KOKODA TRAIL - 2009 (23th June, 2009)

KOKODA TRAIL ‘2009; .....................................................................................................

The Kokoda Trail (or track as some refer) campaign was a part of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign consisted of a series of battles fought from July to November 1942 between the Japanese and the allied, primarily Australian forces in what was then the Australian territory of Papua.

The Kokoda Track itself is a single-file track starting just outside Port Moresby on the Coral Sea and (depending on definition) runs 60–100 kilometers through the Owen Stanley Ranges to Kokoda and the coastal lowlands beyond by the Solomon Sea.

The track crosses some of the most rugged and isolated terrain in the world, reaching 2,250 meters (7,400 ft) at Mount Bellamy, and combines with hot humid days with intensely cold nights, torrential rainfall and endemic tropical diseases such as malaria.

The track is passable only on foot; this had extreme repercussions for logistics, the size of forces and the type of warfare that could be conducted.

There has been much controversy over recent years about the name of that infamous native track that winds its way over the Owen Stanley Ranges to connect the former mandated territories of Papua and New Guinea.

Most of the wartime articles and books refer to it as the ‘Kokoda Trail’ but some also refer to it as a track.