Pride grows in Aussie World War II victory in 'knife fight from the Stone Age'

A shocking film portrayal of some of the most vicious fighting of World War II could thrust the battle of Kokoda as deep as the Gallipoli campaign into the Australian national conscience.

Kokoda, which opened in cinemas in Australia in time for Anzac Day, is the story of the poorly-trained militia troops flung into battle in 1942 to stop Japan from taking New Guinea and threatening an invasion of Australia.

It is part of a growing sentiment that the battle of the Kokoda has been overshadowed by Gallipoli and deserves far greater recognition.

"Some people are saying Kokoda is the Gallipoli for a new generation," said Dennis Grant, from the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. "The difference is that Gallipoli was a failure, whereas at Kokoda we prevailed."

Almost a century has passed since Gallipoli was stormed, and with only one Aussie veteran still alive, focus is shifting towards the next great war.

Scholars say that Kokoda was more important because troops were battling an enemy in what was Australian territory - Papua and New Guinea.

In 1942 Australian troops were deployed along the Kokoda Track, in Owen Stanley Range, to stop 6000 Japanese soldiers marching on Port Moresby and cutting off Australia from US reinforcements and supplies.

The Australians were poorly-trained militia derided by the Army as "chocos" - chocolate soldiers who would melt in the heat of battle.

Months of fighting was marked by hand-to-hand combat, malaria and cannibalism as Japanese soldiers ran out of food and ate the flesh of dead Australians. One historian likened it to a "knife fight from the Stone Age".

The Japanese were driven from New Guinea - the Imperial Army's first land defeat of the war, at the cost of about 600 Australian lives.

Paul Ham, the author of a history of the campaign, said it remained obscure because there were "a huge number of cock-ups. There were supply failures, [we sent] militia when we should have sent regular troops. The top brass were embarrassed."

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Australians walking the Kokoda Track, from around 100 a decade ago to 3000 a year now.

Trekkers have their rucksacks carried by the descendants of the so-called "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", the New Guinea men and boys who were conscripted as porters and stretcher-bearers for the Australian forces and saved hundreds of lives.

A lobby group, the Kokoda Track Foundation, wants the trail to be declared a national memorial park to protect it from logging, gold mining and the damage done by thousands of trekkers' boots.


Battle of Kokoda

* The 95km Kokoda Track winds its way through the rainforests of the Owen Stanley Range.
* Australian militia troops were deployed in 1942 to stop Japan taking Port Moresby.
* The battle was marked by hand-to-hand combat and sickness.
* Japan was driven from New Guinea - the first land defeat of the Imperial Army - at the cost of about 600 Australian lives.