Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Buna, a village on the coastal plain of northern Papua, was the main base for the Japanese advance along the Kokoda Trail. The first Japanese landings in the area occurred at Gona, east of Buna, on 21 July 1941 and Buna was later occupied by troops on foot. Large scale landings subsequently occurred at Buna on 21 August. The Japanese presence stalled the Allies' own plans to develop a base at Buna. From west to east, the Buna area encompassed Buna village, Buna Government Station, and, several kilometers to the east, two airstrips - "old" and "new".

Major fighting did not occur at Buna until after the Japanese had advanced and then retreated along the Kokoda Trail. American troops of the 32nd Division initially closed on Buna in November 1942 - one infantry regiment attacked towards the village from the south, while another advanced on the airstrips from the east. A combination of inexperience and poor leadership, however, meant they made little progress against the well-sited and heavily fortified bunkers with which the Japanese defended it.

The 2/10th Battalion made a series of attacks along the old strip between 24 and 29 December but few gains were made. The four tanks that initially accompanied the battalion were quickly destroyed, leaving the infantry to tackle the bunkers with only the most minimal artillery support. Brigadier Wootten's impatience to make progress meant the 2/10th was bustled into poorly planned and co-originated attacks and heavy casualties were the result. When more tanks began arriving on 29 December another attack was rushed through, with the same disastrous results.

The 2/10th Battalion was the first South Australian battalion formed for the Second AIF. It formally came into being with the appointment of its first commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Verrier, on 13 October 1939 but over a week would elapse before the battalion began to take shape at Adelaide's Wayville Showgrounds. It trained first at Woodside in the Adelaide hills, and then at Greta and Ingleburn in New South Wales. The 2/10th embarked for the Middle East on 5 May 1940 as part of the 18th Brigade, of the 6th Australian Division.

En route to the Middle East, the 18th Brigade was diverted to the United Kingdom to bolster its defences following the fall of France. The 2/10th disembarked at Gourock in Scotland on 18 June and was subsequently based at Lopcombe Corner, near Salisbury, in England. On 8 July the 2/10th suffered the Second AIF's first casualty due to enemy action - Private Albert Webb, who was wounded in a strafing attack by a German aircraft. The battalion relocated to Colchester in October and left the United Kingdom on 17 November.

The 2/10th arrived in Egypt on 31 December 1940. In the United Kingdom the 18th Brigade had become part of the newly-formed 9th Australian Division, but in Egypt, in February 1941, it was transferred to the 7th Division. D Company of the 2/10th reinforced the 2/9th Battalion for its attack on Giarabub on 21 March 1941, but the whole battalion was not committed to active operations until it moved, with the rest of the brigade, to Tobruk in the first week of April. The 18th Brigade took part in the defence of Tobruk until it was withdrawn at the end of August. After Tobruk, the 2/10th trained in Palestine and between late September 1941 and early January 1942 formed part of the force garrisoning Syria. It sailed for Australia on 11 February, disembarking in Adelaide on 29 March.

Papua was the 2/10th's next battleground and the battles it fought there were its most bitter and costly. It arrived at Milne Bay on 12 August and on the night of 27 August was overwhelmed by Japanese marines in a confused battle. The battalion fared even worse in its next engagement - Buna. Between 23 December and 2 January the 2/10th lost 113 men killed and 205 wounded in often ill-conceived attacks against Japanese bunkers around the old airstrip.