Panzer Grenadier: Kokoda Trail
Scenario Overview, Part 3
March 2014

And here we conclude our look at the scenarios of Kokoda Trail.

Scenario Twenty-One
The Trail Back
6 October 1942

After a week of internal bickering in the Allied command, the 25th Brigade finally moved back to Ioribaiwa Ridge in force on September 28th and found the Japanese positions empty. Ordered to pursue the Japanese, Bridadier Eather moved out slowly to avoid outrunning his supply lines and repeating the travails of Maruobra Force. It was October 6th before Australian patrols made first contact with Japanese outposts near Templeton’s Crossing. Maj. Gen Horii had left II Battalion of the 144th Regiment there to contest the highest point of the crossing and slow the Australian advance.

Conclusion

The cautious Australian advance and tenacity of the Japanese defenders allowed the under strength II Battalion to bring the entire Australian force to a virtual standstill for five days. But the rest of 25th Brigade spent that time massing for an attack.

Commentary

This small engagement is the prelude to the battles at Templeton’s Crossing. In it, a battalion-sized Australian force makes an initial probe into an area held by Japanese units that can set up hidden and use hidden movement.

Scenario Twenty-Two
Templeton’s Crossing, Day One
11 October 1942

Three days after encountering the first Japanese outposts, the 25th Brigade had massed for an attack in force. Brigadier Eather ordered the 2/33rd Battalion to attack up the main track from Myola toward Templeton’s Crossing while the 2/25th Battalion would also attack up a side track from Kagi to Templeton’s Crossing. They would face I Battalion of the 144th Regiment which had begun receiving reinforcements from II Battalion.

Conclusion

Contrary to orders, the Australian attack quickly turned into more of a large patrolling action and failed to make any progress at all against a Japanese force that was numerically larger. The battle would continue the next day.

Commentary

This is a full-scale Australian attack on the same battlefield as the last scenario. But while the Aussie force has grown to considerable size, the Japanese force has grown even larger.

Scenario Twenty-Three
Templeton’s Crossing, The Last Day
14 October 1942

Superior numbers had allowed the Japanese to hold the line against three days of attacks by 25th Brigade. But attrition and short supplies were taking their toll, so when Australian reinforcements entered the battle on the fourth day, Maj. Gen. Horii sent orders to hold the line for one more day while a fallback position at Eora Creek was established.

Conclusion

By the end of the fourth day, the outnumbered Japanese defenders were exhausted and barely holding on. Having succeeded in following their orders, they would pull out during the night and fall back to the position at Eora Creek. Before battle would be joined again, an entirely new Australian force would take over the pursuit.

Commentary

Attrition has weakened the Japanese considerably so the Aussies finally have a chance. The Australians need to push through the Japanese lines and take the ridge behind them.

Scenario Twenty-Four
Clearing Goodenough Island
23 October 1942

On the night of 26 August, Allied planes strafed and sank landing barges carrying a large force of Japanese from the Sasebo 5th Special Naval Landing Force. The survivors were stranded on Goodenough Island, and as the Allies began to tighten their grip on the beachheads at Buna and Gona the reinforced Australian 2/12th Battalion was landed on the night of 22-23 October to clear the island.

Conclusion

The tired and hungry Japanese put up a strong resistance throughout the day, but it was only to gain time. They were evacuated that night and the Australians were left in sole possession of the island.

Commentary

This is a short, simple fight for a hill, but since the island is pretty much trackless players must make Fog of War rolls to simulate the effect of troops getting lost in the jungle.

Scenario Twenty-Five
Eora Creek, Day One
27 October 1942

Following the four-day battle around Templeton’s Crossing, the Australians decided to pull back 25th Brigade and bring forward 16th Brigade to lead the attack on the next Japanese defensive line. The 16th was the first brigade raised by Australia for World War II and had combat experience in North Africa and gone through extensive jungle training in Ceylon. By the 26th of October active patrolling had pushed the Japanese back to the new defensive line at Eora Creek. Maj. Gen. Horii had selected this narrow and steep valley for his next defensive stand and positioned all three battalions of the 144th Regiment there.

Conclusion

By the end of the day, the disciplined Australians had pushed the Japanese defenders out of their lines and a short distance up the trails to Eora Creek. Brigadier Lloyd elected to send his reserve in a flanking movement along the high ground during the night so they could be in place for the second day of battle.

Commentary

The 16th Brigade are some of the best-trained and most experienced troops to appear in Kokoda Trail. That allows them to use hidden movement while the exhausted Japanese may not. That will let them mount effective attacks on the Japanese, who would otherwise be very tough to dislodge since their numbers are roughly equal to the Australians.

