A STUDYGUIDE BY ROBERT LEWIS
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
http://www.theeducationshop.com.au CAPTION CAN GO HERE
FROM THE CORRIDORS OF POWER TO THE BLOOD-STAINED BATTLEFIELDS OF THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS, KOKODA (DON FEATHERSTONE, ANDREW WISEMAN, URI MIZRAHI) 2009, TWO EPISODES X 57 MINUTES) TELLS THE STORY OF THE BRUTAL WORLD WAR II MILITARY CAMPAIGN BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND JAPAN THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF AUSTRALIAN HISTORY.
HILE most Australians have confusion of war, the intricate connec- tisations filmed in Australia and Papua heard of the Kokoda Track – the tions between the frontline soldiers and New Guinea. The diaries of embedded Wscene of an eight-month cam- military high command, and the political war correspondents Okada Seizo and paign that led to the defeat of the advanc- agendas that influenced the campaign Chester Wilmot paint an intimate picture ing Imperial Japanese Army and proved a and continue to percolate through con- of how soldiers on both sides felt during turning point for the Allies in World War II temporary Australian society. the battles. – few know much about the struggle that forged its treacherous reputation. No army The series follows in the footsteps The series introduces the key command- had fought in such terrible conditions; no of Australia’s ill-equipped and poorly ers, including controversial American general believed it possible. trained conscripts, the ‘chocolate sol- General Douglas MacArthur, Australia’s diers’, and the battle-hardened troops of General Sir Thomas Blamey and Japa- Fought without mercy by foes with the Australian nese Commander Tomitaro Horii, for everything to lose, the ferocious battle whom defeat in a campaign that had for the Kokoda Track saw bravery and Imperial Forces, walking the treacherous cost thousands of Japanese lives was atrocity, and noble and malicious intent 98-kilometre jungle trail from Port Mo- intolerable. on both sides. resby to Kokoda, then on to the blood- stained battlegrounds of Gona, Buna and Kokoda examines the Australian public’s From day one of the Kokoda campaign, Sanananda. response to military campaigns – both the fighting was politicised, mismanaged then and now – and the myths that they and mythologised. The two-hour documentary series engender. includes interviews with Australian and
Kokoda delves behind the myths of war Japanese veterans and historians, previ- The two-hour documentary series is SCREEN EDUCATION to tell the story from both sides of the ously unpublished documents and letters based on the best-selling book, Kokoda, conflict, giving an authentic and com- to loved ones, as well as archival foot- by Paul Ham (HarperCollins Australia, prehensive account of the desperate age, footage from the Track and drama- Sydney, 2004).
2 CURRICULUM against Nazism in Europe. Britain had MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH AF- APPLICABILITY assured Australia that it would protect RICA it from Japan – it expected that send- Kokoda is a suitable classroom resource ing a British Pacific fleet to the British When Italy entered the war on the side of for middle to upper secondary students in: naval base at Singapore would stop any Germany new theatres of war – the Med- Japanese advance in the Pacific towards iterranean and North Africa – opened up. • History Australia. This had been the basis of • Society and Environment Australia’s pre-war defence planning. So, Royal Australian Air Force planes and • Australian Studies Australia committed itself to the Euro- Royal Australian Navy ships were now • English pean war. sent into action in this area. In July • Media Studies HMAS Sydney sank the Italian cruiser While Australia had started a re-ar- Bartolomeo Colleoni, a significant Aus- BACKGROUND mament program before 1939, it was tralian naval success of the war. not well prepared to fight a war, and in The following material on the state of the this early part of the conflict Menzies HOME FRONT war by 1942 may be useful for students stressed that it was ‘business as usual’ who have not yet studied any aspect of while an effective fighting force and The Commonwealth government worked the war before watching Kokoda. supply system were developed. Those to increase industrial production as fast elements of the Royal Australian Navy as possible – this was to be a war that A. HOW WERE AUSTRALIANS that were overseas were put under Brit- would be won as much by the factories INVOLVED IN THE SECOND ish command; the Army began recruiting as by the men and women in uniform. WORLD WAR BEFORE 1942? and training men, and under the Em- Increasingly, civilian production was pire Air Training Scheme (EATS) Royal changed to production of war-related To understand the significance of what Australian Air Force (RAAF) recruits goods. happened in 1942 on the Kokoda Track were sent to Canada and South Africa you need to be able to explain why and for training and then posted to serve Present a brief summary of the key how Australia was involved in the Sec- in Royal Air Force (RAF) units (though events of this period involving Aus- ond World War up to early 1942. where possible they maintained their tralia. separate RAAF identity). Divide the class into six groups. Each Group 3 – 1941 group is to take the summary of a Present a brief summary of the key period of the war and report back on it events of this period involving Aus- EUROPE to the whole class. tralia. In July 1941 Germany broke its peace Group 1 – 1939 Group 2 – 1940 pact with Soviet Russia and invaded. This meant that Germany now had to During the 1930s Germany’s Nazi EUROPE supply troops against Russia as well as government was expanding its territory in Western Europe. and re-arming. In 1939 it threatened to After the invasion of Poland in 1939, invade Poland. Finally confronting Ger- there had been little fighting. Then in the MEDITERRANEAN AND NORTH AF- man expansionism, Britain and France summer of 1940 Germany attacked. Its RICA warned Germany that if it invaded Po- blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’) used