The Battles for Kokoda Plateau: Three weeks of hell defending the gateway to the Owen Stanleys
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley April 25, 2020
Author David W Cameron

Distributor: Allen and Unwin
ISBN: 9781760529550
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Release Date: March 2020
Website: https://www.allenandunwin.com
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Kokoda is a name known to many Australians as a place of great courage; of acts of selfless bravery, mud, brutality and now, more than almost 65 years after the end of the Second World War in the Pacific, Kokoda is a place of pilgrimage for many: a place to remember the sacrifice made by many young men as they were sent to do the almost impossible, forge a pathway across the Owen Stanley Ranges, sufficient to carry troops, ammunition and supplies to set up a forward base to defend the Kokoda airstrip from Japanese forces.
Although the distance was not great the terrain was inhospitable, at the best a series of native tracks between villages, at the worst a quagmire of mud, rain, leaches and swamps. Small European settlements were located at various points; Plantations in some instances, Missions in others.
Young men, some from the embattled Lark force, many others raw recruits facing battle for the first time, formed up as a formidable force to firstly carve a pathway through the jungle, men as young as 18 years old, plucked from their everyday lives, facing a challenge that was overwhelming, but needed to be complete if at all possible.
Before the trail was complete, the Japanese Imperial Forces landed on the northern coast of Papua in 1942. The convoy bought with them a massive amount of equipment, down to thousands of bicycles, nothing left to chance.
Over the three weeks this engagement was carried out, there was a secondary group of people made up of Australian soldiers, nurses, missionaries and downed US airmen trying to find their way to safety of the Australian lines. Sadly, theirs is a story of immense betrayal, with few surviving.
David Cameron has gathered together the story of the Battle for the Kokoda Plateau, using Military records and the treasured diaries of families, to weave a story of immense bravery, foolhardiness, tragedy and betrayal, against the horrific reality of the invasion and brutality of the Japanese troops who considered the capture of Port Moresby was the key to winning the war in the Pacific.
The Kokoda legend is well known, and now the background of the many men and women who built the track, gave their lives and wrote history have been given a voice, and will long remain a lasting reminder of the reality, the tragedy that was ‘The Battles for Kokoda Plateau’.