Making of Warriors, The: The Story of the 2/1st Australian Infantry Battalion 1939-1942

- Blurb -

Therelentless pursuit of the Japanese during the Kokoda Track campaign isdescribed in gut-wrenching detail in The Making of Warriors, through first-hand veteran accounts. Thebloody and ferocious action at the Battle of Eora Creek followed by the routingof the Japanese at the battle of Gorari where they threw down their weapons andfled, sealed the reputation of the Australians. They were both respected and feared.Theactions of the battalion at Soputa, where Captain Catterns led 90 men in adirect assault against an estimated 1700 Japanese are the stuff of legend. Thewar torn and weary remnants of the battalion returned to Australia with everysurviving member suffering from debilitating cases of malaria.Told mainly through first-hand accounts, as recalled by veterans,personal letters and war diary entries, and news reports, the chapters covering the Kokoda TrackCampaign include written accounts from the enemy's perspective; drawn from ajoint Australian/Japanese study, JapaneseArmy Operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua Campaigns1942-43 provided by the Australian War Memorial.