aircraft land, they would declare war. Germany and tanks to move quickly and break Australian troops had been sent to the did invade on 1 September, and on 3 through the defences of most western Middle East early in 1941. They were September Britain and France declared European nations. After June, Britain very successful in defeating Italian war on Germany. remained the only European country still troops at Bardia, Benghazi and Tobruk, at war against Germany, but German and Vichy French troops in Syria. The Most Australian people felt very closely forces in France were now less than fifty biggest test came against the crack tied to Britain because of the historical kilometres from the British coast German troops who were trying to take connection. They were also opposed to the port of Tobruk, which would allow German expansion by force. When the The Germans then tried to gain control them to advance to Egypt. Allied troops, British Government declared war, Prime of the air over Britain to enable them including many thousands of Australians, Minister Menzies announced ‘Australia is to launch a seaborne invasion of that set up their defences, and were able to also at war’. nation. In the Battle of Britain Germany hold off repeated and determined at- tried to destroy both the British fighter tacks. The Germans had contemptuously With the coming of war, Australia had to planes and their bases. They failed. referred to the defenders as ‘rats’ in their make a decision: whether to look after About thirty Australian airmen were holes – the Australian and British troops home defence (there was a fear that involved in this ferocious air battle as took on this title with pride, and called
Japan, which had invaded Manchuria part of the Fighter Command RAF. Once themselves the ‘Rats of Tobruk’. SCREEN EDUCATION in 1931 and China in 1937, might try to defeated in this way, Germany switched expand its power even further in Asia), its tactics to bombing British industrial The Australians fought well and success- or to commit troops to help Britain fight centres and large cities. fully in North Africa, but disaster struck
3 in Greece and Crete. The 6th Division call up of men aged between eighteen On 7 December 1941 the Japanese had been sent to Greece to help oppose and sixty for the Australian Military Forc- attacked the United States base at enemy invasion. This was a disastrous es – the militia, the conscripted body Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, hoping to destroy decision. The German forces inflicted that was reserved for home defence of a major part of the American fleet. But heavy casualties among the Austral- Australia. the American aircraft carriers that could ians and the British, and over 2000 were provide the means of attacking Japanese taken prisoner. The survivors retreated to There were several German raider at- invasion forces were not in port. The Crete, where the same thing happened tacks in the Indian Ocean, and enemy attack also failed to destroy the oil sup- – defeat, more dead, and over 3000 mines were laid in busy shipping lanes. plies held there. Had the aircraft carriers Australian prisoners taken. The Royal and oil reserves been destroyed, the Navy, including Australian ships, suffered In November the greatest Australian outcome of the Second World War may heavy losses in ships sunk and dam- naval disaster occurred – the sinking of have been very different. aged while successfully carrying out the the HMAS Sydney by a German raider evacuation of Greece and Crete. off the coast of Western Australia. All 645 Japan also attacked Hong Kong, the crew died while destroying the Kormo- Philippines, Malaya, Guam and Wake Australian ships were active in the ran, which was threatening sea supply Island at the same time as attacking Mediterranean against the Italian navy, lines. The location of the wreck of the Pearl Harbor. The Japanese now seemed and supported Australian and other Sydney was only discovered in 2008. invincible, and swept through Asia and Commonwealth troops at Tobruk, where much of the Pacific area. the ships would run supplies in to the Present a brief summary of the key besieged troops by night, while frequent- events of this period involving Aus- The entry of Japan into a Pacific war ly under heavy attack from the German tralia. threw Australia’s war strategy into chaos. Air Force. The Navy ships Waterhen and Our greatest fear – an expansionary Parramatta were sunk while providing Group 4 December 1941 – Asian power with a strong navy capable supplies to the troops at Tobruk, the lat- February 1942: Japanese entry of bringing the war right into Australian ter with only twenty-three survivors from and victories territory – was realised. a crew of 160. During the 1920s and 1930s the Japa- Australian, British and other Common- ASIA AND THE PACIFIC nese government was increasingly wealth troops resisted the Japanese dominated by nationalistic and militaris- invasion with mixed success. The The 8th Division (about 15,000 men) was tic individuals and groups. These leaders Japanese were outnumbered by the Al- formed and most were sent to Malaya wanted to secure access to vital natural lied forces, but they were battle veterans and Singapore, as garrison troops to resources that were essential for Japan and used the terrain much better. There protect that area from any possible to increase its growth and power. In 1931 was some heavy fighting – the greatest Japanese invasion. RAAF Squadrons Japan invaded Manchuria to secure number of Australian combat deaths of had been there since late 1940, and raw materials. In 1937 it invaded China. any campaign came in the two months made up about one quarter of the British Australia stopped all iron ore exports to of the Malaya campaign – but there was air garrison at the time of the Japanese Japan in 1938, and the United States also much retreating, confusion and in attack. and Netherlands East Indies stopped oil some cases panic. The Allied troops exports there in 1941. retreated to Singapore and, faced with HOME FRONT threats to the civilian population and the The Japanese