Bloodiest Japanese vs Australian battle!!

Could someone tell me what the biggest and bloodiest battle of W.W.II between Australian and Japanese troops? Also did New Zealand troops serve in Australian Units or were they separate?

I'm sure that would be Buna.

Generally separate, though the Commonwealth/Empire forces were much more eclectic than other armies. This was especially true in the air forces, where an 'RAF' unit might well contain British, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African, and even American nationalities. For example, some of the Buffalo squadrons in Malaya were RAAF and RNZAF, but the one in Burma (67 Sq) was RAF with a majority of New Zealand sergeant-pilots.

all the best

I would have to guess Giropa Point or some other battle along the kokoda Track. The 39th Battalion was almost finished as a fighting unit at Menari. I would suspect that there were some Kiwis in Aussie units (just as some Americans served in British and Canadian units), but not as members of the NZ army. While the 2nd NZ Div was in North Africa and Italy, the 3rd NZ Div was in the PTO.

Speaking with my father, who was with the 9th Div in Borneo, he believes the Kokoda Track and Tarakan were the bloodiest battles between the Aussies and Japanese. Dad served at Tarakan where some 230 Aussies were killed over 3 months.

Colin Rowley

What definition of battle do you apply? Australian troops were in contact with IJA troops for most of the war in New Guinea for example. Australia had 17,501 killed in the war against Japan nearly half of which were killed or died of neglect as POWs. The campaign in Malaya/Singapore cost 1,789 killed and most of the POWs who were to die in Japanese custody. The Papuan campaign (defence of Port Moresby and Milne Bay, advance across the Owen Stanleys to take Buna and Gona) 2,165 Army troops killed (plus 671 US army killed, the US ground forces on Guadalcanal lost 1,592 killed during that campaign).

And so on.

Data from The Six Years War by Gavin Long.

Separate, the NZ troops formed the 3rd NZ division until manpower limitations forced a downgrade. It fought in the Solomons, the Australian Units fought in New Guinea, New Britain and points west.

Geoffrey Sinclair Remove the nb for email.