AUSTRALIAN MILITARY World War II –
The story of the bloody Kokoda campaign, told for the first time through the personal experiences of the Japanese soldiers.
Two armies, Japanese and Australian, each in turn pushing the other back along a muddy, precipitous track over the mountainous spine of New Guinea. Few prisoners were taken, most were shot. War conventions were routinely flouted, by both sides. Troops were reduced to a primal level, such were the inhuman conditions in which battles were waged. This was the Kokoda campaign of 1942.
The Australian experience of Kokoda has been told often and told well. The Japanese, however, remain the shadowy enemy lurking in the dense undergrowth, better known for atrocities than their participation in battle. The Path of Infinite Sorrow tells for the first time the story of the campaign from the Japanese point of view. Based on personal accounts and the recollections of six Japanese soldiers, captured diaries and the unit diaries of the Australian forces, this powerful re-examination of Kokoda brings a new perspective to one of the most brutal conflicts in Australian war history.
- 324 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps, ports. ; 24 cm.
- On Ioribaiwa Ridge
- Empire and emperor
- Road to total war
- From the mountains to the sea
- Forward base Rabaul
- Taking of Kokoda
- Fateful delay
- Milne Bay
- To the end of the line
- ‘Change the marching direction’
- Buying time
- General Horii’s last stand
- Dug in on swampland
- Madness and desperation
- On the track to Sanananda
- Buna falls
- Evaculation
- Long journey home
- Out of the ashes
- Path of infinite sorrow.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 310-314) and index.
- World War, 1939-1945 — Campaigns — Papua New Guinea
- World War, 1939-1945 — Participation, Japanese
- World War, 1939-1945 — Participation, Australian
- Kokoda Trail (Papua New Guinea) — History
- 310325