now implemented their certainty that their water supply would Industry continued to be the main focus idea of the Greater East Asia Co-pros- be cut off, the Allied forces surrendered. of the war effort, with almost all civilian perity Sphere –they would invade and Singapore was supposed to protect production being changed over to war ‘liberate’ southern and south-eastern Australia. It fell, and with it the belief materials. Asia from Western colonial powers. Ja- that Britain could protect Australia. The pan would then dominate the area, and Malaya/Singapore campaign was Aus- The increasingly serious war situation have access to the vital oil and rubber of tralia’s greatest disaster of the war. It lost meant that as many men as possible the area. twenty-five per cent of all battle deaths were needed in combat and direct against the Japanese in those eight support roles – so the services decided Ships were essential for this plan to weeks. Australia also lost over 15,000 to start replacing men in non-combat succeed – they were needed to carry the men and a number of women nurses roles with women. For the first time, troops, supplies and planes. who were prisoners of war, more than women were now allowed to join the one third of whom would die over the armed services: the Women’s Australian The United States was the only power next three years, some of them brutally Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF) was formed that could possibly stop Japan’s expan- murdered. in February, the Women’s Royal Austral- sion, as it had the only fleet capable of ian Naval Service (WRANS) in April, and matching Japan’s fleet in the Pacific. It The Navy also suffered losses. HMAS
the Australian Women’s Army Service could also threaten the sea lanes that Perth was sunk on 1 March, with 457 SCREEN EDUCATION (AWAS) in July. Japan needed to send its new resources dead in action or afterwards as POWs. to Japan. HMAS Yarra was also sunk in March, There was also an increased compulsory with only thirteen of the 151 crew surviv-
4 ing. Navy ships Vampire and Voyager Australian servicemen, civilians and refu- About 100,000 men left the farms, and were also sunk in this period. gees. Most of these later raids caused some women joined the Women’s Land little damage and few or no casualties. Army to take over vital food production The Japanese took Java, capturing an – though it seems that in most cases Allied force that included the Australian At the same time submarines prowled it was the farmers’ wives and mothers ‘Blackforce’ of about 3000 men after ten shipping lanes off the east coast of who took up that burden. The main role days of fighting, and continued to sweep Australia. for most women continued to be that of towards New Guinea. Three Australian homemaker, a job made much harder Battalion groups were sent to defend In June 1942 three midget submarines and more demanding by the blackouts, Ambon (Gull Force), Timor (Sparrow entered Sydney Harbour to sink the rationing, shortages and difficulties of Force) and Rabaul (Lark Force). Each American warship USS Chicago. One wartime life. comprised about 1000 men, and they fired but missed and hit HMAS Kuttabul, were poorly equipped and outnumbered a former ferry that was being used as Present a brief summary of the key by the Japanese forces. Some of these floating naval accommodation, killing events of this period involving Aus- men were killed in battle, some were ex- twenty-one Australian and British sailors. tralia. ecuted on surrender, and many died as a Other submarines shelled Sydney and result of their brutal treatment as prison- Newcastle, causing little damage. Group 6 – Battles of the Coral ers of war of the Japanese. About 400 Sea and Midway managed to make it back to Australia. The government of the day pushed industrial production more towards a war CORAL SEA Port Moresby was now the key to Papua effort. There was an ‘all in’ effort to win New Guinea, and to the control of Aus- the war on the production front, as well Between 5 and 8 May Australian ships tralia – if the Japanese could control that as on the battlefront. and planes contributed to the American port and the surrounding sea lanes, they fleet’s engagement with the Japanese in could launch attacks against the Austral- Most Australians did not ‘fight’ in the the Coral Sea. ian mainland, disrupt supplies coming war. These are often the forgotten peo- to Australia from America to be used ple: the men and, in lesser though grow- The Japanese plan was to spread from against the Japanese, and could protect ing numbers, the women who worked Rabaul, in East New Britain, and es- any gathering forces to invade Australia – in the factories; those who stayed on tablish strong bases at Port Moresby, if they wanted to make that their aim. the farms, giving up the ‘glory’ and the and on Fiji, the New Hebrides, Samoa ‘glamour’, but also the danger in most and the Solomons. This would enable Present a brief summary of the key cases; the ‘Dad’s army’ of the Volunteer them to cut Australia’s supply line from events of this period involving Aus- Defence Corps, ready to resist an inva- America, and to attack northern Austral- tralia. sion; the coast watchers of the north, ian mainland bases that could be used to tracking the movement of planes and launch air attacks against Japanese po- Group 5 – Attacks on Australia ships; the Aboriginal and Torres Strait sitions. The Japanese would also launch Islander guides, watchers and trackers; an attack on Midway, between Pearl One of the important areas seized by the those manning searchlights night after Harbor and Japan, with the aim of at- Japanese was Rabaul, in the East New night in city areas, or standing guard tracting the American fleet and destroy- Britain province of Papua New Guinea. over vital ports and places in case of at- ing it, thereby severely limiting America’s This gave the Japanese an air base from tack; the Civil Construction Corps – over Pacific War capacity. which they could launch bombing raids 100,000 of them – sent to work building in the area. roads and aerodromes in the harshest The first stage of this plan was