page_title: First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Eora Village, New Guinea, 27 August 1942. At the time, Australian and Japanese forces were fighting to the north around Isurava. In the days that would follow, further fighting took place around the village at Eora, and then further south around Templeton's Crossing
context_page_description: The First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing was fought from 31 August 1942 to 5 September 1942. Forming part of the Kokoda Track campaign of the Second World War, the battle involved military forces from Australia, supported by the United States, fighting against Japanese troops from Major General Tomitaro Horii's South Seas Detachment who had landed in Papua in mid-1942, with the intent of capturing Port Moresby. The battle was one of three defensive actions fought by the Australians along the Kokoda Track. The fighting resulted in the delay of the Japanese advance south, which allowed the Australians to withdraw to Efogi. Eora Creek village and Templeton's Crossing was subsequently the site of a battle in late October 1942 as the Australian forces pursued the Japanese forces retiring back toward the north coast of Papua.
context_section_description: On 21 July 1942, Japanese forces landed on the northern Papuan coast around Buna and Gona, as part of a plan to capture the strategically important town of Port Moresby via an overland advance along the Kokoda Track following the failure of a seaborne attempt at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May. After minor skirmishes with small groups of Australian and Papuan forces around Awala, Australian resistance along the track grew and throughout July and August a number of battles were fought along the Kokoda Track as the Japanese advanced force, Colonel Yosuke Yokoyama's 15th Independent Engineer Regiment, advanced steadily south towards their objective on the southern coast.
  Following a confusing see-saw encounter, Kokoda fell to the Japanese in early August, This was followed by heavy fighting around Deniki. After that, the main body of Japanese troops, Major General Tomitaro Horii's South Seas Detachment, began to arrive from Rabaul. The first major battle of the campaign took place around Isurava later in the month as the veteran Australian 21st Brigade, under Brigadier Arnold Potts, reinforced the Militia troops of Maroubra Force who had been holding the line to that point. At the end of the month, in an effort to slow the Japanese advance, the Australians had established a blocking force around Eora Creek, to the south of the village of Eora, on the high ground overlooking Templeton's Crossing. Following their efforts around Isurava, the Japanese 144th Infantry Regiment was rested, and the 41st Infantry Regiment was assigned the task of following up the Australians as they withdrew south and attempt to destroy them.
caption: Eora Village, 27 August 1942, just before the battle
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