Those Ragged Bloody Heroes From The Kokoda Trail To Gona Beach 1942

Cover Type: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: Good
Publisher: Allen And Unwin
Publisher Place: North Sydney
Publisher Year: 1991
Edition: First Edition

Description: 309 pages. Jacket is in general good condition. There is some light reading wear and a tear to bottom corner present, but still a presentable copy. Book is in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: "Those Ragged Bloody Heroes" tells the story of the Australian soldiers who fought on the Kokoda trail. From July to September 1942 the Japanese set about the capture of Port Moresby by an overland crossing of the Owen Stanley Range in conjunction with a landing at Milne Bay. Against a force of 10,000 crack Japanese troops on the Kokoda trail, the Allies committed one undertrained and poorly equipped unit, the 39th Battalion, the "chocolate soldiers". Amidst ever-mounting enemy strength and ferocious fighting, the young militiamen were reinforced at Isurava by veterans of the 21st Brigade, 7th Division AIF . Outnumbered five to one, outgunned, poorly supplied and subjected to an environment never before or since faced by the Australian soldier, Maroubra Force put up a desperate fight, forced by insuperable odds to withdraw, village by village, ridge by ridge and creek by creek back to Ioribaiwa. The Japanese, decimated, sick and exhausted, could only turn away bowed and beaten. The reward for the staggering achievement of Maroubra Force was denigration by the High Command: General Blamey called them "running rabbits" and questioned their officers determination and competence. In December 1942 when the fighting at the beach-heads had produced little success, the former members of Maroubra Force captured Gona after heavy fighting, but at further cost.

ISBN: 9781863730600