to land of conditions. For every man fighting the troops at Port Moresby. The Japanese knew that the United enemy, there were dozens of men and States would try to gather forces and women working to support him. 1 An invasion force of transports equipment in Australia for launching carrying soldiers would leave Rab- counter-attacks against the Japanese in Sport was cut back. Petrol, clothing aul, and head around the tip of New the southwest Pacific area. The Japa- and some food items were rationed. As Guinea to Port Moresby. They would nese aim was to stop this build-up of more men were sent overseas to fight, be protected by several warships. men and materials, and to keep Australia women were allowed to join the Air 2 Allied Task Force 44 consisted of a isolated from effective engagement in Force, Army and Navy in roles other than group of Allied warships, includ- the area. This would also be helped if the traditional nursing ones, releasing ing two Australian ships, the heavy they could seize the port of Port Mo- men for combat roles. Engineers and cruiser HMAS Australia and the resby, which they would attempt to do labourers were conscripted into the Civil light cruiser HMAS Hobart. They by landing troops there. Construction Corps, as roads were built were sent to find and attack this in outback areas to try and create a sup- Invasion Group. This force was com- During 1942 and 1943 the Japanese ply line to the northern front at Darwin. manded by Australian Rear Admiral
launched nearly 100 air raids on Darwin, Women were taken into previously male Crace. SCREEN EDUCATION Broome, Wyndham and other northern jobs – such as on the trams, and in 3 There was also a second Allied towns. The first raids on Darwin and new areas in factories – though most force of two aircraft carriers, the Broome killed hundreds of American and did not receive equal pay for the work. USS Lexington (commanded by
5 ORGANISATION STRENGTH COMPRISING COMMANDED BY
Army 60,000+ 2 or more corps General
Corps 30,000+ 2 or more divisions Lieutenant General
Division 10,000 – 20,000 3 brigades Major General
Brigade 3000 – 4000 4 battalions Brigadier
Battalion 780 4 companies Lieutenant Colonel
Company 150 4 platoons Major or Captain
Platoon 40 4 sections Lieutenant
Section 10 Sergeant or Corporal
ITEM 1
Rear Admiral Fitch) and the USS unprepared. Battalion Yorktown (commanded by Rear- Admiral Fletcher), together with pro- However, the Japanese fleet was smaller LOCAL: Papuan Infantry Battalion tective cruisers and destroyers. Their than anticipated, the American fleet was (Papua) ANGAU (Australian New Guinea task was to stop the invasion, and to larger than the Japanese had expected, Administrative Unit) do this they would have to tackle the the Americans had greater numbers of main Japanese Carrier Striking Force. aircraft, and the Americans knew of the A.I.F.: 4 A Japanese battle group planned to trap – having broken the secret Japa- - 21st Brigade 2/14th Battalion (Vic) intercept this American naval force nese communication codes. 2/16th Battalion (WA) 2/27th Battal- from two sides as it entered the Coral ion (SA) Sea. Both sides suffered heavily, but the - 25th Brigade 2/25th Battalion (Qld) Japanese Pacific fleet air power was 2/31st Battalion (Australia wide) However, American intelligence knew severely reduced, so Japanese resist- 2/33rd Battalion (Australia wide) that the Coral Sea action was about to ance to all further Allied attacks was now - 16th Brigade 2/1st Battalion (NSW) happen – they had broken the Japanese significantly lessened. It also meant that 2/2nd Battalion (NSW) 2/3rd Battalion secret naval codes, and were able to there was no longer any practical pos- (NSW) move ships into the area to oppose the sibility that Australia could be invaded by - 2/1st Pioneer Battalion enemy. Japanese forces. - 2/6th Independent Company - 14th Field Regiment The Allied losses were greater in the bat- Present a brief summary of the key - 2/6th Field Company tle, but the greater victory was that they- events of this period involving Aus- - 2/14th Field Company ended the proposed Japanese seaborne tralia. - 2/9th Australian General Hospital invasion of Port Moresby. It also helped - 2/4th Field Ambulance lessen the size of the fleet that Japan as- Against this background you can now - 2/6th Field Ambulance sembled to destroy the American Pacific study the Battles of the Kokoda Track - 18th Brigade (2/10th etc) fleet a few weeks later at Midway, and, and Gona, Buna and Sanananda. most significantly, left the Americans with There were also elements of the Royal greater aircraft numbers, and therefore B ORGANISATION OF THE Australian Air Force and Royal Austral- crucial air superiority, in the forthcoming MILITARY ian Navy involved in the campaigns, and battle. Check no. and type of American United States troops. ships lost. Japanese historians call it a You will come across several military tactical victory for the allies only as they terms in Kokoda that describe Austral- BEFORE WATCHING THE (the Japanese) didn’t achieve their objec- ian units involved in the fighting. Here is FILM tive. The damage to the American Navy an explanation of how Australian military was equable. forces were organised, and of which 1. Brainstorm to record your existing units were at Kokoda and then Buna, image of Kokoda. It does not matter at MIDWAY Gona and Sanananda. this stage whether you know a lot or very little, or even if your ideas are totally The Japanese, despite the setback in the SEE ITEM 1... wrong. It is not a test. It is just a way of Coral Sea, believed they were poised to finding out what you know, and what you destroy the Americans. The Japanese Australian military units at Kokoda Track think you know.
set a trap for the US fleet – they attacked and at Buna, Gona and Sanananda: SCREEN EDUCATION Midway on 4–6 June, knowing that the You will be able to return to this at the Americans would respond, and believing MILITIA: 39th Battalion (Vic) 53rd Battal- end of the film and see if you would that they could catch the American fleet ion (NSW) 3rd Battalion (NSW) 3rd Militia change any of these answers and ideas.
