Essay About Kokoda

Australia’s new dependence on America resulted in a large influx of American soldiers to Australia and while Australian society was initially accepting and welcoming of their unorthodox culture, behaviours and morals, this quickly turned to contempt and created an unsavoury relationship between Australians and Americans whom they saw as being a bad influence on the women and youth of Australia. Australians regarded Americans as being, “overpaid, oversexed and over-here”. However, while this had the possibility to cause influential divides in society, Australians realised the necessity for the American presence in their country and the security they had provided, overruling any irritation felt towards them. The Australian war effort in the pacific regions had also served to amplify and fuel the ‘Anzac legend’ creating a national sense of pride and unity during the war. Australia’s involvement in the Second World War thus served to create a more independent Australia, in charge of its own policies and decisions in foreign affairs, creating cohesion within society.

The Australians were disadvantaged first but hung in there and luck turned there way and the Japanese became disadvantaged. The Kokoda trail was considered a turning point in World War Two because it brung Australia into there war. The Kokoda trail happed between 21 July 1942 - January 1943. Firstly a quote from ABC news tells us why that Australians were disadvantaged in the battle of the Kokoda trail and this quote is trust withy because it corroborates with my other research notes. “They had artillery and we had nothing like that at all, we only had machine guns and rifles," (Grassby in ABC news, 2018, online). This primary quote gives us an idea of why the Australians were disadvantaged from a Australian perspective. Secondly another quote from ABC news tells us why the Japanese were disadvantaged in the battle of the Kokoda trail. “Later in the fight the Japanese were disadvantaged because they had to drag there heavy artillery through the mud and dense jungle” (ABC news, 2018, online). This secondary quote that is trust worthy because it corroborates with other sources gives us a deeper idea into how that Japanese were disadvantaged in the battle of the Kokoda trail in World War Two. These two quotes give me a much deeper idea of how they were both disadvantaged in the Kokoda trail and also how this event was a turning point in World War

The major event resulting in the USA becoming such a prominent figure relationship-wise to Australia is what is known as the Battle of the Coral Sea. In May 1942 Japan’s naval force tried to take Port Moresby, the last line of defence before Australia itself. However the United States naval force in conjunction with the Australian ships, Australia and Hobart, forced the

This was also the first campaign the Australia basically manned by them self, proving the Australia need to be taken serious in the world war. At the start of the war Australia was not taken as a threat more as a giant island that has good post position in Asia. As Japan was concurring Asia the last piece of the puzzle was Australia which they japan was going to concur by using papa new Guinea as a vantage point which would have gave them easy access to Australia. This lead Australia to deploy its troops in Port Mosby. As most of the better trained had already been deployed this lead Australia to deploy the “backups”. This ultimately lead Australia becoming a major power in Asia, also providing to Australia overall strength as a

Significantly, the ANZAC legend is the result of a devastating loss, rather than a great victory. The soldiers are remembered for maintaining courage and determination under hopeless conditions. The ANZAC legend owes much to wartime correspondents who used the

As the Kokoda fighting began in July 1942 , the scheme of both sides was in transition. The Japanese felt it was time to defend their gains, and halt the fighting and advancing. But the Allies were thinking differently. Having massive amount troops, ships, aircraft and supplies in New Zealand and Australia, they made the decision to launch a counterattack to defend and retake some of the islands that were occupied by the Japanese. Papua had no particular resource that they desired, but it was a useful link in the chain of defences of the newly conquered area of Japan. So because Japan was quickly gaining new lands closer to Australia, posing a threat to Australia’s safety, the battle of Kokoda was the most important Australian-fought victory, in terms of winning the war. The campaign helped to shape Australia’s post-war training practices and military operations. Although it was not they first victory against Japan, it allowed the allies to make thrust forward through ‘island hopping’ and ultimately win the war. Kokoda was the battle that ended Japan’s dominance and permitted the Allies to go on the offence. Australia greatly learned from their Kokoda experience, and subsequently improved their strategic thinking. They learned to not purely rely on naval defences, and realised that they cannot just let other countries dot the fighting. “…the modern Australian professional army was

Whilst the conditions shown that were experienced by the Australian soldiers in the film was effective and broad, the conditions faced by the Japanese soldiers in Papua New Guinea was barely covered in the movie. Thus, indicating the limited use of this film as a historical source.

