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Part 2wo

ABVAHCE

Sea and land reverses compel the Japanese

High Command to recall General Horii's

Moresby Force. In figh-bing stands at

Eora Greek and Gorari the enemy delays

the advance of Eather's Sixteenth and.

Lloyd's Twentyfifth Brigades before

retreating to fortify the north coast.

General Harding's Shirtysecond American

Division is directed at Buaa, but checked

abruptly on two fronts by saturating fire.The Sixteenth Brigade marches on Gona,

while Brigadier Lloyd takes his First,

Second, and Third Battalions up the

Sanananda Track against concentrateia.

defence systems, behind the first of

which Captain Catterns forces a Eoadblock.

Patrols of Eatherts Twen-fcyfifth Brigade

probed up the range before the foemen turned,

and. forced continued clash with rearguard. troops,while five battalions with commandoes came

close pressing, climbing, packed and slung with arms,

the Second. Twentyfifth and Thirtyfirst,the Thirtythird and Third aili-fciamea,

First Pioneers, but no artillery.

In mid and late September Ea-bher felt

the strangled access to assured. supply

that hampered Pot-bs in fighting his retreat;

and Base Command, eight thousand feet below

urged capture of the dry Myola Lakes,

the only dropping ground, with least delay.She Japanese, contesting every move,

met this advance with desperate assault,

but in October was Myola cleared.*

2hen frontal skirmish fast intensified.

along ravines of cold. Eora Creek,

on ledges, crags and hanging forest slopes.Far seen below, the souncLless waterfall

hung white, still hung, and. slept eternally,

aistwrapped and distance-fixed in canyon green;

and deeper cascades linked invisibly

beneath a narrow place of brokea. logs

where crossed Kokoda Trail;and there all din

of mortarshell, of rifleshot rose not

above the tumult and vibrating roar

of boulderfall and water falling down.

So men fell shot in anguished final plunge,

submerged or hooked on jut-bing rocks, on trunks,

roped in with care for mortuary rites;

while unremitting warfare crept and spread,

intensified across the mountainscape.

The Japanese with-drawal halted, changed

to reckless moves, aggressive and widespread.

Along the secret steeps and dripping heights

of Eora's close contours the foe,

positioned with advantage, lodged, above,

made gravitational onset, rolling blast

upon Australian sections and was met

by savage counterstroke from companies,

heroic scramble, sudden sliding charge

with bayonet, rifle butt and lobbed grenades.

Again the shifting mountain warfare left

a dour brigade, warhard, end.urable,

within a month exhausted, not of will

to suffer loss, to be denied relief

in longed-for sleep, in food., dry uniform,

but damaged in physique. A month of stress

at such a level of intensity,

uno easing night and day, left aow the mark

on Eather's men which August had with Potts.

In mid October Brigadier Lloyd

brought up Sixteenth Brigade, the Second Pirst,

the Second Second, and. the Second Third

with Ambulances Second. Pourth. and Sixth

3?o dressing stations down -bhe watershed.

of Owen Stanley, sapling stretcherborae.

on willing shoulders of Papuan boys

the opiate wounded came, flesliripped azid limp,

through sheeted rain miendiBtg, Lives were saved.

in open flyhitched teats by siargeon teams

bent over prostrate bodies night and day,

ignoring sleep uatil exhaustion cramped

the defter skill of operating hands.

Lieutenant Richardson, propped on a teunk

chestwounded, breathing through the bullet hole,

was carried, up to live and later fight.

The two brigades combined to clear this place;and quietly the worn battalions moved

through De&iki towards the lower flat

of coconuts and burnt Kokoda huts.

The ground had been abandoned.. Here now,

at new headquarters on that hallowed placewhich Owen died to hold three months before

the brigadiers paused, in their advance

and. General Vasey raised, the Southern Gross.

And resting from the conflict as they marched

in loag battalion lines the soldiers came

down shrouded northera slopes of the Divide

to gentle uplands, wet and soft and. warm,where Kunai, native gardens, coconuts

replaced in part the ancient virgin growth,

where ceased nocturnal shivering of men

but not their saturation. Mudeased thighs

trod paths besodden by the daily rains,

boot pestled into calfdeep mud by march.

