Saving Port Moresby
Fighting at the end of the Kokoda Track
David W Cameron
Newport, NSW: Big Sky Publishing, 2022
Paperback 304pp RRP: $36.99
Reviewer: Robert Dixon, August 2024
This is the sixth book David Cameron has written on the campaign in Papua in 1942 and early 1943. Each book provides great detail of the fighting in a specific geographic area and time period. This book is no exception, it provides a very detailed account of the fighting which took place in the Owen Stanley Range in September 1942. During this period there were a series of battles along the Kokoda Track which resulted in the Australian forces being forced to withdraw southwards as far as Imita Ridge, the last defensible ridge in the Owen Stanleys beyond which lay easy road access to Port Moresby, only 50kms away.
Contrary to the impression given by the book’s sub-title it is not limited to fighting at the end of the Track, indeed it is not until well over half-way through the book that the author covers the southern-most limit of the Australian withdrawal and thus the southern-most limit of the Japanese advance. That the author does not limit himself to the fighting at the end of the Kokoda Track is of much benefit to the reader as I think that this work, more than any other written on this topic, impresses upon the reader a number of important insights into the events which took place at that time.
First, the author does not limit his attention to the activities of the Australian and Japanese armed forces but also devotes appropriate space to the activities of members of the Salvation Army, whose ‘Red Shield Posts’ were present not only at Owers’ Corner (this is at the very beginning of the Track) away from the fighting but were also present with units in contact with the Japanese and they withdrew only as the Australian infantry withdrew. Second, the author’s account is very well researched and battles are often vividly described in terms of the actions of individual men. As a result, the reader becomes very conscious of the chaos and confusion and sheer terror present in any fighting, especially in mountainous jungle terrain, and thus the courage of those men involved. Thirdly, it is clear that positions might easily be out flanked and that it was difficult for men to stay in contact with their units, especially during withdrawals. The outcome was that men would become missing, often taking many days to rejoin their units. Finally, the work also provides a very accurate account, it seems to me, of the difficult relations between the commanders in the field and the Commander-in-Chief, General Blamey.
The book is very well written and includes over 40 black and white photographs, nine being photos of Japanese officers and troops at various points on the Kokoda Track. There is a fourteen-page index, mostly of names and the book also includes six drawings which help the reader understand the positions and number of the forces involved in particular battles. Unfortunately the book does not include a map which solely covers the Track where it passes over the Owen Stanleys. Instead the reader has to get by with a single map which shows the whole length of the Track from the North Coast of Papua across to Port Moresby. Although this map shows the sites of the various battles covered in the book, the area covered by the map is so large that place names towards the ‘end’ of the Track – the places which are the focus of the book - are in very small font and often very close together and difficult to read.
The RUSI – Vic Library is most grateful to the publishers for making this work available for review.