Does Australia owe its survival to the soldiers who fought in Kokoda?
The initial goal of the Japanese campaign in SE Asia was to seize the oil fields of Indonesia / Borneo. Check. Drive out Allied bases in the area that would interfere with the supply lines. Singapore, Philippines, Indo China. Check. Extend Japanese bases west to interfere with British attempts to retake those bases. Burma campaign. Check. Extend Japanese bases southeast to interfere with American/Australian attempts to build up forces to counterattack from that direction. Rabaul, Port Morsbrey, Guadalcanal. Ooops. Once the Japanese had established bases in New Guinea to support bases in the Solomons to attack the supply line from America to Australia, the next step was to eliminate the ability of Australia to be used as a threat against them, which was invade somewhere north of Brisbane and drive south. The Japanese were not only concerned with the oil of the Dutch East Indies, but like their German allies, something called lieberstrand, literally “Living Room”. Japan is CROWDED. China