6 ITEM 3: WWW.KOKODAWALKWAY.COM.AU/STATIONS/MAP.HTML
You can add additional aspects to the list EXPLORING IDEAS AND if you want to. ISSUES IN THE FILM
Brainstorm of Kokoda: Understanding the campaign
SEE ITEM 2 ON PAGE 8... The Kokoda campaign can be confusing. The film sets out the events in chrono- 2. Imagine that an Australian soldier who logical order. served on the Kokoda Track was coming to talk to your class. List five questions 3. As you watch the film complete your that you would want to ask him. notes on the aspects set out in the time- line, and trace each stage on the map. Discuss all the questions that class SEE ITEM 3 (MAP) ABOVE, AND ITEM 4 (THE members have suggested, and choose KOKODA CAMPAIGN TIMELINE TABLE) ON PAGE
the top ten that you would ask. 9, AND ITEM 5 (MAP) ON PAGE 10. SCREEN EDUCATION (Where a name is in bold identify it on the map.)
7 ASPECT BEFORE WATCHING KOKODA AFTER WATCHING KOKODA Where is it
What is it like?
Who was involved?
Why were they there?
Who fought whom?
What was the fighting like?
When did it happen?
What was the outcome?
What was its significance?
What does it mean to you today?
What do you think would be the greatest effects of war on participants? (Your
may suggest positive and SCREEN EDUCATION negative effects.)
ITEM 2 8 THE KOKODA CAMPAIGN TIMELINE
21 July 1942 2000 elite Japanese troops land at Gona on the northern • Why did the Japanese land there? shores of Papua New Guinea. • What was their mission? • Why did they want to take Port Moresby?
29 July 1942 900 Japanese advance troops attack 77 soldiers of the • Who were the ‘militia’ troops? 39th militia battalion defending Kokoda. • Why were they defending Kokoda?
12 Aug 1942 Kokoda falls and the 39th militia withdraws to Isurava. • What were the conditions like in the area?
16 Aug 1942 1200 experienced Australian Imperial Forces troops move • Where did these troops come from? up the track to reinforce the 39th militia at Isurava. • Why did it take them so long to arrive? • Were they good troops? • How were they to be supplied?
18 Aug 1942 10,000 Japanese reinforcements begin landing on the • What problems did the Japanese forces have with their northern shores of Papua New Guinea and move up supply lines? towards Isurava.
26 Aug 1942 At dawn, 6000 Japanese troops attack the 39th militia at • What tactics did the Japanese use? Isurava.
26 Aug 1942 During the evening, the first 600 AIF troops arrive at • What was the nature of the fighting here? Isurava to reinforce the stranded 39th militia. • What attitude did the troops have towards the fighting?
30 Aug 1942 The Japanese take Isurava. • What was the significance of this victory?
30 Aug –8 Sept Australian fighting withdrawal. • What is meant by a ‘fighting withdrawal’? 1942 8 Sept 1942 Japanese take Brigade Hill (near Efogi). • How had the Australian withdrawal become a rout?
16 Sept 1942 Japanese take Irobaiwa Ridge 40 kilometres from Port • What was the significance of this position? Moresby.
24 Sept 1942 The Japanese are ordered to retreat. • Why were they ordered to retreat? • What was the impact of this order on the Japanese soldiers?
24 Sept 1942 Australians commence a counter-attack. • What advantages did the Australians now have?
28 Sept 1942 Australians re-take Irobaiwa Ridge. • What disadvantages did they have?
7 Oct 1942 Australians reach Brigade Hill (near Efogi). • What did they find here? • How did this change the nature of the fighting?
13 Oct 1942 Australians arrive at Templeton’s Crossing. • What did they find here? • How is cannibalism justified in the film?
22–28 Oct 1942 Australians re-take Eora Creek after a bitter six-day • What did this battle reveal about the Australian and American battle. military leaders?
1 Nov 1942 Australians enter Kokoda unopposed. • What was the significance of Kokoda for the rest of the campaign?
8–12 Nov 1942 The reinforced Japanese make a stand at the villages of • What is the purpose of this stand? Oivi and Gorari. • What would have happened if the Japanese had won? • Why did they lose?
15 Nov 1942 3,000 American troops arrive at Gona. • Why were these troops largely ineffective?
9 Dec 1942 The Australians capture Gona. • Why might this battle be considered a waste of lives?
1 Jan 1943 The Australians and Americans capture Buna. • What tactic was now used to defeat the Japanese strongholds and bunkers?
12 Jan 1943 The Australians and Americans capture Sanananda. • What was the significance of this victory?
19 Jan 1943 The remaining Japanese are ordered to evacuate from • What is the concept of ‘senjinkun’? Sanananda. • How does it help explain the Japanese conduct? • How does it help explain the savage nature of the fighting in Papua?
22 Jan 1943: The campaign ends with the defeat of the Japanese. • What were the losses to both sides? SCREEN EDUCATION • What was the significance of the victory for Australia’s position?