The tracks alone were threads of trodden mud,

and. firmset forest floor lay either side,well drained of deluge by the patterned streams

which joined Hambare, or Kiimusi fed.

Oivi lay ahead, some clustered. huts

within young rubber set, and. east beyond,Gorari's gardened village held the l£rail.

There was occasion now, a turning point,

and worthy of brief pause. Each brigadier

addressed battalion leaders. Eather said :

"Our two brigades have broken Horii's stand

across Eora's desolate ravines

with gain of reputation, loss of men;

but now, patrols disclose, the enemy

prepares to clash this side Kumusi flood.

while Buna, Sanananda fortify.

We shall attack Oivi without pause,

and Twentyfifth, at Kobara to rest;

but not for long, will join to make attack

against Gorari, wedge the foe between.

This rearguard now making for the coast

will reinforce, entrench and fortify,

defensively will concentrate in depth

to face the risen fury of our drive,

await reocGupation of Milne Bay

reconquest of remote &uaclalcaaal,

before retracing long Kokoda Trail

to build a Noresby fortress facing south;

and this we calculate the altered plan.

The fighting will be different; they, not we,are in retreat, confused and fugitive;

the juagle now is kiad, lifeshielding,green armour, cloak and hood for stolen march.

We've learnt to make its dripping silent shade

our passive ally, to divide, reform,

emerge from pathless density, destroy,disperse instead of holding road and track

as vulnerable formatioas, clusters ripefor mortar, enfilade and. sniper fire.

And this at Gemas General Bennett first

in history of western conflic-fc taught;for there in planted Negri Sembilan

his Second Shirtieth Battalion hid

and jungle ambushed, checked and broke apart

the bicycling advaiice and rolling massof Geaeral Yamashita's fluid force

across and down Malaya; but the speed

and looping numbers routed. Indians

traditionbound. with English in retreat,wrapped up and tightened down across the strait

allied divisions, peoaed in Singapore

with million citizeias and dreadful choice

of genocide or laying down of arms.

The present fighting we shall not remit

because our generals, Blamey and HacArthur,

press with rising urge, impatient with

the hindered progress of our slow advance;

because aggressive seaborne Japanese,

as now supreme is, sea and. air control,

have quality and menace yet to gauge;

because each landfirm neck and island there

along -the swamplaced humid coastal plaia

will soon become a firesweeping fort

with no artillery of ours to crush

until Soputa field is in our hands.

Beyond, beneatla it; all, new foes unseea

will heavily assail us and them.

In torrid heat the humid moulds of skin,

scrub typhus, miteborne in the kimai grass,

infestive hookworm pierciag naked feet,

amoebae of a crippling dysentery,

mosquito and malaria parasite

abound along the lowland reservoir.

To old. hygiene you will now therefore add.

new supervision, stringent, close, compact;

for desert battle discipline,well proved,

will not aloae assist; survival here.

Our -field ambulances follow close,

but sickness must be leaded with due care,

preserving surgeons to their proper task

of wouad. repair. With tumult of pursuit

to follow, this must now be clearly said.

Inform your men, and keep them well informed;

the rising desperation of this war

must not to them be meaningless, or felt

a waste of life without sufficient cause.

While we advance American infarrfcry

footslog the heights along an eastern route,

the Kapa Kapa Trail, long disused,

to join our forces; others will be flowa.

Airborne supplies now reach. Kokoda S'ield

whence wounded men will fly, as new come in.

Kumusi is in flood, the coast awash,

aiid General Horii must be distodged

from Oivi and Gorari, be pursued,

deaied Kumusi crossing to th® coast*

Your men, one day to rest and be iiaformed;

the plan of imminent attack is here;

and after study, separately confer."

From clothed spurs on either side the track,

sphinxpaws of higher ground out-thrust, oblique,

came sniping, mortarblast and. cannon shell

to stay the front before Oivi, where

the Second Second, firepin&ed and held,

deployed its companies until the Tliird

came oa to deepen and to spread the flanks,

and Third Militia gave supporting depth.

But higher and more widely placed, the foe

resisted, held the ruthless beating thrusts

about their strong emplacemen-bs and the road

with fire of widespread origin. and power,

and stayed, for days the closepressed, face to face

ferocity of Sather's pla&ned attaclc.

