 The National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated stations present the Pacific story. In the mounting fury of world conflict, events in the Pacific are taking on ever greater importance. Here is the story of the Pacific and the millions of people who live around this greatest sea. The drama of the peoples whose destiny is at stake in the Pacific war. Here, as another public service, is the tale of the war in the Pacific, and its meaning to us and to the generations to come. New Guinea, Cinderella land of the Pacific. First, 1873. At 10 o'clock this Friday morning, I stood in the foretop of my vessel HMS Basilisk, whence I could see every reef and conter through the passage to land on Fairfax harbour of New Guinea. This is John Moresby of the Royal Navy. Stand clear of the anchor chain. We broke into these unknown waters of New Guinea. I named the harbour Fort Moresby from my father, Sir Fairfax Moresby, Admiral of the Fleet. Moresby. Yes, Mr. Marillian. The natives are swarming over the vessel from their boats. Shall we permit it, sir? Let them come. The natives shattered like monkeys as they pointed out to each other the marvels of our vessel. Then they had done. Mr. Marillian and I went on an exploring trip ashore. Hilly country, they say, Captain? Yes, mountainous with deep valleys. But have you seen any running water, Mr. Marillian? No, sir. None yet, sir. Seems to be a total absence of it. Yes, sir. Probably because the ground is so porous. And the stream's probably taken underground course. We reclined a steep hillside of granite boulders and quartz and covered with gum trees. From this vantage point, we looked down into a rich tropical valley. Look at that village down there in the jungle, Captain Moresby. The natives seem to have great skill in building those houses built on stilts like that. Yes, I say. See the pigs and dogs under the houses. Yes, these people have been living like this for centuries. Oh, this is virgin country, Captain. It should be enormously important one day. Scarcely anyone knows anything about it. Not even its true size or its true shape. Hmm, strange. No, no one has been sufficiently interested to find out. Europeans have touched on the island for several hundred years, I imagine. At least that. A chap named Doretith, a Spaniard, landed here. I should judge about 1545. From its resemblance to the Guinea coast of West Africa, he called the island New Guinea. Claimed it for Spain, did he? Yes, in the name of the King of Spain. Then the Dutch came long. How long have the Dutch crammed half of the island, Captain? Hmm, since somewhere around 1830. But the British have been interested in the island since about 1700. Hmm, do you know, it is my feeling, sir, that what with Germany expanding her interests in the Pacific, if we are going to do anything about New Guinea, we ought to do it soon. Our first task, Mr. Morelin, is to explore the island. No one knows anything about its eastern end. According to our charts, it's virtually an unknown world out there. I have an idea. It's vastly different from that shown by our charts. Come along. Time for us to get back to our dust. Captain Wasby said about exploring the eastern end of the Great Island. He found that what was believed to be the far eastern end was not part of the mainland of the island at all. This land out here, 240 miles east of the mainland, is really the Louisiana Reef. Oh, yes, the Louisiana. Chartered by Owen Stanley. Yes. Then we sailed northward between the eastern end of New Guinea and the Louisiana Reefs. Precisely. Captain Wasby, we've opened a new highway to commerce. Yes. The basilisk is the first vessel to pass from south to north without going around the Louisiana. Captain Wasby had placed on the chart more than 140 islands. Here to pour thought to be part of the mainland of New Guinea. He had found many excellent harbors and anchorages. He had opened an important sea lane and had discovered Port Moresby. New Guinea had come to the attention of the world powers. And now for long years it was to be fair game in the international scramble. Germany has sent three surveying expeditions to New Guinea for the purpose of securing a foothold in the Great Island. The Germans are making an aggressive... The Netherlands have moved in on western New Guinea. They are making an effort to develop the country and it is reported that they are up and coming... Agents from Queensland, Australia have raised the Union Jack in Port Moresby and have claimed all of New Guinea, not already claimed by the government. The Earl of Derby has cancelled the annexation of parts of New Guinea by the Queensland Canolio government. Lord Derby has declared that the