St John's Cathedral, Brisbane and the Anzac Legend

The Papua and New Guinea campaign was the largest and most complex carried out by Australian defence forces during the Second World War. Approximately 7000 Australian sailors, soldiers and airmen perished during the campaign, including those who died as POWs. While the Diggers began the campaign extremely fit and tanned, the archetype of the bronzed Aussie lifesaver, many who escaped death ended up physically wasted from tropical diseases and the severe jungle conditions, with malaria the leading cause of disability. But the largest loss of life was suffered by the Japanese. More than 200,000 Japanese military personnel died in Papua and New Guinea. Disease and starvation claimed more of the invaders than actual battle, with Japanese forces effectively blockaded by the United States Navy, unable to obtain shipments of food and medical supplies. The struggle to liberate Papua and New Guinea had required the Australian Army to completely transform its method of operations. An army that was experienced in large scale, multi-unit open warfare—as was typified by the North Africa campaigns (see section 10)—was forced to rapidly reconfigure itself to meet the unexpected challenges posed by combat in the jungles, swamps and mountains of Papua and New Guinea. In the process a new term was coined for this method of combat: ‘jungle warfare.’ The British and Australian forces had been outclassed and outmaneouvred by the Japanese in the heroic but ill-fated defence of Malaya (section 8). But by the close of the Second World War the Australian Army, despite suffering many casualties and deprivations, had arguably become the world’s most formidable jungle fighting force. Much of the Army’s jungle training was carried out at Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Australia’s 2/12th Infantry Battalion in action at Buna.

Australian War Memorial 014001

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