10 NOV 1942: World war II and the Japanese forced back from Oivi and Gorari by Australian troops. Japanese troops doggedly contested the Australian pursuit down the northern face of the Owen Stanley Range. Several hours drive to the west along the Popondetta-Kokoda road is the battlefield of Oivi-Gorari. This, the largest battle of the Kokoda period of the fighting, is not actually in the Owen Stanley Range but rather in the valley of the Mambare River.
Australia lost 121 dead and 225 wounded. While at least 430 Japanese were killed and about the same number wounded this is not the only measure of the magnitude of the Japanese defeat. All 15 Japanese artillery pieces were lost as, in the chaos of retreat, none could be got back across the Kumusi river. These guns had given the Japanese a great advantage in the fighting in the Owen Stanley Range and were to be sorely missed by the Japanese in the fighting to come at Buna-Gona. More; http://ow.ly/Wef130gtMEk