ITEM 4
9 ITEM 5: :::5(,6(1(77120$3B&2//(&7,21+,6725,&$/3$38$B%81$B -3* SCREEN EDUCATION
10 4. A film like Kokoda can tell us much words to use on the memorial? Are there every Australian secondary school during about big ideas. Discuss and summarise other words that you might add? 2009. what you learn from Kokoda about: 7. Kokoda challenges some myths Kokoda is based on the book by Paul • the nature of war about the Kokoda campaign. Look at Ham. He is also the chief commenta- • leadership these commonly held ideas, and discuss tor in the film. Here is an extract from a • the Anzac spirit how Kokoda challenges them. review by Paul Ham of a book about the • the brutality of war Japanese soldiers, The Path of Infinite • human qualities shown in war – both • Australians are ‘natural soldiers’ Sorrow: The Japanese on the Kokoda positive and negative • All Diggers were brave fighters Track, written by Craig Collie and Hajime • continuing damage after a war • The ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ were all Marutani. Read it and answer the ques- • the impact of war on a community. heroes and patriots tions that follow. • Australian soldiers always fought 5. One of the characteristics of the fairly. A theme of the book is heroism and self- Kokoda campaign was its brutality. sacrifice. What makes a hero, the authors Several soldiers are asked in the film 8. We hear in Kokoda that soldiers openly or tacitly ask: self-sacrifice for about their attitude towards their former believed they were fighting to protect their mates and mother country, seems enemies. Should there be forgiveness? Australia. Were they? Was there really a to be the answer. Explain your ideas. Japanese plan to invade Australia? This issue has aroused controversy recently. But what is self-sacrifice? Is there such 6. There is a memorial to the campaign You can explore the issue further in a a thing as “self” sacrifice by soldiers at Kokoda. The memorial comprises classroom unit ‘Understanding 1942 and whose duty is to kill and, if necessary, be
four black obelisks, set as corners of a the Battle for Australia’ in the educa- SCREEN EDUCATION square. Each has one of the four words: tional resource kit Defence 2020: Is the courage, endurance, mateship, sacri- Australian Defence Force a Responsible fice. Do you think these are appropriate Citizen?, a copy of which was sent to TOP: ------BOTTOM L-R: ------
11 killed? One wonders, observing 14-year- In New Guinea, the Japanese starved bestial behaviour of the Japanese troops old Hubert Anthony, bound for Gallipoli, to death or were hunted down, virtually at Milne Bay, either, where local women whether young men have the faintest to the last man. Many were reduced to were mutilated and raped with bayo- notion of self after recruit training has eating “caked earth” and died vomiting nets (which was documented in the war turned them into killing machines. Hero- blood. Most of the few survivors ate Aus- crimes tribunal). ism in combat is less about self-sacrifice tralian, American and, in the later stages than about the unflinching enactment of of the war, “friendly” corpses. No doubt the Japanese soldier went, duty in the line of fire: a war hero does as unflinchingly, to certain death; no doubt he’s told, and does it well. We learn too of the nature of the enemy: he fought bravely, as this book shows not all were the savage jungle warriors with bitter candour. But true heroism, The traditional Japanese soldier fulfilled of popular myth. It will cause chagrin in my view, implies something greater this definition of heroism to the letter to defenders of Australian honour to than “selfless” duty: it is an act driven by along the Kokoda Track. His sense of learn that many Japanese troops on the conscience beyond the remit of duty, a “self” amounted to a querulous whisper Papuan beaches were non-combatants self-willed instant of transcendent cour- in his notebooks. He rarely if ever diso- - “labourers-cum-soldiers” - who fought age, to save one’s friends, family, or even beyed the most fanatical orders. in their fox holes “with a single-minded the enemy (where the enemy is being ferocity borne of desperation”. treated inhumanely). Heroism is when Yet some Japanese soldiers did display conscience acts, in line with or against a greater self-awareness – and thus a This book’s chief failure is the equanim- duty, for another’s salvation. fuller sense of the heroic – than we give ity with which Japanese atrocities are them credit for, according to the authors explained or qualified or, the greater sin, ZZZWKHDXVWUDOLDQFRPDXQHZVEH\RQG of The Path of Sorrow: The Japanese on simply omitted altogether. The Japanese P\WKVWRU\HIUJQR the Kokoda Track. “Burma is hell; but no have a talent for recasting themselves one returns from New Guinea,” Japanese as victims, not aggressors, but many 9. Do you think Kokoda reflects these troops said with dread. Japanese troops set a new precedent ideas? Justify your view. for brutality in the Pacific War, as they This book by Craig Collie and Hajime emulated the Samurai phantasms of their 10. Who, if anyone, was a hero at Marutani certainly traces a campaign imaginations. Kokoda? Why? from which only about 5 per cent of Japanese soldiers returned. The authors The Allied armies in the Pacific did not 11. Look back at your original brain- illuminate the Japanese side: the ferocity bayonet prisoners for training, as the storm about Kokoda. What would you
of the battles; the awfulness of the Japa- Japanese did at Rabaul; the Allies did not SCREEN EDUCATION nese retreat over the Kokoda Track; and behead civilians or starve native carri- their collapse into a starving, emaciated ers, as the Japanese did on an industrial shambles. scale. The authors don’t mention the ABOVE L-R: ------
