The Battle for Milne Bay
The battle for Milne Bay is one of the major turning points in the Kokoda campaign for Australians and ultimately secured Australia from the Japanese. This battle was the first time the Japanese were defeated in Kokoda by Australians on land. This greatly cheered the allies up and helped them to keep up the momentum for the next battles.
Casualties and losses
Australia:
Japanese
While this battle did not cause the Japanese to turn back and stop the war immediately it was one of the turning points during the war in the Pacific. It did give the allies a massive morale boost to have a victory and to have turned away the Japanese enemies from any hope of conquering Australia.. The battle of Australia had been won and The West Australia (newspaper) was calling it a "turning point" and the public thought of it with cautious optimism.
"We were helped, too, by a very cheering piece of news that now reached us, and of which, as a morale raiser, I made great use. Australian troops had, at Milne Bay in New Guinea, inflicted on the Japanese their first undoubted defeat on land. If the Australians, in conditions very like ours, had done it, so could we. Some of us may forget that of all the Allies it was the Australian soldiers who first broke the spell of the invincibility of the Japanese Army; those of us who were in Burma have cause to remember."
– British Field Marshal Sir William Slim.
Please click on the images to see them enlarged and with captions.
Casualties and losses
Australia:
- 150+ killed or missing
- 200+ injured
- 14 killed or missing
Japanese
- 600+ killed or missing
- 300+ injured
While this battle did not cause the Japanese to turn back and stop the war immediately it was one of the turning points during the war in the Pacific. It did give the allies a massive morale boost to have a victory and to have turned away the Japanese enemies from any hope of conquering Australia.. The battle of Australia had been won and The West Australia (newspaper) was calling it a "turning point" and the public thought of it with cautious optimism.
"We were helped, too, by a very cheering piece of news that now reached us, and of which, as a morale raiser, I made great use. Australian troops had, at Milne Bay in New Guinea, inflicted on the Japanese their first undoubted defeat on land. If the Australians, in conditions very like ours, had done it, so could we. Some of us may forget that of all the Allies it was the Australian soldiers who first broke the spell of the invincibility of the Japanese Army; those of us who were in Burma have cause to remember."
– British Field Marshal Sir William Slim.
Please click on the images to see them enlarged and with captions.