annexation... German landing parties have raised the German flag over the northeastern portion of New Guinea. The Germans are extending their sphere of influence... Great Britain has claimed the southern portion of New Guinea and established a protectorate over this area to prevent its being used as a base of attack against Australia. The stage was sent. The actors were in their places in this faraway jungle outpost. Within a month after the outbreak of World War I, the Australians attacked the Germans and captured the German territory. At the close of World War I then, New Guinea was controlled by Australia and the Netherlands. It was to remain in their hands until World War II swept over the Pacific in 1942. New Guinea is the second largest island on earth. About 1500 miles long, 400 miles wide. Greenland is the largest. New Guinea's ruggedness, towering mountains, deep gorges, sheer precipices, ragged ravines, rushing rivers, its malarial swamps, tangled vegetation, tropical diseases, poisonous snakes and insects have kept New Guinea one of the least known spots on earth. Almost impassable by land, scientists have sought to explore New Guinea by air. How much altitude do we have now, pilot? Just about 15,000 feet, sir. We'll need more than that. These are the highest peaks I've seen in a long time, Mr. Wilson. Yes. Mount Wilhelmina back there is 15,300 feet high. It's higher than Mount Whitney and Pike's Peak back in the States. Quite a bit. And Mount Carstens up ahead there is still higher. Well, I'm glad we don't have to fly over that one with a crew and cargo we're carrying. We could make it, couldn't we? How high is Mount Carstens? I'd say about 16,400 feet. That's pretty high for a seaplane like this. Then we'd better fly around it. Yeah. It looks like the Alps down there. Those mountains and snow covered all the year round. And they're almost on the equator, too. Well, there's not only snow down there. On some of those mountains, they're glaciers. Well, this is some of the ruggedest country I've ever flown up. Actually, New Guinea is like Switzerland in the tropics. It's a lot bigger than I thought, Mr. Wilson. It's bigger than California, Oregon and Washington put together. Wilson. Wilson. Well, that's Dr. Honey back in the cabin calling for you. Yes. Yes, Holly? There's a valley down there to the right that isn't on our maps. To the right? Yes. Well, I'll come back to you, honey. A pilot. Turn around and fly back over that valley. Yes, sir. See that river down below there, Mr. Wilson? Here it is on the map. Yes. That's it, all right. But that valley down there, that isn't on the map. Let me see. It should be right here. No. It isn't there. Could it be that we've found a new valley? It isn't charted. It appears to be a big one. Yes. I'd say about 50 miles long. Hand me the phone there, honey. Yes. Here. Pilot. Pilot. Yes, sir? Can you land on that river down there? Oh, I think so, sir. Good. Now put it down as close to the village down there as you can. Yes, sir. The heavily laden sea plane circled down into the mysterious valley. It skimmed over the green tangled jungle and sat down like a waddling duck on the browed muddy waters of the river, which swirled and gurgled through the lush vegetation. All members of the expedition peered out of the windows as the sea plane taxied up to a village on the river bank. Round houses with thatched roofs made up the village. The frizzy-haired people lined the shores. All life in the village looked on bewildered. All except the pigs, which continued to root and to growl. For sure, the members of the expedition and the people of the village regarded each other with mutual amazement. These people have probably never seen a white person before. No, they're not very big, are they? No, I'd say they range in height from about four feet eight inches to about five feet eight. Yes. They're a papu in stock, short and black and long-headed. They don't bother very much with clothes, seems like. No. Hey, look at that, fella. Nothing but a breech clout. And is that all these women wear? Yes. I think but a short skirt of shredded palm. Notice they go in for ornaments. See the bracelets and armlets? Yeah. What are they made of? Oh, shells, seeds, dog teeth. And those sticks the men have through the septum of the nose. They're made of clam shells. Well, come along. It's time we made friends with these people and learned about them. Weeks of study of the people and the vast unknown interior of the Great Island and the expedition brought out new knowledge, new understanding of the little-known island of New Guinea. Into the journals of the expedition went their observations. The pilot wrote, They catch fish by nets. Sometimes