First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing

First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing
Part of the Second World War, Pacific War
Eora Creek valley
Date 31 August 1942 – 5 September 1942 Location Territory of Papua 9°02′00″S 147°44′14″E / 9.0334205°S 147.7372547°E / -9.0334205; 147.7372547 Result Japanese advance
Belligerents
Australia	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Sydney Rowell Arnold Potts	Tomitaro Horii Kiyomi Yazawa
Units involved
Maroubra Force 2/14th Infantry Battalion 2/16th Infantry Battalion 39th Infantry Battalion	South Seas Detachment 41st Infantry Regiment
Strength
710	1,300
Casualties and losses
21 killed, 54 wounded	43 killed, 58 wounded

Maroubra Force

South Seas Detachment

The First Battle of Eora Creek – Templeton's Crossing was fought from 31 August 1942 to 5 September 1942. Forming part of the Kokoda Track campaign of the Second World War, the battle involved military forces from Australia, supported by the United States, fighting against Japanese troops from Major General Tomitaro Horii's South Seas Detachment who had landed in Papua in mid-1942, with the intent of capturing Port Moresby. The battle was one of three defensive actions fought by the Australians along the Kokoda Track. The fighting resulted in the delay of the Japanese advance south, which allowed the Australians to withdraw to Efogi. Eora Creek village and Templeton's Crossing was subsequently the site of a battle in late October 1942 as the Australian forces pursued the Japanese forces retiring back toward the north coast of Papua.

On 21 July 1942, Japanese forces landed on the northern Papuan coast around Buna and Gona, as part of a plan to capture the strategically important town of Port Moresby via an overland advance along the Kokoda Track following the failure of a seaborne attempt at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May. After minor skirmishes with small groups of Australian and Papuan forces around Awala, Australian resistance along the track grew and throughout July and August a number of battles were fought along the Kokoda Track as the Japanese advanced force, Colonel Yosuke Yokoyama's 15th Independent Engineer Regiment, advanced steadily south towards their objective on the southern coast.

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