Blog 328 –The 39th Battalion and The Kokoda Track, Part 1 – 12 September 2025

 

My purpose is to give hope to those who have lost hope. Without hope, we remain lost in the Shadow Lands.

A description of the Kokoda Track from “Mud Over Blood Revisited”.

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C Company, 24/39th Battalion in training in 1941.  (Photo from Mud Over Blood Revisited)

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A Company, 39th Battalion probably November 1941. (Photo, Blood and Mud Revisited).

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21 Platoon, 39th Battalion in training in November 1941. (Photo, Blood and Mud Revisited).

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The so-called Chocolate Soldiers paraded through the streets of Melbourne on 21 November 1941.  These “Chocolate Soldiers” defeated the previously invincible Japanese Imperial Army, composed of some of their most excellent soldiers (Photo, Blood and Mud Revisited).

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The men of the 39th Battalion were amongst the finest soldiers who have ever served Australia.  

Before being posted to the Kokoda Track, the men of the 39th Battalion were untried and they had been poorly equipped.  The 39th Battalion was formed in October 1941 and consisted of volunteers for the citizens militia of the 3rd Victorian Military District.  These militia soldiers had been asked to volunteer to serve with an urgently needed “special force’ as part of the Australian Imperial Forces.  In January 1942, the 39th Battalion was landed at Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, supposedly to be garrison soldiers tasked with duties such as loading and unloading equipment on the Port Moresby docks.

When the 39th Battalion first arrived in Port Moresby, it consisted of 750 men and it had been derided as “the Chocolate Soldiers”.  Supposedly, they would melt in the heat of battle

Instead of being garrison soldiers, the 39th Battalion was given the almost impossible task of stopping the previously invincible Japanese army from conquering the then Australian Territories of Papua and New Guinea.  If the Japanese conquered Papua New Guinea, the next destination for Japan would be Australia itself.

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The Japanese captured Malaya and Singapore in February 1942. Between the 21st and 27th of July 1942, the Japanese landed at Gona on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.   The Japanese were on the north coast of Papua and the Australian Territorial administration was located on the south coast in Port Moresby.

The Japanese troops fighting to exterminate the 39th Battalion were elite troops in the Japanese Imperial Army.  

The Japanese army Nankai Shitai landed on the north coast of Papua and was given the task of using the Kokoda Track to conquer Port Moresby.  The Nankai Shitai had never been defeated in any battle.  The Nankai Shitai had taken part in the Rape of Nanking in China and in the conquest of Manchuria.

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The Chocolate Soldiers in the 39th Battalion were ordered to stop the all-conquering Japanese from using the Kokoda track to conquer Port Moresby and neutralise the threat to Australia.

The 39th Battalion DID eventually stop the Japanese, but at a terrible cost.

When the 39th had finally finished fighting the Japanese along the Kokoda track, it no longer contained 750 men, but only 50.  The other 700 soldiers had not melted in the heat of battle.  They had either died or been so badly injured that they were physically unable to stand, let alone fight the Japanese.

Throughout the battles along the Kokoda Track, the men of the 39th Battalion men were always outnumbered – usually the Japanese outnumbered them by between 6 and 8 times the number of Australians.  Not only were the Chocolate Soldiers outnumbered, but they fought in conditions of appalling hardship.

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I started walking the Kokoda track on Sunday the 3rd of August 2025.  

I had wonderful help from Tony, my Papua New Guinean porter.  Without Tony’s help, I would have died on the Kokoda Track when I fell down the mountain.

Australian Kokoda Track Tours made sure that reasonable food and camping facilities were always available for me as I walked the Track.

Compared to the men of the 39th Battalion, I was extremely well looked after.  Insofar as it was possible to ensure my welfare, my welfare was guaranteed.

I did not have to deal with continuous pouring rain because it was August – the easiest month in which to walk the Track.

I definitely did not have to fight an enemy army as I moved along the Track.

But some things are unalterable.

No one could make the mountains easy to climb and the Track continuously winds up and down the mountains.

I believe it is impossible to train for the terrain covered by the Kokoda Track as it travels from north to south, except on the Track itself.  Mountain goats would justifiably complain if they were made to walk the Kokoda track.

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Whenever Australia has been in need, Australia has produced the finest soldiers that anyone could ever wish for.  I am so very proud to be Australian.  

I am so very proud of my fellow Australians.

They are wonderful people.

I doubt any country could ask for finer soldiers- soldiers with more bravery and endurance in the face of overwhelming hardship - than the soldiers of the 39th Battalion.

Let Us Never Forget.

Let Us Never Forget To Say Thank You To The So called Chocolate Soldiers of the 39th Battalion.

To be continued …

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By helping others to heal We help ourselves heal Remember those who preceded us. Give abundant Love Always The Chocolate Soldiers of the 39th Battalion always did. Love for their country.