Editing History of Papua New Guinea (section)

==World War II==
{{Main|New Guinea Campaign}}
{{further|Pacific Islands home front during World War II}}

[[File:Australian troops at Milne Bay.jpg|thumb|200px|Australian troops at Milne Bay, Papua.The Australian garrison was the first to inflict defeat on the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] during [[World War II]] at the [[Battle of Milne Bay]] of Aug–Sep 1942.]]
[[File:NGVR soldiers with captured Japanese flag 28 Aug 1942 (AWM 013147).jpg|thumb|200px|[[New Guinea Volunteer Rifles]] with captured Japanese flag, 1942]]
[[File:Wounded Australian soldier led by a Papuan orderly at Buna.jpg|thumb|200px|An Australian soldier, Private George "Dick" Whittington, is aided by Papuan orderly Raphael Oimbari, near Buna on 25 December 1942.]]

Shortly after the start of the [[Pacific War]], the island of New Guinea was invaded by the [[Japan]]ese. Most of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]], at that time known as [[Dutch New Guinea]], was occupied, as were large parts of the [[Territory of New Guinea]] (the former [[German New Guinea]], which was also under Australian rule after [[World War I]]), but Papua was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassable [[Owen Stanley Ranges]] to the north.

The [[New Guinea campaign]] opened with the battles for New Britain and New Ireland in the [[Territory of New Guinea]] in 1942. [[Rabaul]], the capital of the Territory was [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)|overwhelmed on 22–23 January]] and was established as a major Japanese base from whence they landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards [[Port Moresby]] and Australia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/remember.nsf/Web-Printer/C6FD73CC5C579789CA256AC000135979?OpenDocument|title = Remembering the war in New Guinea - Rabaul}}</ref> Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by the [[U.S. Navy]] in the [[Battle of the Coral Sea]], the Japanese attempted a landward invasion from the north via the [[Kokoda Trail]]. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action against a Japanese advance along the [[Kokoda Track]], towards Port Moresby, over the rugged [[Owen Stanley Range|Owen Stanley Ranges]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_291.asp|title = Advanced Search &#124; Australian War Memorial}}</ref> Local Papuans, called [[Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels]] by the Australians, assisted and escorted injured Australian troops down the [[Kokoda Track|Kokoda]] trail. The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, were relieved in late August by regular troops from the [[Second Australian Imperial Force]], returning from action in the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II|Mediterranean theatre]].

The Japanese were driven back. The bitter [[Battle of Buna-Gona]] followed in which Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at [[Buna, Papua New Guinea|Buna]], [[Sanananda, Papua New Guinea|Sanananda]] and Gona. Facing [[tropical disease]], difficult terrain and well constructed Japanese defences, the allies only secured victory with heavy casualties.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_340.asp|title = Advanced Search &#124; Australian War Memorial}}</ref>

In early September 1942 Japanese marines attacked a strategic [[Royal Australian Air Force]] base at [[Milne Bay]], near the eastern tip of Papua. They were beaten back by the Australian Army, and the [[Battle of Milne Bay]] is remembered as the first outright defeat on Japanese land forces during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_345.asp | title=Advanced Search &#124; Australian War Memorial }}</ref> The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943–44 were the single largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/23/new-guinea-offensive/|title=New Guinea Offensive &#124; Australian War Memorial}}</ref> The Supreme Commander of operations was the United States General [[Douglas MacArthur]], with Australian General [[Thomas Blamey]] taking a direct role in planning and operations being essentially directed by staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/23/new-guinea-offensive/|title=New Guinea Offensive &#124; Australian War Memorial}}</ref> Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the largely Australian force and the Japanese [[Eighteenth Army (Japan)|18th Army]] based in New Guinea until the [[Japanese surrender]] in 1945.

The New Guinea campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War. In all, some 200,000 Japanese soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the campaign against approximately 7,000 Australian and 7,000 American service personnel.