The war with Japan was occurring throughout WW2, and while Germany was fighting with Britain, France and the US, Japan was thinking of invading Australia. Eventually, the Imperial Generals deemed their manpower to be constrictive, and worried of the US help that Australia would receive, and instead decided on attempting to isolate Australia from help. They would do this by taking Samoa, Fiji, and most notably Papua New Guinea (PNG). At this point in time, PNG was considered Australia, so this would be the first, and last time that Australia was threatened on home soil.
Some changes had occurred to force Japan’s invasion to switch from a sea invasion to a daring push across land. imperial navy had been severely hindered in the Coral Sea battle, were 4 of her 6 aircraft carriers were sunk, and one seriously damaged. …show more content…
Australian generals had failed to see the danger from PNG, and as such, there was only a small and inexperienced force stationed at Port Moresby. When the imperials attacked, the Australians force was quickly defeated in two small battles. The force was very quickly reinforced, and a new, more experienced general was sent. This force, while larger, was unable to hold against the imperial force and was constantly pushed back, towards a small town. The Australians managed to hold out for a while, but were pushed back after running low on ammo and supplies, the Australians again were pushed back, until they were less than 40km from Port Moresby, the Japanese were able to see the lights. Though now, the Japanese had the same issues that Australia had, and was dying from illness, and had a very long and inefficient supply line, being disrupted by the US. They turned tail and retreated, with Australia chasing after