page_title: Papuan Infantry Battalion
section_title: Buna to Kokoda, June 1942 – January 1943
hierarchical_section_title: Papuan Infantry Battalion / History / Buna to Kokoda, June 1942 – January 1943
caption_attribution_description: English: WAIWAI, NEW GUINEA. 1942-10. CAPTAIN T. GRAHAMSLAW, ANGAU, BRIEFING SERGEANT-MAJOR KATUE OF THE PAPUAN INFANTRY BATTALION AND NATIVE POLICE OF THE ROYAL PAPUAN CONSTABULARY PRIOR TO THEIR DEPARTURE ON A PATROL.
context_page_description: The Papuan Infantry Battalion was a unit of the Australian Army raised in the Territory of Papua for service during the Second World War. Formed in early 1940 in Port Moresby to help defend the territory in the event of a Japanese invasion, its soldiers were primarily Papuan natives led by Australian officers and non-commissioned officers. Following the outbreak of the Pacific War, the PIB served in many of the Allied campaigns in New Guinea; however, due to the nature of its role its sub-units mainly operated separately, attached to larger Australian and US Army units and formations. Slow in forming, the first members of the PIB were not officially posted in until March 1941. By 1942 it consisted of only three companies, all of which were under-strength and poorly equipped. It was subsequently employed on scouting, reconnaissance and surveillance patrols against the Japanese, where the natural bushcraft of its native soldiers could be used to their advantage. The PIB was sent forward in June 1942 to patrol the northern coast of Papua and was dispersed over a wide area.
context_section_description: Following their defeat during the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May the Japanese invasion fleet bound for Port Moresby had been forced to turn back, while on 4 June the Japanese were decisively beaten at Midway by the US Navy. Despite these setbacks though Japanese forces in Rabaul and Lae appeared to be preparing an attack against Port Moresby from northern Papua, via Buna and Kokoda. During this time the only Allied unit in the South West Pacific Area still actively engaging the Japanese was Kanga Force, made up of the NGVR and the 1st and 2/5th Independent Companies, fighting a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese around Lae and Salamaua. In June 1942 Morris tasked the PIB with reconnoitring the Awala–Tufi–Ioma area. To meet the Japanese threat the Allies planned to construct airstrips in the Buna–Dobodura area to facilitate operations against Rabaul and to secure it in order to forestall any advance from that direction. As the situation worsened, the PIB—with a strength of just 30 officers and 280 men—was sent forward to patrol the northern coast of Papua and was subsequently dispersed over a wide area. Along with the 39th Battalion (less one company), and supply and medical detachments, they formed part Maroubra Force.
  Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Owen, the commanding officer of the 39th Battalion, Maroubra Force was tasked with delaying a Japanese advance from Awala to Kokoda, preventing movement towards Port Moresby through a gap in the Owen Stanley Range near Kokoda, and resisting any airborne landings in the area. A platoon from B Company, PIB under Lieutenant Arthur Smith departed Port Moresby on 7 June to patrol the Barena–Buna area, with the remainder of the company following on 14 June under the command of Hooper, tasked with patrolling the Ioma, Mambare, Morobe, Waria River, and Garaina areas. A platoon from A Company under Lieutenant John Izatt was already in position at Waria River and was attached to B Company. On 24 June the battalion headquarters under Watson and C Company moved forward from Port Moresby to the Kokoda–Awala area. Meanwhile, B Company, 39th Battalion was sent overland via the Kokoda Track to secure the Buna area and prepare to oppose any Japanese advance, while the PIB was already north of the Owen Stanley Range at the entrance of the Kokoda Track. Maroubra Force arrived at Kokoda on 15 July. Yet despite initial Allied patrols and engineer reconnaissance into the area, the Japanese had ultimately been able to move faster, seizing the initiative. As a result, these small parties would ultimately be the first to make contact with the Imperial Japanese forces upon their landing in Papua.
  Having already captured much of the northern part of New Guinea in early 1942, the Japanese landed on the north-east coast of Papua, establishing beachheads at Buna, Gona and Sanananda. On the night of 21/22 July, 3,000 Japanese landed near Gona in an attempt to advance south overland through the mountains of the Owen Stanley Range to seize Port Moresby as part of a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States. Initially only limited Australian forces were available to oppose them, and after making rapid progress, the Japanese South Seas Force under Horii clashed with understrength Australian forces at Awala on 23 July, before forcing them back to Kokoda. During the PIB's first engagement Lieutenant John Chalk's platoon had participated in an ambush of the Japanese troops advancing towards Kokoda. Chalk and a scout party had moved to Sangara on the night of 22 July where they observed a Japanese force camped. The next morning he reported their arrival by runner and was ordered by Watson to engage them. That night, Chalk and his 40-man platoon ambushed Japanese forces from a hill overlooking the Gona–Sangara road, killing several before withdrawing into the jungle as they quickly responded with small arms and mortar fire. Meanwhile, elements of B Company, 39th Battalion under Captain Sam Templeton had begun arriving and they moved to cover the Papuan withdrawal. In the con
caption: Members of the PIB and Royal Papuan Constabulary being briefed before a patrol around Waiwai, south of Buna, in October 1942
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