Battalions of the Twentyfifth Brigade

eQveloped. from the south, the Sengai Track,

with swift and fluid northward-moving loops

to pinch Gorari, wedge Oivi off.

She ^wo brigades aow held. the Horii Force

on east and. south, and west in huge embrace,

8

and space within became a killing ground.

In grim recoil and with heroic rush

the Japanese died, man on fighting man;

where Corpora! Ryder rapid-shot, felled. three,

and while he charged, his magazine was met

with sudden fury of a sword attack

which struck off steel helmet, cut the head.

Profusely bleeding from his woimcLed scalp,

he grappled, kneed aad. slowly twisted, down

the writhing, crazed assailant, locked and killed.

With moraing of the tenth came thianer fire,

a risrfchin, scattered sh'ootiag i& the sou-fch, •

ia.0 mortars, no machiaegims, 'mere snipe. '

"They've made night flight', " the brigadier said;"now'fast patrolliag, closely followed search

will find. the wake of litter of retreat

which still must crosg KumwSi's broa'd.^aed sweepor find. the mouth, remote along the coagt.

Pursuit must be immediate and swift;

but shortly rest, and gather in your strength;eat frugally; access to normal diet

might put your piached bellies in revolt.H

The scattered enemy spread north; some crossed,

most rafted dowm. the torrent under fire;and Tomitaro Horii, stern of will,

resourceful strategist, whose dread command

led conquest into ^oresby's hinterlaiad,retraciag with obedient distress

the cold extended 'Prail, short supplied,

was in Kumusi rafting drowned at Pinga.

Gorari was a brief, decisive field,

much needed through the army echelons,

outmatchiag the invaders, until theii

ill jungle war aclaaowledged without peer;not yet enough to win the warm approve

of High Command. Ihough Blamey came to praise,

the cold MacArthur, vision Ley-fce fixed

ia forward planning, passed it by with soorn

and. gave his sneered impatie&ce little sti&t*

The States Division Thirty second moved

through Horesby, on to Wanigela flew;

but one bat-balioa, Hunclrecltwentysixth,

were sent to walls: the Kapa Kapa Trail,

then rarely used, aeglected, overgrowB.,

thin linfc of thiiily-peopled. Biative clans,

aloag Kalikodobu, Nepeana,

Arapara» Laruai, and past

^ •old -d. orman. t LisuBiinGton., 1;o Jaure, down.-tliro-ugh Bariuabila, cLowa ffimrl r?rlwa aloQg

to small Wairopi Village aiid the bridge.'the sweated lowlwnd. heat before ascent

had bent the frail disciplin® of men

unstressed in battle, here by march distressed;

until, with disregard of later need,

some shed. equipment, blaiikets, rifles, towels,

iaflictiag later chill aloag the heights,

cold. saturation, uneadurable.

One voice from privates, yoimg imkempt: recruits,then rose above a mumbled mass complaiat:

"What god dam son of heaven dragged us here, ?

What bum commander set us in this dump ?

Where is our air force now, and where the planes

to take us airbora® to the Buaa froat ?

And wby should we, four thousand miles from home,

be marched across the muds of Leqaington ?"

Amid this general tenor of disse&t

a weary sergeant sternly cou&^rspolce,

confronted them with sharp authority :

"You have aot yet begun your soldiering I

10

When General Harding issues planned command.s

such questioning can bring you on a charge

of conduct contrary to army code.

Fall in, and. march with cheerful, manly grace,well shaven, washed and. combed., im. sort of show

that might proclaim you worthy of the name

of our battaliion. Stem subversive talk,

pluck leg by leg from every leeching swamp

aad. march, and march with proper discipline;

Wairopi lies aot many miles ahead;

behiad, the longest of this trek is done."

