Kokoda

727 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: 1930s japanese militarism

The Kokoda War brought both excitement and sadness, not only to the Soldiers but the Australians that were home waiting for family to come back. Australia was not always going to win this war, it was a torn decision. Due to the size and amount of Australians we had compared to the Japanese, it made this war infinite in Japan’s favour. Both the harsh conditions and the Australians attitudes were also major things that made it nearly impossible for Australia to win. Even though Australia won the war it was always going to be a close with many fatalities.
The Kokoda Track runs for ninety six kilometres and links both the Southern and Northern Coasts of Papua New Guinea. This track was used as an extreme fighting ground between the Australians and the Japanese. The Kokoda track includes a lush, thick rainforest and mountain country. This made it extremely difficult for this war to take place. For a long, tiring seven months both Australia and the Japanese were sealed in a large struggle for control. This was not an easy place for a war and as a result many lives were sadly lost on both the Australian and Japanese sides.
The Japanese had a considerably larger army than the Australians did. This was a major reason why many Japanese and also Australians believed that the Japanese were too win the war. To every Australian there were three Japanese soldiers; this made it virtually impossible for Australia to win. Many people both in and out of the war believed it was going to be a very quick and easy capturing of Port Moresby when comparing the size of both armies. Six thousand Australian soldiers rapidly decreased to 250, which was a very small amount of Japans army. “So many went in and so few came out.” This was spoken by one of the s...

... middle of paper ...

...defend our Country? If this war did happen and we would have to fight for our Country, there would have been quite a big chance that the Japanese would have come back with an army triple the size and an attitude where if someone stood in their way, they would most likely be dead within an instant. Our Country would be under the control of the Japanese, and soon after, they would have taken over everything, and the world would have been under the Japanese authority.
This battle was long, tiring and rewarding for Australians. On the Kokoda track, many lives were lost and friendships were tested, but nothing broke the bond that Australian soldiers had with each other. Quite a large amount of people thought we weren’t going to make it, but then it all changed when Australia believed they could do it. This outcome overwhelmed the whole of Australia. We had won the war.

Show More
Related

  • The Fall Of Singapore And Australia

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the 15th of February in 1942 one of the biggest defeats of the British Empire was accomplished by the Japanese, Singapore was surrendered. The Fall of Singapore was relatively destructive to the relationship between Britain and Australia. Australia relied on Britain holding Singapore as it was the last defence against the Japanese and it was feared that Japan would go on and invade Australia if it fell, Australia openly showed that they could not rely on the British for defence by becoming a strong ally with America and asking them to help with the feared Japanese invasion. Australia feared the threat of invasion constantly throughout the war, when Singapore fell the Australian government predicted a certain attack by the Japanese.

    Read More

  • John Curtin's Speech Analysis

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the 9th of February, three divisions of Japanese soldiers landed in Singapore; a major British military base and presence in the Pacific, under the control of Lieutenant General A.E Percival. Six days later, over 90 000 British, Australian and Indian troops were forced to surrender. It had been believed that Singapore guaranteed the security of Australia, therefore leaving the country seemingly hopeless under the threat of Japanese invasion. The Fall of Singapore in 1942 was significant in affecting the relations between Australia and the United States as the lack of support received from Britain caused, resulting in a drastic movement towards America for protection.

    Read More

  • The Home Front Case Study

    3302 Words  | 7 Pages

    Hypothesis: The Australian public made a significant contribution to the war efforts from 1939 to 1945, through sacrifices on a personal and national level. The determination of the Australian people in bringing their loved ones home safely, created strong relationships between the community, which in many cases, are still prevalent in Australian society to this day.

    Read More

  • Why Australia Joined World War I In 1914

    604 Words  | 2 Pages

    Australia (as a counry) felt a loyalty towards the 'mother country', Britaain and that the war would be a good opportunity to improve Ausrtalia's international reputation. Many individual Australians also joined the war for a variety of reasons. Some felt a strong loyalty to Britain who had supported Australia, and now, they felt, was the time for them to 'do their bit'. Others enlsted simply to prove they were brave enough to fight, but some enlisted because their friends had. Some simply enlisted because they needed a job, pay, and regular meals, but many enlisted in the army for an adventure, not knowing the true horrors of war. Private A.J. McSparrow (former railway worker from Parramatta, NSW), was one of the many men whwo enlisted because he felt that it was his duty to support the 'mother country' ..."I have (enlisted) ... and I don't regret it in the very least. I believe that it is every young fellow's duty" and "... we are the sort of men who should go."Private Antill enlisted because he needed the money, clothes and food and also because it was easier work than cabinet making ..."I tell you what I have just joined the Australan army ... it's not bad money here 5/- a day and clothes and food that's nearly as good as cabinet making and not half as hard."Lieutenant D.G. Armstrong (former bank clerk from Kyneton, Victoria), thought that the war would be great opportunity to prove his strength and to show that he was not a coward..."I am going to have a try for the war ... I think I ought to go, they want all they can get and ... I think it's the greatest opportunity for a chap to make a man of himself, those that come back from this war will be men of the right sort that anybody would be proud of.

