11 December 1942

The gallant Lt Bob Dougherty, one of the 2/14^th Battalion’s best-loved soldiers, who was earlier unsuccessfully recommended for a Victoria Cross, is killed while leading another patrol at Gona.

More than 1000 Australians have now lost their lives in the campaign since it began five months ago and the grim prospects of finally defeating the entrenched and desperate defenders at Buna and Sanananda mean that number will rise steeply over the following days.

10 December 1942

While the Australians mop up the last defenders at Gona, the fighting at Sanananda eases as both sides consolidate.

Although the Diggers have effectively captured the Jap positions at Gona, pockets of resistance fight to the death and try their best to take their attackers with them.

The fighting begins to heat up at Buna where the Japanese defenders are still being resupplied by destroyer and submarine from Rabaul. As with their comrades at Gona and Sanananda, they are prepared to fight to the end.

9 December 1942

All through the night the Japanese defenders trapped at Gona try to escape, many are shot trying to swim out to sea, silhouetted against the phosphorescent waters. At least 100 enemy soldiers were killed in this fashion before dawn.

After vicious fighting in appalling conditions where the Japanese fight to last man, Colonel Ralph Honner sends his famous message: “Gona’s gone!”

The Diggers spend the rest of the day burying their own and enemy dead. The Japanese have made no attempt to bury their dead and the stench is overpowering. At least 638 Japanese are buried in the area.

8 December 1942

While the fighting eases at Sanananda, another disastrous day dawns at Gona where the Australians lose 44 killed on the day as they make a major attack to try to snuff out the desperate Japanese defenders.

Down to one-third of their original numbers, led by Ralph Honner’s 39^th Battalion, they assault the Gona Mission from the south, landing at the defenders’ feet even before the artillery barrage ended. Lt Hugh Kelly’s platoon smashes through into the centre of the fortifications and Honner sends two more companies through the breach.

To the east, the 2/27^th also thrusts into the defences and by nightfall the defenders are contained in an area of around 200 metres wide.

7 December 1942

A disastrous day for the Australians at Gona and nearby Sanananda, where 125 die on the day when the Diggers are ordered to make a frontal assault on the heavily entrenched positions defended by more than 3000 Japanese.

At Gona, one of the 2/16^th Battalion’s finest soldiers, Lt Alan Haddy, dies in a heroic rearguard action, covering his men’s withdrawal after they are overwhelmed by a surging force of Japanese.

Haddy and Pte Syd Stephens fight to the last shot and are later found surrounded by a ring of dead Japanese soldiers.