Advaaciag lines of two divisions close,

Aus-bralian Seventh, Thirtysecond States,in timed approach towards the northern shore

across a sunstesuaed humic river plain

of kunai flats, low-tiered forest, swamp,each morning seared, under brilliant blue

but later blanketed with overcast

eclipsing cloud oonvected miles aloft

in turbulence above the windless earth

beyond the hovered, line of snow and ice

or Owen Stanley's pealcs and suamitline,

festooned beneath with liquid lightningfall

from purple velvet bottom; twilight greythe green of jungle, black within, arclit

from every flash above a thunderclap

in-feoning through columaar solid rain

across the drowning landscape and the sea.

Beneath it all a trident thrust of ranks

in delta form develops and expands,

Australian brigades along the Trail

at Gona Mission, Sanananda Point,at Buna the American recruits.

Mine Bay supplies now creep along the coastto Oro Bay and on to Hariko

in dire threat of air and sea attack*

0?he guns and crews on barges, lugger towed,

11

are landed, through the surf by straining men

who lug the twentyfives across the beach.

A slender convoy, working up the coast

with General Harding, heavy guns and crews,

Fifth Field. Kegiment, off Gape Sudest,

met Zero fighters coming in at dusk,

met streaming arcs of brilliant tracer fire

igniting craft and whipping men; one barge

had one machinegun. mounted, on the stern

where Gunner King, upstanding, took bis aim

and fired through the searing meteors,

through billowed smoke of slowly sinking barge

and. lived; and in that warm phosphoric sea

the wounded and survivors swam ashore,

while twentyfour strafed bodies went below.

But Harding's men had caugh-fe his confid-ence,

anticipating rolling-up and rout,

and joking left the startline; prophesied

a bloodless victory through Duropa, on

to Buna by the coast; and. in the west,

along the pathway leading to a bridge

between two fields, disused Old Strip and New,

the next detachment confidently wen-b

in singing rain beside Simeai Creek,

two forces. Warren and Urbana called*

On these two fronts advancing tender men,

canalled unwitting in controlled approach

upon the clustered, forts invisible,

unknown, waiting, silent, unpatrolled,

were met with sudden massive fusillades,

with solid bullet sweep in hissing rain

tlia-b stopped advance and laid them trembling, prone,

afflicted, flattened into numb cLismay,

some killed., some wounded, most in utter shoclc,

12

a blooding of young aen untrained in blood.

The first attempted allied air attacks

bombed forward, troops, and. could not penetrate

the secret bunkers where the Japanese

lay grim, triumphing at their hidden guns.

Sixteenth Brigade along Koteoda Srail

advanced through Isivita, Sangara,

•bo Popondetta, past Soputa, close

against the Japanese entrenched; and Lloyd,

asked his objective for the day, replied,

with Harding's optimism, or in joke,

"The seal" That goal, four miles up the Trail,

was distant yet a month of blood and death.

The Second Third in fasl? advance draw fire,

enveloped more than once but did not pin

elusive scouting Japanese patrols.

Lieutenant-Colonel Gullen deeper led

the Second First Battalion, now the van

to spearhead the thin extended line

of men advancing up the scrubland. trail,

who suddenly in open kunai felt

a flight of volleyed bullets and the shock

of arched, shells exploding in their path.

The companies disappeared in deploywith Burrell down but not astride the track

and Prior sioklethrusting round the right.

Now Cullen, quick to read. opposing strength,

called Captain Catterns. "Here we now confront

a fortified, position, strong and deep

wifch arty, mortar and. machinegun fire.

Your company will move and test the left

past open flats of kunai stretching north,

enclosed, with undergrowth and. shallow swamp.

A wide encirclement would find their rear."

Alert and eager to assess the chance,

the captain said. : "If we can penetrate

15

the stronghold., we should set a pocket there,

a scorpion embedded in their side,astride the track; and hold until you join."

"Then broaden we the plan, " the colonel said.,

"I ho^d. your company, put you in command

of Siapson's, Leaney's rifle companies,

a mere ninety, so our losses grow

without replacement, yet enough to male®

an outpost tenable against attack,

ten officers and eighty tes-bed men."

It satisfied the captain, who replied:

"We skirt the forest, move across the grass

to set ours elves against them, -tight and close,

and then disperse to widen points of fire.

Across that distance you will he§j? our charge

to pene-fcrate the stronghold and. bestride

the track where we shall hold. without retreat*"

H® knew his captain well; had. seen the ranks

relate to this young leader overseas

with admiration of his disc oneern.

in facing fire, for his skill at arms

and his protective judgment, of the kind

self reckless Owen at Kokoda had.

