Exploding the myth of Japanese invincibility...Milne Bay to Buna-Sanananda 1942-43.
In August 1942 the Japanese staged a landing at Milne Bay in Papua New Guinea against an Australian Infantry Force of militia and AIF troops - the prize was the primitive airfield and the eventual capture of Port Moresby. A confused and desperate battle took place against a background of Japanese naval operations by night and Australian fighter support by day - this battle led to Japan's first defeat on land during World War Two.
Then in November 1942, after their defeats on the Kokoda Trail and at Milne Bay, the Japanese occupied the northern beachhead strongholds of Gona-Sanananda-Buna. After repeated American failure at Buna the 18th Brigade's Milne Bay veterans were called in. Despite some of the fiercest and most costly fighting of the Pacific War, the 18th Brigade captured Buna and Sanananda during December 1942 and January 1943.
'The Spell Broken' is a stirring history of the Milne Bay and Buna-Sanananda battles told through the records of those campaigns and balanced against the recollections of their survivors.
