know you're They're getting on for kind of over 3 ,000, aren't they?

38:30And the Maroubra Force, the journey to Viola begins on the 16th of August. So there's a kind of sort of, again, there's another of these hiatuses, isn't there, where 39th Battalion are kind of sort of holding on. Yeah, yeah.

38:45Al Murray: Well, the terrain's so difficult, you can't press your advantage. You can't rush it here. Yeah, it is. It's impossible. Yeah, yeah. So, yes, there's five battalions in Maroubra Force, Jim, aren't there? Yes. So there's the 39th, which is already there, obviously. There's the 53rd. So these are militia. So 53rd is militia as well, right? That's right, yes. And then you've got the 2nd 14th, the 2nd 16th, and the 2nd 27th. And as you will remember from the earlier episode, the 2nd means that the 14th, 16th, and 27th battalions were in the First World War, and this is a kind of second iteration of the Australian Imperial Force, AIF.

39:20So this is now, you're now back to the regular Aussie army. and Sergeant R.O. Clemens of the 2nd 14th Battalion notes about the journey.

39:30Al Murray: How can one describe the monotity of following a trail over mountains and climbing up endless steps which have been cut up the slopes and then finishing the day's march physically exhausted and then after a spite move out at first light for a repetition? The steps he's talking about, this is a thing called the golden stairs which is this route that's been cut up a hillside out of logs that you'd climb up and slip and slide on and bash yourself on. And this is the thing. The journey itself is so incredibly physical. This is one of these things. A battalion may have arrived somewhere, but how many of the men are fit?

40:04Al Murray: How many of the men are sick? How many of the men haven't arrived yet? How many disappeared, broke their legs on the way up? You know, there's this whole thing that it's not about. A battalion deployment doesn't mean a battalion's there at all. Yeah, it doesn't mean you've got 870 super fit blokes ready to fight by the time they get to where they've got to be. This reminds me very much, I have to say, of the second Chindit expedition up in Burma, where these guys are having to travel 100 miles through the jungle. Half of them are dead of yellow fever before they actually get anywhere near any Japanese.

40:38Anyway, Potts is a solid mate, because it's mateship, and he's a leader to his men. And Lieutenant John Blythe of the 2nd, 16th Battalion recalls, He was everywhere. On one occasion, I crawled to the top of a ridge, trembling with exhaustion and covered in mud. I looked up to the figure standing before me. It was Potsy. He looked at me and said, you haven't shaved. Go and clean yourself up. You're filthy. It was one of the worst things anyone could have said to me at that moment. But it was also the best thing. I felt wonderful after I'd hopped in a stream for a while. That's cheering, isn't it?

41:12Al Murray: It's fantastic. but but the the key thing about um that many of these men and and their officers is they were previously involved in the syrian campaign so this is seventh division men isn't it these are seventh division right these are seventh div guys and you know where the terrain's very difficult the climate's very demanding so that these are these are hardened guys they aren't the militia who've been scooped up and stuck on a ship you know while these battalions are making their way over the trail a couple of absolute calamities clang and real military clangers occur so the first is on the 17th of august the japanese turn up they bomb um seven mile airfield as it's called outside um port maulsby and they destroy two dakotas they damage five more and they destroy three flying fortress bombers the dakotas are fully fueled and packed with supplies and the thing is the day before sid rowell had said do you not think you need to disperse those aircraft do you not think they're all lined up like they're on a parade ground and the americans went yeah we'll sort that don't you absolutely you know what you're absolutely right we hadn't thought of that and they don't do it and they get hit supply is hard enough and they're making it more difficult for themselves and when um potts arrives at minari arnold potts arrives ahead of his troops at minari he finds staging camps supply personal there are massively underprepared um uh the promised abundance of supplies they're just not there um when they reach maiola where there's also another there's also a contender as an airstrip at myola as well as there's a dried lake bed there potts discovers that the promised 40 000 rations are in fact only 5 000 so where are these 35 000 rations and no one's ever quite sure but it's probably most likely that they just were never sent yeah they were never sent and and there's also there's there's this whole thing of people saying well it's secret i can't tell you where the rations are and the people everyone going around around in circles asking for secret rations that don't you know that no one can no can admit to the subsequent report into the operations of 21st brigade says the situation was hugely mishandled there should have been a senior officer in charge running the quartermaster side of things between the base and troops prioritizing dropping supplies at myola you know if they'd done that 21st brigade wouldn't have had to have each soldier carrying five days rations and every pound you carry kilogram you carry on this um trail is is sapping the blokes so you know what happens to the missing 35 000 russian portions there's one argument that it's like crappy civilian pilots, but that can't be it.

