Welcome to The Lost Battlefield | Battle of Eora Creek, Eora Track, Alola Village, Kokoda, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Australia

Click here to view the "Preliminary Survey and Future Work Program Final Report" relating to The Lost Battlefield site (Eora Creek, Papua New Guinea) for The Lost Battlefield Trust, April 2011.

The Lost Battlefield

The Kokoda campaign commenced on 21 July 1942 from the Japanese beach landing sites, in the vicinity of Gona on the northern side of Papua and New Guinea. On or about 17 September 1942, following fierce jungle fighting in some of the most mountainous country in the world, the Japanese Imperial Forces, in the vicinity of Iroibaiwa Ridge, commenced their long withdrawal back to the beaches.

The entire campaign lasted nearly 6 months to the day with the Japanese beach foothold at Sanananda falling on 22 January 1943. The Australians loss was 2,019 killed and 3,533 wounded. The Japanese loss was approximately 13,000 killed and an unknown number wounded. This was a campaign fought in appalling conditions, with gun battles being waged in extremely dense jungle across steep terrain. Compounding this was days of torrential rain with both Armies suffering many battle casualties from illness and diseases such as malaria and dysentery.

Make a Donation:

Help The Lost Battlefield Trust, which is a privately funded non-tax deductible entity, to continue its Archaeological Survey work. Phase two of that work is the completion of its comprehensive non-invasive site survey. Phase three will include the development of a site management plan, based on heritage principals.