Templteton's Crossing

The Japanese advance along the Kokoda trail had reached its high water mark. The Japanese high command decided to focus first on Guadalcanal, and the forces on New Guinea were in retreat, having extended their supply lines. The Australian 25th …

1942-10-17

M4

The Japanese advance along the Kokoda trail had reached its high water mark. The Japanese high command decided to focus first on Guadalcanal, and the forces on New Guinea were in retreat, having extended their supply lines. The Australian 25th Brigade was forcing its way up from Port Moresby, but faced the problem of outrunning its own logistical trail. Around mid-October the Australians had reached just south of Templeton's Crossing, and the Japanese began a determined delaying action. Efforts to outflank the Japanese positions, such as that made by 3rd Battalion on the 17th of October faced not only a desperate and determined enemy, but also the treacherous terrain.

Templeton's Crossing, Papua, New Guinea

Templeton's Crossing is a locality on the Kokoda Track in New Guinea. The original track, at the start of the Kokoda Track campaign, proceeded north from Kagi and crossed over the watershed of the Owen Stanley Range as it passed through "the Gap" – skirting the eastern side of Mount Bellamy. The track then proceeded north through the steep-sided Eora Creek valley. Templeton's Crossing is where the original track first crosses Eora Creek. It was named by (then) Lieutenant Bert Kienzle in memory of Captain Sam Templeton. Templeton commanded B Company, 39th Battalion. It was the first of the battalion's companies to deploy overland for the defense of Kokoda – arriving shortly before the Japanese landings. Templeton was killed in the early stages of the Japanese advance. Kienzle was an officer of the Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, that had been tasked, among other things, to establish supply dumps and staging points along the track. In the course of this, he was to guide Templeton's B Company over the track as it deployed.

Wikipedia: Templeton's Crossing

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Australia