Chapter 4 - The Battle of Buna

Summary

We often laughed when we should have cried.

Allchin, Purple and Blue

The key battles at Buna and Sanananda fought by the 18th Infantry Brigade Group as part of Warren Force would result in its most disastrous casualties of the war. The 18th Brigade would suffer more casualties in one month than all three Australian Infantry brigades suffered in the three-month battle with the Japanese along the Kokoda Track.¹ Owen Curtis, a soldier in 2/12th Battalion, noted in five weeks of fighting in the Buna and Sanananda regions of New Guinea that the brigade would suffer a staggering 96 per cent casualty rate.² However, these same battles would pioneer brigade-level combined arms tactics in the jungle.