in 1942 in the dark days of the second world war the Japanese were poised to invade Australia in the jungles of New Guinea outnumbered and outgunned Australian soldiers fought a series of pitched battles along the Cota track on Australia's very doorstep these Brave few inflicted bloody defeat on the once Invincible Japanese Army incredibly when it was over the military top brass branded our soldiers as cowards that slur has never been forgotten only Now 60 years on is the truth finally being told that this was indeed their finest Hour the untrammeled Wilderness of Papio new guin's Owen Stanley [Music] Rangers the battle Australian soldiers fought here more than half a century ago was everything that gipo wasn't at the time it went unreported afterwards its Heroes were promptly forgotten yet unlike gipo it was a great Australian Victory some say our greatest and it was uniquely a battle Australians fought alone and in defense of their own soil they called them the Ragged bloody Heroes they were outgunned they were outt trained they were out numbered by six maybe even 10 to one they were in some of the toughest Terrain in the world and yet they overcame all those odds and they triumphed this month there were celebrations where once there had been gunfire and death 60 years after it happened finally a memorial was dedicated to those who were our last line of defense against Japanese invasion you got the vision of your loved ones at home you got the uh fact that you're fighting on Australian soil technically though it was we were fighting for Australia and that makes a hell of a difference you're fighting for something you believe in you're fighting for people but they say that truth is always the first casualty of War and the terrible truth about this campaign is that when it was all over the men who are now being lorded as Heroes were spurned as cowards it was a disgraceful slur which a Cota diggers would never forget nor forgive I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the words come out in the heart that we knew we' done a good job we'd lost a lot of mates a lot of people made sacrifices of their lives that came as a huge shock as commanding officer of the Victorian Ray 24th Battalion Colonel Phil Roden heard the Australian Army Commander General stomas blamy tell his troops after kakoda that they were cowards who had run from the enemy do you remember his words his exact words or the rabbits that run is the main one that it's not the man with a gun who get shot but the rabbits would run what did he mean well were cows I suppose the campaign the Australians waged at Cota was a tactical withdrawal against Superior numbers a gorilla campaign perfectly suited to Jungle conditions but blamy misinterpreted withdrawal as a retreat it was an unbelievable unacceptable situation that the commander didn't understand what was going on and could even think of talking to his troops in that way and this really was the Turning Point journalist Patrick Lindsay has made it his mission to set the record straight in his new book The Spirit of Cota Lindsay argues that those diggers Were Heroes and that their stand here at a place called isurava a place until now very few Australians had ever heard of ended forever the Japanese plans for the invasion of Australia this is our El isava is our Alamo I mean the odds here were unbelievable they drew on a spirit a special spirit and they were able to use that Spirit to overcome those odds and to survive and and in the end to defeat the Invaders at isava 500 Australians defied the advance of at least 4,000 Japanese troops was a time when the Japanese seemed Invincible these were Australia's darkest days following the rapid collapse of Singapore and the Philippines now the Japanese had landed on the east coast of new then technically Australian soil and were pushing Overland through the ruggedo and Stanley ranges in the direction of port morby and beyond that Australia did you ever have any doubts that you could hold the line didn't have the time to have doubts we had so much to do never had time to entertain doubts we didn't Express them to each other I mean there was no confusion about what what the diggers were doing here they were fighting for themselves their families their mates Australia these guys were the last line of defense between this Japanese Onslaught and Australia if they'd failed who knows the Kota track traverses some of the most unspoiled rainforest in the world and they used to call it but laughing knees cuz your knees just sort of tremor they they tremble underneath you and eventually soldiers on both sides were afflicted by malaria dentry and tropical disease they suffered starvation and exhaustion on this same track where even in peace Time Adventure tourists still consider it the toughest of going hard enough Walking just for us now but oh exactly they had what kind of weight well they had probably you know 20 kilos at least on their back and then their weapons people shooting at them and people yeah and and the amazing thing was even you can just get a bit of an inkling here that the diggers would say that it never got more than a cricket pitch apart where they were fighting and because you can you know 10 15 20 M you can't see any go ahe and demonstrate it was here in thick jungle that the pitched Battle of isurava was fought in August 1942 in these conditions a jungle quickly closes in you're fast disappearing including all vision and battles are fought even at Close Quarters between enemies who can scarcely see one another so what have you found well right here here's a weapons pit even now it's possible to stumble onto an old weapons pit only meters from the track this area here is the site of the battle that saved Australia it's sacred ground many