43:34Al Murray: It's just basically a great big screw-up. Administrative cock-up, yeah, yeah, that's what it is. Anyway, Rao presses Blamey for more transport planes, but MacArthur makes things very difficult for Blamey, doesn't he? Due to limited planes available, MacArthur says. And he says, Air supply must necessarily be considered an emergency rather than a normal means of supply. Consequently, every effort should be made by the GOC, NGF, to develop other means of supply. um well you know at that stage he's mccarver's probably got a point i mean there probably aren't that many planes around at this stage of the war that's all going to change of course what other means like what there is no other means of supply you can say that the people at the top are divorced from the reality of of what's going on in the ground in kokoda in papua they don't know what the terrain's like at all they they've got they haven't got their heads around they're looking They're looking at the wiggly line on this map and thinking, well, that's only 5k.

44:33Al Murray: You know, and 5k can take you two days if the terrain's against you. There's no such thing as Google Earth in those days. Yeah, exactly. They just can't do it. But they can fly over with planes to take reconnaissance photos. I mean, that's what they could do. But they haven't got those either. They haven't got anything. So in the meantime, Brigadier Potts and 2nd 14th and 2nd 16th are forced to wait at Myola for days, waiting for more supplies to be dropped in before they can move up and execute their orders. So there's this hitch. And in the meantime, the Japanese are concentrating their forces near Isarava in order to take Isarava.

45:07Al Murray: On the 15th of August, 39th Battalion, who are not involved in this Myola cock-up, they're digging in at Isarava. Yes, and these are the guys who've already been at Kokoda and fallen back. Exactly. And B Company, who have been considered cowards and all this stuff. And they get a new lieutenant colonel, who's Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Hohner. And he's an original member of the 2nd, 11th, 19th Brigade, 6th Division. He's extremely experienced. He's been in Libya, Greece, Crete. He's golden, this guy. And he has a transformative effect over this militia battalion. But when he arrives, he's very shocked by the state of the 39th.

45:46Al Murray: And he says, James, Physically, the pathetically young warriors of the 39th were in poor shape, worn out by strenuous fighting and exhausting movement and weakened by lack of food and sleep and shelter, many of them had literally come to a standstill. They shivered through the long, chill vigil of the lonely knights when they were required to stand awake and alert, but still in silent. Only the morning brought a gleam of comfort. Yeah, this does sound really miserable, doesn't it? You know, and that's before the Japanese have started fighting. Yeah, exactly. This is before things kick off. The battalion doctor with the 2nd 16th, Captain Steward, who comes up, sees the 39th near Isurava, and he describes the man as gaunt spectres with gaping boots and rotting tatters of uniform, hanging around them like scarecrows.

46:31Al Murray: Their faces had no expression, their eyes sunk back in their sockets. They were drained by malaria, dysentery and near starvation. Yeah, it just sounds awful, doesn't it? And of course, you know, disease is rampant here, isn't it? I mean, you know, as someone said, the Kokoda Trail starts and ends with malaria. As we mentioned in the first episode, there's also dengue fever, the scrub typhus. I mean, that doesn't sound good, does it? Tropical ulcers, dysentery, fungal infections, leeches galore. I mean, you know, you're spending the whole time going like this, aren't you? You know, wrapping off the bugs and the flies and everything else.

47:05I mean, just...