He merely said to all assembled there:

"Sake rations for a week and one, perhaps

two nursing orderlies from ambulance.

You know your leader, know your task,

are ready to endure a sharper risk.

Set off within the hour, and God with you."

They filed northwards, each battalion man

a moving arsenal of slung grenades

and cartridge belts, with rifles, bayonets, Brens,

one section lugging mortars and tlieir shells,

and with two orderlies from ambulance,

each hung with acriflavine, morptiia,

transfusion flasks, long bandages and. splints,

14

expectant but not tense; two desert years

had. moulded this cohesive Anzac band.*

Along the working edge of the advance

heroic action flared. McCloy, in charge

of Burrell's centre column, stood exposed.

in singing air to fell a rifleman

whose fire threatened. ; at three ImncLred yards

he aimed three target shots; the third, went home.

The company had pressed itself against

main enemy positions on the south;

where Sergeant Miller under flailing fire

brought in a badly wounded unit man

and then went forward, making spa<£e it seemed.

among the bullets to a corporal

whose belly-wound. ed cries of agony

were harrowing this hardened company,

iiijec'fc®^ morphia and. dressed, the wound,

returned in quest of stretcherbearing help

and went again through undiminished fire

with Corporal-bearer Kemsley to retrieve,

and once again that later afternoon

bore gently in a third limp rifleman.

Destructive fire met the forward tread

and rose to wild intensity against

inexorable advance of Prior's team

past falling comrades. Forts and pits unseen»

from source of fire sited, fell apart;

men died at guns, on bayonet or grenade

until the inner fort imposed a halt.

Then from the north at dusk there later came

like sudden thunderbol-b a crash of Bren,

sustained grenading, distance-dimmed but clear.

"It's Cafeterns closing in, " the Colonel said.

"I've asked, for reinforcements, "both for himand for our southern force against this front.

15

Our other two battalions moving up

will be supported by a company

from Somlinson's Onetwentysixth to back

the stand of Gatterns at his traokside block,

severe test for these AmericaD-s."

The ninety men with Catterns moving in

had stalked the outposts, quickly closed and. spread

to smelling distance from the Japanese;

and. sudcLenly were seen. Attaclcing men

recoiled with the broadside of their guns

and hurled t3aemselves headlong to close upon

a foe preoccupied with south attaclc.

They vaulted earthworks, apron trellises

of vines, ignoring in their impetus

the pointblank bullet swathes from guns fast manned,

and one by- one grenaded, bayonet-stilled,until survivors screaiaed into the bush.

No longer ninety fought; among the dead.

lay Simpson, Leaney, many of their men

as those alive dug in against the road.

Encircled after this destructive breach,

they shot with cold. economy, supreme,

withstanding paiticked counterslauglit, until

a curve of piled corpses marked their zone;

alert in shifts, they met the night inroads

on every side with shot and silent stab.

Sheir leader said, "If we stay long enough

the stinking fleslx will rob all appetite,

and we shall fight and march on something less

than settled stomachs. Better fill -them now!"

At height of active danger, moving thus

he joked in concord with his fighting men

who laughed and swore exultant. On the dead

the captain read the service, took their discs,

and gave them decent burial in mud.

The orderlies, efficient, busy, calm,

/// 16

injected morphine sulphate, stemmed the blood,

or blanketed, for shock; wet wool stayed warm;

and cheerfully served out hot black tea.

This fiercely implanted salient

had split the Japanese at heavy cost.

Of Gat-berns' ninety all but twentyfour

lay dead or wounded, on the twentyfirst,

the second night of holding, one of storm

and thunder, teemed rain, resistant fire.

The Second. Third. Battalion, wd&ing through,

relieved the decimated. Second First.

With further roadblocks on that trail of blood,

forced partly by American probing arms

with learned, tenacity and. allied help,

the forces in December's wet monsoon

encroached along the Sanananda Track

in imitation of, not equalling, the feat

of Captain Catterns' few, the reckless brave,

whose action met -bradition, set the seal

of shining brilliance on Australian arms.