they spear them. They eat pigs and sometimes wallabies and birds. The jungles are filled with birds and butterflies and the river is full of crocodiles. There are beautiful wild pigeons and colored cockatoos. And there are brilliant birds of paradise and flocks of big butterflies with bronze wings and trimmed with black borders. Nearly all the people chew betel nut with lime and pepper plant and their teeth are nearly black. Dr. Harney recorded, The people raise much of the food they eat. Coconuts, bananas, yams, taro. While some of the natives of New Guinea know little of agriculture, these natives show that they understand the principles of farming. They have cleared the land of rocks and trees and they farm them with their crude implements. Besides growing food, they even grow tobacco. The chief of the expedition sat down. The interior of New Guinea is almost impenetrable. Grows of pandanus grow down to the water. The tangled green jungles fill the valleys and almost shut out the sun. The jungles are alive with bats and rats and mice and some wild dogs. Lizards skitter over the lush vegetation and great turtles and tortoises are plentiful. Rising out of this tropic jungle are the towering mountains eternally capped with snow and ice. Into this jungle in the early 20s trudged an Australian prospector, Shark Eye Park. For years, Shark Eye Park, as many another solitary prospector, had sought to find gold in New Guinea. Once a small strike had been found. He ventured alone into the green maze and scrambled through the dense growth up into the own Stanley Mountains. And there he found gold. New Guinea and swarmed over the wilderness beach of Salamowar. We've got to get moving. If we don't get any before all these people, there won't be a place to stank out a claim. Hey, but where is that gold? That's what I want to know. It's up in the jungle. Did you fellas bring supplies with you? Oh, yes. I brought six cans of food. You don't know where this goldfield is. Oh, it's up in the jungle. Yes, and I brought my pen to watch for gold. Now look here. That goldfield's at least 50 miles. Maybe more. Through that jungle and up into those Oh, Stanley Mountains you see there. It'll take a line of natives to carry food up there. And you'll need protection against the headhunters. Or you'll never get them. We know your game. Trying to keep us away? After coming this far, we're not going to quit now. Would you bring any quinine? It's up filled with malaria. And you've got to boil the water so you don't get dysentery. And where's your blankets? Blankets? Here in the tropics. Hold up there. It'll kill you. You stay here. We're going in. I'll carry the grub and you take the tube. Some got through to the goldfield. Many did not. Among those who made it was an Australian Jewish farmer, Cecil Levin. He came out with an idea. The money, the gold cannot be taken out by washing pans. It must be taken out by dredges. Dredges? How would you ever get it dredged through the jungle and up into the Ohan Stanley? Fly it up. Fly? Land where? We'll build an airport up there. With what? That's why I've come to you, a banker. Levin, this is the wildest kind of harebrained scheme. No. We'd not be interested in lending money on this. But Cecil Levin raised the capital, and went through the jungles to clear an airport 4500 feet above sea level in the shadow of Mount Kayindi. What heavy machinery bought an airplane and started operations? There's Levin's plane bringing in another load. I've never seen anything like it. I wonder what it is he's bringing in this time. After he brought in the parts for those eight big dredges, he can fly in anything. Yes, and there's cows and chickens and there's pianos and automobiles. It's coming in for a landing. Go over there and see what it's brought. The big transport landed, and a runway was put up to its oversized doors. Out of the airplane came... Oh, would you look at that! Two refrigerators, a billiard table, and a racehorse. Around the airport grew the settlement of Wao, complete with two hotels. Every item in Wao was flown in, and although the distance to Salamawa was only 33 miles in an airline, no road was ever built from the beach to the settlement. Airplanes by the dozens flew in and out of Wao. Sometimes there would be a hundred arrivals and departures in a single day. And now other airports were developed on the plateau of the Gold Country. These were to play an important role when the Japanese hordes came, when the Australians fought to save Port Moresby. The Japanese came to New Guinea long before they came with their bombers and battleships. For years there had been a scattering of Japanese throughout the island. In 1932 the Japanese South Seas Development Company began experimenting with cotton growing. Two years later the threat of Japanese infiltration had become so marked that the Dutch strengthened their garrisons and themselves enlarged their experimental farms. Then in 1937 the Dutch found it necessary to refuse the perpetual lease in New Guinea that the Japanese were seeking. It was obvious that one day the Japanese would come back in force. May 15th, 1942 Jap planes today bombed the western end of New Guinea. 