Kokoda Trail History
The Kokoda Commanders
October 1942

At one stage Blamey passed on a message from MacArthur telling Allen to act with "greater boldness" and to employ "wide circling" movements. Allen drafted a curt reply: "If you think you can do any better come up here and bloody try." His chief of staff persuaded him not to send it. He was also dismayed to learn that Potts had again been relieved of command of the 21st Brigade (then reforming near Port Moresby) for his alleged failure in the earlier fighting.

By 20 October the 16th Brigade had taken over the advance and it soon struck a powerful Japanese defensive position around Eora Creek. Brigadier John Lloyd, the brigade commander, had no alternative but to attempt a frontal assault along a narrow gorge. Like the other commanders on the Kokoda Trail, Lloyd was a citizen soldier with extensive operational experience. After service in the First World War he had spent several years in the British Army in India, before becoming a farmer in Western Australia. He had commanded a battalion during the siege of Tobruk and had gained valuable jungle experience in Ceylon earlier in 1942. As Dudley McCarthy put it, Lloyd was a "genial leader with something of the manner of an English regular officer". Only a month younger than Allen, Lloyd no doubt found the conditions trying, but he kept a close grip on the attack, rotating his suffering battalions to maintain pressure. It was tedious but slowly the brigade gained the ascendancy.

It was too slow for Blamey. On 27 October Blamey informed Allen that Major General Vasey (GOC 6th Division) would relieve him of his command. Vasey was one of the first officers to use a newly opened airstrip in the mountains and he took command on the morning on 29 October. Like Potts, Allen had not failed in command. Few divisional commanders in history have ever been relieved without a visit from their superior officer. No one above the rank of lieutenant-colonel ever visited Allen.

George Vasey was a Duntroon graduate who had served in the First World War. He had been a staff officer in Libya, and had commanded a brigade in Greece and Crete. He was one of the outstanding commanders in the Australian Army, but as the 16th Brigade seized Eora Creek the day before he assumed command, he could not claim credit for that victory. Vasey's orders for the subsequent advance merely implemented the plan that Allen had already discussed with his brigadiers. On 2 November Eather's troops entered Kokoda. Vasey's command of the division in the battle of Oivi, between 9 and 11 November, demonstrated his flair for tactics as he manoeuvred both his brigades to outflank the enemy and win a decisive victory. It was the end of the campaign in the mountains.

Controversy has continued to surround the dismissals during the Kokoda campaign. Sir Sydney Rowell finished his career as Chief of the General Staff. Allen never again commanded in action although he held the important command of the Northern Territory Force until 1945. Blamey recommended him (unsuccessfully) for a knighthood. Potts commanded a brigade in Bougainville in 1945.

Vasey commanded the 7th Division until he became sick in 1944. He was killed in a plane crash in March 1945 on his way to command the 6th Division. Eather and Porter both commanded brigades successfully in later campaigns. Eather ended the war as a major general. Porter became a major general in the post-war Citizen Military Forces. Lloyd held important instructional appointments, but did not command in action again.

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