15 November 1942

Among the troops gathering around the wire bridge across the Kumusi River is the Chaforce detachment of the 21^st Brigade, volunteers from the survivors of the units that confronted the original Japanese advance back in July. They have been conducting a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese lines of communication.

The 2/33^rd Battalion takes the lead as the Australians cross the Kumusi River and moves down the flat road toward the Japanese positions at the beachheads.

14 November 1942

The Australians are temporarily held up by the swollen 100-metre wide Kumusi River, which proves a greater obstacle than they had anticipated.

Its strongly flowing currents hamper the engineers as they build a precarious wire walking bridge after strong swimmers had made the connection to the other bank.

In the meantime hundreds of Australians troops mill around at the bottleneck waiting for the bridge to be completed so they can continue their advance to the Japanese strongholds at Buna, Gona and Sanananda.

13 November 1942

The Japanese South Seas force is reeling from its defeat at Oivi-Gorari. It takes some solace in the delay it has been able to inflict in the pursuing Australians.

But the cost of the delay has been considerable and the Japanese deaths from the battle steadily climb past 1000 in sporadic clashes as the Japanese continue their retreat to the beachheads.

12 November 1942

The battle for Oivi-Gorari ends with the Japanese forces retreating in disarray back to their defensive positions at Buna, Gona and Sanananda, where they originally landed three and a half months earlier.

At Oivi on the flat coastal plains between the Japanese landing sites and Kokoda, both sides were able to bring major numbers of troops against each other for the first time in the campaign.

Around 2800 entrenched Japanese tried to hold up around 3700 Australians at Oivi. The Japanese lost between 500-600 killed during the fighting and probably twice as many wounded, while the Australians lost 133 killed and around 225 wounded, many seriously.

11 November 1942

Armistice Day while the battle of Oivi-Gorari rages. 30 Diggers die on the day as the Japanese withdraw in confusion leaving as many as 400 dead.

The retreating Japanese abandon 15 artillery pieces on the battlefield but they break through the Australian encirclement and rush in disarray back to their beachhead positions at Buna and Gona.

The Japanese confusion is heightened by the loss their commander Gen Horii and many senior officers. They head to the beachheads determined to fight to the death.