Into the Wet

The spring/summer of 1942 bore little good news for the Allies. The Japanese Army steamrolled south, poising at the doorstep of Australia. In a surprising turn that lifts the Allied spirits and captures the American press, U.S. Marines land and hold Guadalcanal despite a brutal onslaught of fresh Japanese forces. For the first time, the press reported, the enemy stopped.

But at the same time an elite 6,000 man Japanese assault force lands a few hundred miles away on New Guinea, racing up an incredibly rugged and steep trail high into the mountains known as the Kokoda Track. Their target is Port Moresby on the other side. The Australians throw a few hundred men at the attacking force, retreating again and again before finally stopping the Japanese with the harbor lights in sight. A battle of heroic desperation on both sides, fought in the dark, a nation at stake.