young Australians never returned from here some are still buried here we don't even know where some of them are still here one who didn't make it bad back from isurava was Butch Bisset aged 32 fatally wounded in the stomach by Japanese machine gun fire his younger brother Stan was serving in the same Battalion I'd heard that but had been wounded the men were carrying him out and so when I met this richer party back somewhere near the rest house area and I went with them and we put him on the side of the track men with lesser wounds had some chance of survival thanks to the help of the so-called fuzzy wuzzy Angels papion yinian tribesmen who carried the injured back to hospital at Port morby but butcher's injury was too serious for the rugged 8-day Journey looked at me and I knew that you know there was no hope for him he'd got to burst a machine gun through his tummy and of course on the Cota track a stomach W was a death sentence absolutely and I just stayed with him for for that six hours I held his hand and we at times he was conscious and he quite reasonable and we talked about you know some of our good times and our bad times as kids yeah we talked about Mom and Dad and how long did you get to spend with your brother at the end 6 hours from 10 till 4 he died at 4:00 I know because it lived in my memory and Butch died in Stan's arms more more than half a century later Stan made the pilgrimage back to that jungle battle site and later to the gravide of his long Dead Brother it brought back memories of the love that I had for him because we were we were particularly close we were four boys but we were the two youngest and we beat through many scraps scraps together so what else can I say Stan well remembers the accusations of cice made by General blamy he was still mourning his brother Butch when blamy called a parade to address the men who had just survived the hell of isava in future I expect no further retirements but Advance at all cost remember it's not the man with the gun that gets shot it's the rabbit that's running away I was really deeply shocked because I knew exactly what my brother had done his purn had done what we later did back along the track at each killing ground we established at at Yogi in Brigade Hill knew exactly what had happened in in every every [Music] state claims of CIS misunderstood the tactics of the Kota defense the Australians were faced by an enemy outnumbering them 10 to one to fight con conventionally would have been to invite Annihilation Australian tactical commanders like Colonel Phil Roden needed to wage a different kind of War you hold him up but you don't hold him up to the extent that you become and broed on that spot you move backwards again and cause him to more less overbalance on spot a you go back to spot B in the same thing develops the whole way at no time was he able to engage his Superior numbers against you correct a group of 20 30 or even 100 at a time Japanese they just rushed straight forward to our positions were're able to just mow them down on time with they you could see them falling in hipson contrary to the claims of cowers some of the Australian Defenders actually stayed on to fight despite the fact that they'd been relieved by reinforcements they were members of the 39th Battalion mere teenagers known as chocolate soldiers because untrained and with no battle experience they were expected to melt in the tropical Sun these these were the choc eyes and the chocolate soldiers yes and they they they were very good friends of ours real mats so it doesn't make any difference to us Chocos or not Cole Bloom was a private in the regular army he and his mates would remain forever impressed by the resolve of the Chocos those inexperienced boy soldiers who stayed on to fight they could see that we were in trouble and they knew and quite a number of them came back and joined us and every rifle counted and every board caned in recent years historians have applauded the Australian tactics which eventually wore down the enemy reducing his numbers to the point where the Japanese had to do the unthinkable Retreat didn't wasn't in the military lexicon they didn't even have a word for it to do it so they had to tell them to to advance to the rear now as a Japanese soldier used to winning and and and never having any doubts that would have been a shattering moment we were surprised when we heard that they were didn't want to fight anymore and they were ordered to retire what was the expression Advan to the rear Advan to the rear wonderful expression oh lovely but um we were surprised when it [Music] happened at last that Victory and the heroes of Cota have been acknowledged and celebrated they've now been lorded by political and military leaders in terms that should have been clearly stated a lifetime ago in the most atrocious fighting condition along this track they turned around the course of World War II history if not changed has been corrected and an old and bitter debt has at last been settled I think we're we're all wonderfully pleased about it and wonderfully grateful that at last the government and many many more Australians understand the true circumstances of what happened on that occasion and the sacrifice that was made by so many of our people wonderful fellows and they did what a wonderful job that they did and it's nice to think something's been done to recognize not only those that were killed but those that are still here and have some old ghosts been settled for you yeah some of them have been settled I'd say most of been settled but but I still feel that I will be tional and it must be it's there a lot of all the Good Fellows went out there hello I'm Amelia Adams thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 Minutes on .com. and the ow app