12 now change? mentary can have a variety of purposes: tions on the Kokoda Track. Read it and, to inform in a neutral way, to advocate assuming it is accurate, do you think 12. Look back at the list of ten ques- one particular side in an issue, to present Kokoda has captured these conditions? tions that you created for the imaginary both sides of an issue fairly. Justify your views. visiting Kokoda veteran. Do you think they have been answered by the docu- 15. What would you say is Kokoda’s To add to the problems of the Australian mentary Kokoda? purpose? troops, conditions on the Kokoda Track were appalling. The narrow dirt track 13. Are there now other questions that 16. Does it achieve this or not? Con- climbed steep heavily timbered moun- you think you would like to ask? sider how these key elements of a tains, and then descended into deep val- documentary do or do not help Kokoda leys choked with dense rain forest. The 14. Paul Ham says that Kokoda has to achieve its aims: steep gradients and the thick vegetation not resonated with the Australian people made movement difficult, exhausting, in the same way that Gallipoli has. Why • editing and at times dangerous. Razor-sharp not? You can suggest reasons, and then • narration kunai grass tore at their clothing and explore the issue further in the unit ‘Un- • music slashed their skin. The average annual derstanding Anzac Day – Past, Present • sound effects rainfall over most of the Kokoda Track and Future’ in the education resource kit • dramatic reconstructions is about 5 metres (16 feet), and daily Gallipoli and the Anzacs, sent to every • historic film and stills rainfalls of 25 centimetres (10 inches) are secondary school in Australia during • interviewees not uncommon. When these rains fell, April 2010. • use of historical experts. dirt tracks quickly dissolved into calf- deep mud which exhausted the soldiers
Kokoda as a documentary 17. Is Kokoda fair to both sides? Is it SCREEN EDUCATION film too fair? Explain your views.
Kokoda is a documentary film. A docu- 18. Here is one description of the condi- TOP: ------BOTTOM L-R: ------
13 after they had struggled several hundred metres through it. Sluggish streams in mountain ravines quickly became almost impassable torrents when the rains began to fall.
Supply was a nightmare for the soldiers on the Kokoda Track, because every item of food, ammunition and equipment had to be man-handled along the track or dropped by air. Heat, oppressive humid- ity, mosquitos and leeches added to the discomfort of the rain-drenched Aus- tralian soldiers who were often without adeqate food and even a cup of tea. www.pacificwar.org.au/KokodaCam- paign/KokodaSectionView.html
19. Consider the ending of Kokoda. What particular message or impression possible, the bravery and brutality of the strong and placed the Kokoda military do you think it is trying to create? 1942 military campaign, which led to the campaign in a broader political and so- defeat of the advancing Japanese forces cial context. It also goes into some detail 20. How have other documentaries and proved a turning point for the Allies about fighting in jungle conditions, a and feature films presented Kokoda? in World War II. particularly savage environment in which Two accessible ones are Damien Parer’s to fight.’ Kokoda Frontline (available online at Producer Andrew Wiseman says while
sub-equatorial swamps of Sanananda. lengths to research both the Australian SCREEN EDUCATION and Japanese perspectives, interview- In doing so, the film makers have ing Australian and Japanese veterans,’ captured, with as much authenticity as Wiseman says. ‘The book was clear and ABOVE: ------
14 and the Australian public’s response to air-dropped at points along the way. got to watch where you put every step military campaigns and the myths that because there are roots that stick out of they engender. Featherstone and the crew wanted to the slippery mud and they are like glass make it as authentic as possible. or ice and all it takes is for you to slip ‘The Kokoda campaign was a brutal, and wrench your knee or twist your ankle savage campaign which threw up many ‘We wanted to capture the visceral and you can’t go on.’ fine examples of bravery and comrade- nature of the track and the only way to ship,’ Wiseman says. ‘I hope it deepens do that was to walk and film the whole There are logistical difficulties too, with the debate about how Australians view length of it,’ he says. “Other crews have overnight stops dictated by the harsh their military history and that we don’t helicoptered in and out at various points terrain. just rest easily on simple clichés about along the track and captured bits and our involvement in any war. It’s really pieces, but we knew that wouldn’t work ‘You have to keep walking to reach important to try and comprehend the for us.’ certain points where it’s level or where complexity of our military history.’ there’s water – you can’t stop and go After arriving at the mountain village of “let’s spend the night here” – so to A four-man film crew, including Feath- Kokoda, the crew continued to Papua achieve that we could only film for about erstone, cinematographer Brent Crock- New Guinea’s northern beaches, filming three hours a day,’ Featherstone says. ett, sound recordist Patrick Slater, and on the intense and bloody battlegrounds camera assistant Gary Scott, trained for at Gona, Buna and Sanananda. There The crew would rise at 5.30am and start several months, walking ‘up steep stuff’ also was two days of aerial filming, with walking an hour later, knowing that they before leaving for Papua New Guinea. the crew flying the same route as the had until 5pm to arrive at the next rest WWII Dakotas, which dropped rations at spot. They walked the treacherous 98-kilo- Myola. metre jungle trail from Port Moresby to ‘When you come across something that Kokoda in eleven days, accompanied While they visited during the dry season, you think is worth filming, you’ve got to by Australian tour guide Frank Taylor it still rained a lot, which proved good think, and twenty-seven local porters carrying and bad. 250kg of film equipment, including a full well it’s going to take half an hour for the HD camera kit (and a spare in case of a ‘It meant that we could get the condi- porters to catch up, put the tripod up, fault). tions that the troops faced right through- put the jib up. Is it really worth filming out the campaign because they were this or might there be something else
