page_title: Arnold Potts
section_title: Kokoda Trail Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: Arnold Potts / Second World War / Kokoda Trail Campaign
caption_attribution_description: A map of the Kokoda Trail/Track as it was in 1942. It has been rotated so the trail which runs roughly NE from Port Moresby runs up and down the page.
context_page_description: Brigadier Arnold William Potts, DSO, OBE, MC was an Australian grazier and army officer who served in the First World War and led the 21st Brigade of the Second Australian Imperial Force during its defence of the Kokoda Trail during the Second World War. He had a distinguished career, however, his place in history has largely been unacknowledged due to his dismissal by General Sir Thomas Blamey, at the very point when Potts had fought the Japanese to exhaustion. His fighting withdrawal over the Kokoda Trail has been called "one of the most critical triumphs in Australian military history and one that an apathetic nation has still to honour". Many contemporaries as well as Potts' official biographer regard this sacking as one of the most disgraceful actions of Blamey's military career. Following his dismissal, Potts went on to command the 23rd Brigade during the Bougainville campaign where he earned a reputation for setting high standards. He retired from the military following the end of the war and unsuccessfully pursued a career in politics. He died in 1968, aged 71.
context_section_description: In 1942 Potts returned to Australia and in April he was promoted to temporary brigadier and given command of the 21st Brigade, stationed in south-east Queensland. At this time the Japanese had established a beachhead on the north coast of New Guinea. It was clear to Potts that the 21st would soon be fighting in the jungle. He devised and implemented the first specific jungle training for Australian troops. Potts took his troops up into the Blackall Range, where the thick scrub and steep grades gave these experienced desert fighters an idea of what lay ahead for them. War game exercises indicated that in such country communications would break down, and evacuation of wounded would be difficult.
  Meanwhile, the Japanese had advanced south from their beachhead at Gona and Buna, and taken the strategic village of Kokoda. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of South West Pacific Area, was at this time planning a landing on Japanese-held Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Concerned that enemy troops would be withdrawn from Gona to reinforce Guadalcanal, MacArthur asked for a serious commitment of Australian troops to New Guinea. The 21st Brigade was sent to Port Moresby, and the 25th Brigade to Milne Bay. Potts flew into Port Moresby on 8 August and set up a staging post at Koitaki, close to the start of the trail at Owers Corner. His orders were clear yet daunting: recapture Kokoda so it could be used as a base to push the Japanese back to Gona.
  
  At this time the two militia battalions—the 39th and 53rd Battalions—who had been defeated at Kokoda were dug in at Isurava and Alola. These were to join with the three battalions of the 21st to form "Maroubra Force" under Potts' command. On 16 August his 2/14th started on the long and difficult trail towards Myola. The 2/16th followed the next day, with the 2/27th left at Port Moresby as a reserve. Potts was promised 40,000 rations would await him at Myola, to be dropped in by Dakota transport planes. The night before beginning the trek, Potts had learned that a further 1,800 Japanese combat troops had landed at Gona. 
  Despite their jungle training, the Australians found the going incredibly difficult. Captain R.N. Thompson of the 2/14th said "I was one of the fittest members, but on the second day, climbing the Golden Stairs I was extremely fatigued. A small dixie of tea made me vomit and I could not eat." While they struggled over the ranges, the Japanese bombed the Port Moresby airfield, destroying two of the Dakotas. When Potts reached Myola he found only 5,000 rations. Mystery and controversy abound regarding the missing rations. Potts seems to have harboured doubts about the air drops, as he had each soldier carry five days' rations to Myola.
  Without rations, the 2/14th and 2/16th could not continue on to reinforce the more advanced militia battalions at Alola and Isurava. Potts made his way forward to Alola and assumed command of Maroubra Force from Brigadier Selwyn Porter on 23 August 1942. When he saw the shattered state of the 39th Battalion, he realised that to achieve his aims he would need to bring forward the relatively fresh 21st Brigade troops. Before he had a chance to implement this, the Japanese under Major General Tomitaro Horii attacked the 39th at Isurava on 26 August. For four days the Australians held off the enemy who had superiority in numbers and supplies. Potts moved in the 2/14th and 2/16th to support. The Japanese held elevated positions on either side of the main trail, and were able to hammer Maroubra Force with mortar and machine gun fire. Threatened with encirclement, Potts withdrew in stages, mounting small delaying actions where possible. Maroubra Force reached Efogi on 5 September.
  On 3 September Potts had received orders from his superior in Port Morseby, Major General Arthur "Tubby" Allen, to hold Myola and gather for an offensive. However he considered the dry lake bed at Myola, surrounded by heights, as untenable. The following day, he signalled Allen, stating: "Country unsuitable for defended localities. Regret necessity abandon Myo
caption: Some key locations along the Kokoda Trail. Potts led a fighting withdrawal from Isurava as far as Nauro before being relieved of command.
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