Scenario Twenty-Six
Eora Creek, Day Two
28 October 1942

By the second day of battle, all signs were that the Japanese position was beginning to fall apart. Brigadier Lloyd was confident enough to launch a wide flank attack with his reserve 2/3rd battalion while letting 2/1st and 2/2nd continue the frontal assault.

Conclusion

Around noon the Japanese position crumbled and many Japanese begin to discard their weapons and flee. The newly superior Australian would pursue the retreating Japanese through both Isurava and Kokoda before encountering the next lines of resistance at Oivi and Gorari.

Commentary

The Australians get to use hidden movement through the ju, and they're going to need all the advantages they can get as their victory conditions are very tough. The Japanese have been battered, with many fo their units reduced in strength, but their morale remains excellent.

Scenario Twenty-Seven
Return to Oivi, Day One
8 November 1942

The occupation of deserted Kokoda and its airfield on 2 November greatly eased the supply pressure on the advancing Australian troops, but both the 25th and 16th Brigades were in poor condition after their march across the Kokoda Trail. Unwilling to lose the race to the beaches at Buna and Gona to the American 32nd Division, the Australians pushed forward with the 16th Brigade moving along the main trail to the Kumisi River through Oivi. But the Japanese had decided to make a final stand in the jungle, sending the rested and resupplied 41st Regiment forward from the beachhead.

Conclusion

Looking ahead to the battles at the beachhead, the Australian attack was conservative and merely an attempt to break the will of the Japanese defenders. The Japanese did not break and the day ended with no advance or change in the initial positions. Lt. Gen. George Vasey, commanding the 7th Division, decided to send the 25th Battalion along another set of trails and into the Japanese rear at Gorari while adding the 2/2nd to 16th Brigade’s attack on the second day.

Commentary

This scenario takes place on the same map as Scenario One: Escape from Oivi. Both sides have substantial forces but the Japanese have superior numbers while the Australians can use hidden movement.

Scenario Twenty-Eight
Return to Oivi, Day Two
9 November 1942

On the second day of battle all three battalions of the16th Brigade would launch a frontal attack on the Japanese positions on the heights.

Conclusion

Although the Australians now had three battalions attacking, they were limited to several small breakthroughs which were pushed back by Japanese counterattacks. The 25th Brigade was also running into strong resistance on the trail to Gorari.

Commentary

Another attack on the same Japanese position, but at least this time the Australians have superior numbers.

Scenario Twenty-Nine
The Trail to Gorari, Day One
9 November 1942

With the advance of 16th Brigade stalled by the strong Japanese position at Oivi, 25th Brigade was ordered to move forward in support. They would travel along back trails before swinging back to the main trail at Gorari in the rear of the Japanese position. Things went well until the middle of the afternoon when the lead battalion, the 2/25th, turned to move back toward the main path.

Conclusion

The Australian forces were unable to reach the main track before darkness fell, but remained confident that they could be in position to cut off the Japanese position at Oivi during the following day.

Commentary

The last scenario set in Kokoda Trail is a group of simple “enter the north edge and try to get to the east-west track” scenarios. Here an advance battalion tries to push its way south to the track against roughly equal Japanese forces. So the Australians will likely have to rely on circumventing and infiltrating Japanese lines to reach the track rather than making frontal assaults.

Scenario Thirty
The Trail to Gorari, Day Two
10 November 1942

By the morning of the 10th, both 2/25th and 2/33rd Battalions were in place to push on through to the main trail and cut the Japanese position off from the bridge over the Kumisi River. The Japanese had also received a small reinforcement, but not enough to match the Australians.

Conclusion

The Australian forces were able to establish a strong blocking position on the main trail between Oivi and the Kumisi River bridges causing the Japanese position at Oivi to collapse. The Australians were now in position to begin the reduction of the Japanese beachhead at Gona in conjunction with the Americans attack on Buna.

Commentary

Here superior numbers, a short distance to the objective and a longer scenario length give the Australians a shot at assaulting Japanese lines directly and breaking through to the trail. But even so, higher Japanese morale and the natural defenses provided by hills and jungle terrain may prompt the Australian player to just pin down Japanese defenders in assaults with some of his advance troops, and then send the bulk of his forces through the resulting gaps in the Japanese line to take trail and villages beyond.

That's it for all the scenarios in Kokoda Trail, but there’s a whole lot more: historical articles on the Australian Army and the Japanese Special Landing Forces, a chronicle of the battles on New Guinea during World War II, and a campaign game that lets players fight a sequence of scenarios while tracking the progress of individual officers.

Order Kokoda Trail now!