Each person carried four litres of water there during both the dry and the wet better around the corner?’ SCREEN EDUCATION a day, and military-style food rations seasons,’ Featherstone says. – tinned fish, meat or beans and ‘in- Making the film proved a life-changing dustrial strength’ dried biscuits – were ‘It’s so treacherous that you’ve literally experience, particularly for those who
15 walked the Track. in Port Moresby but there are still some done their job well, but it’s also clear, missing along the track. 13,000 Japa- and they state this quite explicitly, that It was a terrible place to fight a war – to nese were killed in the campaign and they believe that war is both savage and be shot at, to shoot, to be injured. There there’s no cemetery for them as there is horrible.’ was extreme heroism and bravery on for the Australians. both sides and savagery and brutality They also hope the series will promote that hadn’t been seen in World War II up ‘Our entire crew was deeply moved by reconciliation. to that point. No prisoners were taken. the experience and couldn’t imagine what the young men went through in that ‘We have interviewed both Japanese and Both sides were ill equipped: Austral- place. As you walk the track the fallen Australian soldiers,’ Featherstone says. ian soldiers arrived with light-coloured need to be treated with reverence and desert uniforms, clearly visible in the respect. I don’t think it’s the place to go ‘They have talked about each other, what heavy jungle foliage; the Japanese, who to conquer or get fit. It’s not a place to they felt about each other during the had been told there was a road across get fit to win a game of football.’ war and what they feel about each other the island, arrived with horses and push- now – their feelings today have generally bikes. The filmmakers hope that Kokoda will softened a lot. As one Australian veteran help viewers to see the campaign in a says, “as far as the ordinary soldier was ‘The Kokoda Track needs to be treated more authentic light and remind them concerned, we were there because we with reverence,’ says Featherstone. about the utter savagery of war. were told to be there and they were there because they were told to be there”.’ ‘Walking the track you’re walking over a ‘What I found particularly moving in battlefield. There are shells lying around, interviews with the veterans was their 22. Write a review of Kokoda. Do you
there are unexploded mortar bombs. It’s distaste for the events,’ Wiseman says. think it achieves what it is trying to SCREEN EDUCATION almost a war grave; over 2000 Austral- achieve? Do you think it is a good docu- ians lost their lives in the campaign; ‘It was clear they felt they were doing mentary? Justify your ideas by reference most are buried at the Bomana cemetery a very important job and that they had to different elements in the film.
16 FURTHER INFORMATION website Kokoda www.ww2australia.gov.au/asfaras/ A major two part documentary series Adult histories kokoda.html based on the book by Paul Ham Paul Ham, Kokoda, HarperCollins, Pym- Queensland Anzac Day Commemoration Producer: Andrew Wiseman ble, 2005. Committee website www.anzacday. Director: Don Featherstone Peter FitzSimons, Kokoda, Hachette org.au/history/ww2/bfa/kokoda.html Written by: Don Featherstone, Andrew Livre Australia, Sydney, 2008. Battle For Australia Council website Wiseman & Uri Mizrahi Patrick Lindsay, The Essence of Kokoda, www.battleforaustralia.org.au/ Narrated by: William McInnes Hardie Grant Books, Prahran, 2005. Editor: Uri Mizrahi Clive Baker, Kokoda Trek, Australian Children’s books Cinematographers: Paul Ree, Brent Military History Publications, Loftus, Mark Wilson, Angel of Kokoda, Hachette, Crockett ACS 2009. Sydney, 2010. Composer: David Bridie Charles Happell, The Bone Man of Koko- Peter Macinnis, Kokoda Track: 101 Days, Year: 2009 da, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2008. Black Dog Books, Fitzroy, 2007. Produced with the assistance of the Victor Austin, To Kokoda and Beyond: David Mulligan, Angels of Kokoda, Department of Veterans’ Affairs the Story of the 39th Battalion, Thomas C. Lothian, Port Melbourne, Developed and Produced with the as- 1941–1943 2006. sistance of Film Victoria Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, Del Merrick, Kokoda Sunrise, Insight, Kokoda is a Screen Australia Making 1988. Elsternwick, 2006. History Production in association with Craig Collie and Hajime Marutani, The Pericles Films. Path of Infinite Sorrow: the Japanese Teacher’s Notes written by …. Developed and produced in associa- on the Kokoda Track, Allen & Unwin, tion with the Australian Broadcasting Sydney, 2009. Images courtesy of Screen Australia Corporation Andrew J. Stone, A Walk in Their Foot- © Screen Australia 2009. steps: a Kokoda Trail Experience: For further information contact: a Modern Soldier’s Personal Story, Screen Australia Australian Military History Publica- Sales Office tions, Loftus, 1997. GPO Box 3984 Sydney NSW 2001 Websites tel 02 8113 1064 toll free 1800 213 099 Australian War Memorial website fax 02 9357 1392 toll free 1800 077 471 ZZZDZPJRYDX [email protected] (enter the search term ‘Kokoda’) www.screenaustralia.gov.au Australian Government World War 2
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