21st, 1942 Jap planes today raided the north coast of New Guinea. May 23rd, 1942 Jap forces have landed on New Guinea. In flight from Hidden Airfields, New Guinea are blasting the oncoming Japs. The Japanese have occupied Lye on New Guinea. These troops have landed in Papua, New Guinea and are advancing. New Guinea now had been enveloped by the war. The Japanese in powerful warships and transports lunged at Port Morsby and met disaster in the Coral Sea. What remained of this fleet limped back to Raubau in Troek. Two months later they were ready to try again directly across New Guinea, overland through the tangled jungles and over the Owen Stanley Mountains. Australians guarded the gap at Kokoda. Hear anything? Now? They'll be showing up any time now. Well, this is the only trail they've got to come this way. They're not going to stand much of a chance against them if they come in force. Us with only an handful of men here. Well, we come on the trail. We can hold them up for a long time. Hear that? I heard something. Get down. That's a Jap sniper. I'm from in back of us. In back of us? They're never getting behind us. Get down. He is in back of us. And he didn't come up the trail either. I'll be here you too. Mr. Yer, watch the trail. You go back. Yes. Come on over here. Oh, I'm coming. I'm coming. Yes. Head and legs and body painted green. Looks like a green monkey. That's why we can't see him in this jungle. We're coming! We're coming! We're coming! Hold jungles for us! Three times Kokoda changed hands. Japs and Australians fighting furiously to hold the gap that would lead down to Port Moresby. The Japs brought up reinforcements. Jungle toughened troops that had trained at Rabaul that infiltrated the British lines in Malaya and had taken Singapore, that had smashed through the coastal plains of China and sacked and burned Nanking. Painted green, the Japanese carrying rifles, machine guns, grenades, flamethrowers, and even small mortars crept through the jungles like a deadly plague. With superior force, they drove up over the Owen Stanley's Pass Kokoda up into the shadow of the lofty snow-covered peaks, then down on the south side of the range through the tangled jungles within 32 air miles of Port Moresby. Now look at this map. Can you all see? Yes, sir. Here is our situation. We're holding the enemy here. We're fighting with our becks to the sea. We appreciate that, sir. If the Japanese take Port Moresby, they'll have a base for attack against Australia only 90 miles from Torres Strait. Now, artillery is here, behind a meter ridge. We'll shell the Japanese positions, and we'll advance at the get... Shells from the Australian artillery went screaming over the ridge into the enemy positions. The ravines of the Owen Stanley's reverberated with violent explosions. Trees and vines and blast foliage were blown to shreds, and the birds of paradise, the cockatoos, the pigeons, the jungle rats and mice, the dingos, the wallabies, fled in anguished terror. Then the artillery stout. Remember, men, there are still Japs in there. We've learned the hard way in these jungles. Let's make everything count. Forward march. We have the Japanese to pieces. We're driving them back over the gap of the Owen Stanley's. For that, we've just been climbing all day, and there's the trail we come down over there. Yeah, down one mountain into a canyon and straight up the other. We ain't made enough a mile all day. Have we, Sergeant? Probably not. It's like crawling down one sore tooth and straight up another. Yeah, we're lucky the engineers went ahead and cut those steps down that mountain over there and up this one, or we wouldn't be this far. Those engineers must have crawled up and down these trails on their ends and knees. Are you, Sergeant? Yes, they cut out those steps one by one. And where the ground was too soft, they build them with logs. All we've got to do is walk down and walk up on them. Yes, but that's a lot of walking, Sergeant. You know how many steps we cover today down that mountain over there and up this one? What are you doing? Counting them? Well, what else have we got to do outside of looking for jabs? How many steps did you count? 