Qualla: Invasion of Buna–Gona

Invasion of Buna–Gona: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Japanese landed at dusk. At about 17:30 on 21 July 1942, transports of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 4th Fleet opened fire on the beaches between Buna and Gona - a few salvos, enough to clear a handful of Australian wireless operators who withdrew without firing back. By morning, roughly 1,800 troops of Colonel Yokoyama Yosuke's advance party were ashore. Their orders were simple and, to the men who wrote them, sensible: find the road across the Owen Stanley Range to Port Moresby, and walk to it. The problem was that no such road existed. It would take months of dying in the mountains before either side fully understood that fact.

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Invasion of Buna–Gona: The Map That Lied

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Japanese plan had been born out of failure. In May 1942, a seaborne attempt on Port Moresby had turned back in the Coral Sea, and the invasion force had retreated to Rabaul. The 17th Army, under Lieutenant General Harukichi Hyakutake, had to find another way. Pre-war intellig...

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Invasion of Buna–Gona: The Small Force at Awala

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Australians had perhaps a hundred men forward of Buna when the landings began, most of them members of the Papuan Infantry Battalion, a unit of Papuan soldiers under Australian officers. Templeton, their commander at Kokoda, had actually been at Buna the morning of the landin...

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Invasion of Buna–Gona: Templeton Never Returned

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

What followed was a fighting retreat across the foothills of the Owen Stanley Range. On 24 July, Major William Watson of the PIB destroyed the bridge over the Kumusi River at Wairopi, then harassed the Japanese as they crossed. Lieutenant Colonel William Owen flew in to Kokoda wi...

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Invasion of Buna–Gona: The Missionaries and the Beach

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Among the Europeans in the Buna area when the Japanese landed were two young missionaries, May Hayman and Mavis Parkinson. They fled into the bush with a small mixed party - members of the PIB, Australian Army signallers, several American airmen whose aircraft had gone down. For ...

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Invasion of Buna–Gona: What Horner Saw

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By late August, Horii had roughly 13,500 men ashore between Buna and Gona. The 144th Infantry Regiment's main force landed on 18 August. The 41st Infantry Regiment came in on 21 and 27 August. Yokoyama had already taken Kokoda in a fight on 28-29 July and pushed the Australians b...

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