Desperate fight to hold New Guinea

29th August 1942: Outnumbered Australian troops make a determined stand in the steaming jungles of Papua New Guinea

Subsequent artists impression of Kingsbury’s single handed counter-attack with Bren gun.

West of Solomon Islands -where the US Marines where holding on - lay Papua New Guinea. The Japanese had attempted - and failed - to seize Port Moresby on the southern coast, which would have given them a base just north of Australia, dominating Allied supply routes. …