47:05Al Murray: Yeah, and suppurating jungle sores and all this sort of stuff. You've men who are cutting away the backs of their trousers, of their shorts, because they've got such bad dysentery. So they're fighting with bare arses because it's so bad. um but hana does does what he can and this is really interesting and shows the measure of the man with b company who've been declared cowards he decides the best thing to do is is reinstate their morale so he gives b company the the central job the post of honor the ground where he expects the japanese most likely to attack to show them that he trusts them and to show to get them to prove they're not cowards to to believe in them to believe in the men he electrifies the battalion and he's got you know as well as he's um as well as his extensive military experience he's well versed in shakespeare the classics he speaks french spanish german italian he has this epic view of life and of war so will his surava be the making of of an aussie legend here it's set up to be that isn't it we know you want your your australian thermopoli that's what we promised you who it comes it's a big flat clearing to the east of the track where the village is and on the south um of the front there's a creek and it's very steep descending track runs through the middle of the village eastwards towards asegari and on the western flank there's lots of timber and very very thick jungle so it's a good defensive position but it's not impregnable particularly not the way the japanese like to fight but but it's a it's a much better position than kokoda isn't it yes yeah yeah yeah yeah it's the right yeah well given given how many blokes he's got and and and the strength of the battalion because they're they're exhausted Honna predicts what the Japanese are going to do.

48:44Al Murray: He says he thinks the Japanese will use the Australian killing ground west of B Company's position as a base to concentrate big numbers and having swung from the main track to the narrow village and then on through the jungle and woodland. B Company are ordered to dig into deep, narrow pits. And Honna recalls at the preparation, there wasn't much I could do in the way of an attack except hold the enemy at arm's length as long as possible to prevent them from finding out how weak we were and how small indeed was our garrison. Had they known how small we were, they should have gone around us and cut us off from our supplies and annihilated us.

49:18Al Murray: We had to buy time and buy distance as long as possible and as far as possible. I mean, just imagine you're there, Al. I mean, just imagine, you know this, you're cut off, the supplies are absolutely minimal, really, in the big scheme of things. Your dysentery is so bad, you're having to kind of cut the seat of your pants out. You know the Japanese are lurking in the jungle ahead of you. You are going to feel completely cut off, abandoned, bereft. All those things, aren't you? And just thinking, how the hell am I ever going to get out of here? I mean, must have been absolutely terrifying. Yeah, but luckily there are men like Hohner at the middle of this.

49:56Yes, and his adjutant recalls, doesn't he? He says he was always a perfect gentleman, didn't lose his temper, a very easy man to work with. He made the war his war.

50:07Al Murray: Ralph Hohner, Australian hero. We are going to see in our next episode a moment of shining leadership and the guts and grit of the Australians in this battle. It's a truly extraordinary feat of arms that's to follow. And then some very, very strange reaction to it. So on the 21st of August, the 39th, they're relieved. They spend the next few days patrolling, waiting for the inevitable Japanese offensive. Basically, this pause in the battle while the Japanese gather their skirts and the Australians do the same. And the thing to remember is all this time, MacArthur doesn't think this is much more than an incursion to Kokoda to secure the air bases.

50:49Al Murray: there's complacency at the top ignorance arrogance his eye is on the scrap coming at guadalcanal as he sees it which is where the center of gravity has to be because it's the american center gravity he doesn't understand the strategic and political importance of holding portmoresby or the peril of losing it so join us for our next episode where it's all going to kick off at issu rava it's all going to kick off at issu rava and and and things uh the kokoda battle will play itself out in spectacular style. If you want to hear that episode right away, then go to our Patreon. Become a We Have Ways to Make You Talk Patreon member where there's tons more stuff to get your teeth into.

51:25Al Murray: Audiobooks, live streams, and so on. But, in the next battle, the Aussies, the Diggers, will be giving it a fair go, Jim. And we will be there beside them. As you said earlier, imagine yourself there. This is yet another episode from the history of the Second World War. I'm glad I was born to a generation well clear of. At least a generation will clear up. Indeed. Yes. Jesus Christ. We'll see you then. Cheerio. G'day.