1,500 steps down that mountain over there and 2,500 straight up this one, and we ain't to the top yet. Sergeant, we'll be moving up in a minute. All right. On your feet, men. We're moving up. Ah, up you come, you flutes. How are the men taking, Sergeant? They're pretty badly worn out, sir. Yes. They've never gotten this far if they were carrying full packs. No, sir. Every three men together are carrying less than a full pack, sir. Who's that calling? Somebody back at me's on the trail, sir. That's our outfit. Look. Coming down the mountain across the canyon. Well, that's who it is. The men walking down the steps across the canyon. Answer them, Sergeant. Yes, sir. Hello? Yes, sir. One. What did I tell you? All right, Sergeant. That's enough. Move up. Yes, sir. Shun! Move up! Pralines are forging ahead over the mountains and through the jungles, driving the Japanese down onto the beaches on the north shore of New Guinea. Subjoint the Australians and are closing in on Bonheur and attacking the Japanese at San Ananda. The unknown had become one of the war's most important battlegrounds. Allied troops were slogging through its malarial swamps, its shattered jungles, up and down its sawtooth mountains, over its rubble-strewn beaches. Slowly, the enemy were being hunted out and killed. Slowly, painfully with agony and death. Foot by foot, the Allied troops advanced, but the Japanese resisted stubbornly, for they, no less than the Allies, knew the value of New Guinea. Today, the Allies hold approximately two-thirds of the Great Island, the southern portion and the eastern end. The Japanese hold the west and the north. You were sent for me, sir. Oh, yes. I sent for you. What progress are you making? How long would it be until this air base is ready for full-scale operations? We have encountered unexpected difficulties. In clearing the land? Well, no, sir, integrating. Some of our portals have broken down. We must get the Hollandia air base here into operation in the shortest possible time. We will have to depend on this base to guard our east Indian Rhine of communications and supply. Yes, yes. We work air base is being bombed by the Americans. They are hitting. We work again? Yes, sir. In force. That means that other formations will probably attack here. Yes, sir. Formal. It is my order that this air base be completed with all possible haste. If your machinery is broken down, put your men to work with hand tools. I will be there all mailed here too. Hey, Sakya, bombers, American bombers. Oh, yes, sir. Here they come. Get your men under cover. Sergeant, come with me. Japanese are working feverishly to hold what they have of New Guinea. They know its value in the grand strategy of the war in the Pacific, as well as they know its peacetime value. The resources of New Guinea have scarcely been touched. There is, of course, the malarial margin which would have to be cleaned up. It must be remembered that while the coastal swamps are malarial, the higher country is a land of wonderful health. To utilize the higher country, roads would have to be built from the coast. There will be ample time, and we will have the advantages of a temperate climate in the middle of the tropics. That will mean agricultural development. Yes. We know that many valuable crops will grow in New Guinea. And there is evidence that the land will yield others that have not yet been tried. A developed and exploited New Guinea could be the logical center for the control of the entire south-west Pacific with all its islands. This is what we have to gain. Yes. This is what we have to... But while the Japanese realistically see the priceless importance of New Guinea as a strong point in their outer empire today and as a dominating position in the Pacific tomorrow, the Allies see New Guinea from a different angle. New Guinea is the most logical springboard for an attack on Mindanao and for a sweep up through the Philippines on the road to Tokyo. You have been listening to the Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and its affiliated independent stations as a public service to clarify events in the Pacific and to make understandable the cross currents of life in the Pacific Basin. For a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in stamps or a coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. We repeat, for a reprint of this Pacific Story program, send 10 cents in stamps or a coin to University of California Press, Berkeley, California. The Pacific Story is written and directed by Arnold Marquess. The original musical score was composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso, your narrator, Gane Whitman. This program came to you from Hollywood. This is the National Broadcasting Company.