World War One is regarded as a major turning point in history and modern warfare which has impacted Australia monumentally, scarring the nation’s history. Australia played a significant role in World War One and the Gallipoli campaign, which is considered the birthplace of the ANZAC legend. These events have immensely shaped Australia as the nation we know of today. World War One began in 1914 from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and ended in 1918 on November the 11th which is now recognised as a day of mourning and a time given recognition to the lives taken on the battlefield. To a prominent extent, the ANZAC legend is significant to the concept of Australian identity and nationalism through the origins of the ANZAC legend, the key events that have helped form Australia as an independent nation, and in addition to how ANZAC day is commemorated today.

The Anzac legend is still relevant in today’s society as it reminds Australians and New Zealands of the sacrifice they made to protect our country and let us live in freedom. The legend defines our national identity and helps shape our national reputation so that other countries can look at us as and think of us as a country who are determined, brave, resilient and helps our mates when they are in trouble. Almost a whole generation of young men was lost and they deserved to be remembered. The soldiers continued to fight during challenging times and when they felt as though it was too hard and should give up. They slept in wet and dirty clothes and barely had enough food to survive. Australia wouldn’t be Australia without the legend of the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for us.

Australia’s identity was developed because of the qualities the Australian soldiers demonstrated on the Kokoda Track, despite facing major obstacles. According to Macinnis (2007: 49), the Maroubra Force was “The name given to the mixed troops of

Last year, on the 25th of April was the centenary of the Gallipoli landing. Which, according to the Australian Defence force website, was to be for Australians, “one of the most significant commemorations to take place during their lifetime.” With the centenary looming in the backs of the minds of the Australian people, it is unsurprising that great pains have been taken to construct a three year long celebration that would “encompass a number of historical milestones on Australia 's involvement in conflicts”, such as both World Wars, Korea and Vietnam.

Iwo Jima is an island in the Bonin chain, situated about 575 miles from Japan. It’s prominent feature is Mount Suribachi, a volcanic mountain on the southern tip of the island. Iwo Jima did not have a civilian population but was well protected by roughly 23,000 Japanese soldiers in caves, foxholes, and pillboxes (pillboxes were concrete boxes with small holes for shooting enemies). Before the land invasion, Iwo Jima endured a heavy bombardment by ships and planes, which, however, did very little to destroy the Japanese resistance.

The Kokoda campaign is significant to Australia’s war history, since the Australian’s battled on, with the odds against them, and came back and won, saving Australia. The Kokoda campaign is momentous because the soldiers displayed courage, fearlessness and bravery, even when their leader called them ‘scared rabbits’. Despite the odds, the Australian’s ‘soldiered’ on and came back and defeated the Japanese, which was a first. The battle of Gona was suicide for the Australians, yet they showed courage, fearlessness and bravery, and fought on till their last breath. Even though the few men of the 39th and 53rd militia was poorly trained, they beat the odds and ruthlessly held back the brute force of 13,000+ Japanese soldiers, for weeks until reinforcements

However, most Australian soldiers were overseas from other duties so the 39th militia was sent, which was an inexperienced force that were trained to defend Australia from within. The men were amateurish and the campaign of Kokoda was proven to be unsuccessful. Supplies, both medical, military and daily essentials were difficult to deliver, causing a mass breakout of diseases such as malaria. Being in the tropical zone, Kokoda had many insects and the terrain was extremely uneven. Due to the ongoing war that is spread across the seas, Australia had run out of forces and sent the 39th militia, which was an inexperienced force that was initially for garrison duties and working

The island was 350 miles away from their homeland ,Kyushu, making it a easy flight.The command of this invasion force was divided between MG John R. Hodge and MajGen Roy S. Geiger. Before the invasion they had dusted the area by land bombing before invading their mainland.The Japanese was led by GEN Mitsuru Ushijima with the number of 130,00 men. Japan lost a vast number of man due to the fact they couldn’t contend with newly trained troops. They were willing to fight to the bitter end instead of calling defeat. It brung honor to their family name to die with “pride” instead of coming home defeated. Some even committed suicide.