    Read More

  • Australian Enlistment to World War I

    1429 Words  | 3 Pages

    The First World War or World War 1 was a conflict between Britain and Germany, which spread over Europe predominantly beginning on the 28th of July 1914 until the 11th of November 1918. AS soon as the war began, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's government pledged full support for Britain in an effort to defend Britain or the “Mother Country”. As enlistment came up for Australian men, thousands people across the country rushed to enlist for what they thought would be an opportunity to adventure Europe with the war supposedly ending before Christmas. With the propaganda at the government’s advantage, they could easily manipulate the Australian’s public view on what life, as a soldier would be like. As the pain of loss began to strike the citizens of Australia, views on what war was like changed and reality began to hit. This meant enlistment around Australia was significantly reduced especially after Gallipoli where there were the most casualties, which hit Australia hard. As time grew on

    Read More

  • Pearl Harbor Dbq

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Japan was greedy for more land and industrial materials, no one believed that the Japanese would start war with America by planning an attack on American soil. Another reason that the United States thought that the attack wouldn’t happen so close was because they were confident that Japan would try and take over the the Dutch East Indies, or French

    Read More

  • Australia and the Vietnam War

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    counterparts. The Vietnam War, was Australia longest ever fought in combat, at a cost of 520 Australian soldiers dead and over 20,000 wounded on foreign soil.

    Read More

  • Gallipoli: The defining moment in Australian National Identity

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the Great War began, Australia went to war as a nation which not only held its own but was invaluable to many ...

    Read More

  • Australia And War

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Australian participation in WW2 was similar to that of WW1 in many ways. After the British declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939, an Australian declaration of war was automatic. Aussie troops were soon sent to different parts of the world to help the British and other allied countries. It was not until late 1941 that they were recalled in order to defend the homefront. Darwin had been suddenly attacked by Japanese planes and small enemy submarines had snuck into Sydney Harbour. Darwin was repeatedly bombed by Japanese planes until July 1941, when along with American troops, the Aussies managed to drive them out of the Solomon Islands and northeastern New Guinea and eliminate a strong Japanese base at Rabaul. Without General MacArthur's troops, the enemy may very well have invaded Australia. This illustrates the importance of alliances.

    Read More

  • Essay On Kokoda Battle

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, the Kokoda Battle was an important event because of its cultural significance to Australia. The Kokoda track stands as an icon for Australian participation in the Second World War, just as Gallipoli serves the same purpose for the First World War. In 1942, the Australian Territories of Papua and New Guinea were in law if not in public sentiment, as much a part of Australia as the Northern Territory. It is then quite true to say that Australian soil was invaded by the Japanese in 1942. The main objective of this battle was for Japan to capture Port Moresby via the Kokoda track and from there they would control the Pacific. This war was also very significant because of the mateship, loyalty and hard work the Australians did to protect our country even when they were “flat out” of energy, as evidenced by this quote

    Read More

  • Japan´s Attack on Pearl Harbor

    784 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ip, and moved it against the quays. It heaved up the port side, and you could feel the decks-the compartments-being penetrated…You began to get afraid. I don’t know about other people, but I though “Geez I might get killed”.” (Remembering Pearl Harbor page 16). The attack by Japan was a smart tactical move on the United States. It was a two-fold plan, first If they attacked the US, they would draw attention from what was happening in Europe and all sources would be directed to the west half of the US. Second since the attack was so quick and unexpected the US was caught off guard. Since Japan attacked the largest base in the Pacific, Japan believed they would be able to cripple the US defenses for a while. “The Japanese did not realize that the attack on Dec. 7, 1941 would be a rallying cry for the Americans that had not enlisted to enlist in troops.” (Hampton)

    Read More

  • The Black Rat Essay

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    Good morning members of the Mt Gravatt show society. Did you know that World War Two is known as the most destructive war in history? It killed over 60 million people and had a lot more far-reaching impacts than any other wars. Published in 1988 in Inside Black Australia, an anthology of Aboriginal poetry, “The Black Rat” by a famous author and researcher, Iris Clayton, was a poem inspired by her father, Cecil, who fought in the war. The poem describes the depressing life of an Aboriginal soldier who helped off the German army at Tobruk at the time. The message in the poem is that the Aboriginal soldiers did not receive the benefits that European soldiers received, like farming lands after the war ended. This tells how unjust the European society was in Australia’s history.

    Read More

  • The Atomic Bombs

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ople and would fight to protect every inch of their homeland until there were no Japanese left. The logic of Truman and many Americans was to swiftly end the war while the means to do it were available, and this was one of the main driving forces behind the decision to drop the bomb.

    Read More

  • Harry Truman's Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... the Japanese were unpredictable. If Harry Truman had not dropped the bombs over Japan it would have only brought on further casualties.

    Read More

  • Justification Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki Bombings

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially, the US had planned to invade Japan in what was to be known as Operation Downfall. America would have provided most of the forces for the operation. The rest were to come from the British Commonwealth. However, the U.S projected that the operation would cost the country more than half a million soldiers. Furthermore, the U.S feared that an invasion would hav...

    Read More

More about Kokoda

Open Document