The offensive planned

When Lae and Salamaua were captured, the next move was being hotly debated at Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo. The Navy, flushed with its easy victories

A How to cross rivers in New Guinea without getting wet: an Australian demonstrates a "Flying Fox" ropeway platform.

V American sappers hack a road through the dense jungle of New Guinea.

In south-east Asia, wanted to invade Australia. During operations against the Dutch/Portuguese island of Timor, from February 19 carrier aircraft had repeatedly homhed Australia’s northwestern coast, with little opposition. The east coast was lightly defended, since the hulk of the Australian Army was still in the Middle East. Naval officers believed that the invasion would need only five divisions.

Army officers objected, arguing that to conquer and hold the vast continental area would require 12 divisions and a million tons of shipping-far more than the Army could afford. The Navy warned that the Allies would use bases in Australia for counter-attacks on Japanese bases. This point was reinforced by the news in late March that General Douglas Mac-Arthur had arrived in Australia from the Philippines.

The argument went on for two weeks, at times coming close to blows at the Army and Navy Club. At the end of March a compromise was reached. Australia would not be invaded, but Port Moresby would be captured. This move, with the conquest of Samoa, Fiji, and New Caledonia out in the South Pacific, would isolate Australia by cutting her supply line from the United States.

On April 20 the south Pacific operations were postponed in favour of an ambitious Navy-sponsored plan to take Midway and the Aleutians; but preparations went forward for an amphibious assault on Port Moresby, codenamed Operation "MO”. General Horii issued

The orders on April 29, an auspicious date, for it was the Emperor’s birthday. The landing was to take place on May 10.