After the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the focus of the Pacific War moved closer to Australia. Japanese forces bombed Darwin and began to launch attacks on Papua New Guinea, with a view to capturing its capital Port Moresby.

If the Japanese had captured that city, they would have been able to bomb vital Allied bases in northern Australia - potentially turning the tide of the war in their favour.

In this episode, James is joined by author David W. Cameron to find out about the ferocious, desperate, and incredibly vicious seven-month struggle that followed: the Kokoda Track campaign - often claimed to be 'Australia's Thermopylae'.

David's latest book The Battle for Isurava is available here via Simon & Schuster.

Produced and edited by Aidan Lonergan.

For more Warfare content, subscribe to our Warfare Wednesday newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code WARFARE for two weeks free + 50% off your first three months' subscription. To download, go to Android or Apple store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.