Forming part of the Kokoda Track campaign of the Second World War, the battle involved military forces from Australia, supported by the United States, fighting against Japanese troops from Major General Tomitaro Horii's South Seas Detachment who had landed in Papua in mid-1942, with the intent of capturing Port Moresby.

It formed part of the Australian pursuit of the Japanese towards the beachheads around Buna and Gona, following the abandonment of plans to capture Port Moresby.

The Australians took heavy casualties as part of efforts to advance north to re-take Kokoda and then push on towards Oivi and Gorari in November.

The landing was part of a plan to capture the strategically important town of Port Moresby via an overland advance along the Kokoda Track following the failure of a seaborne attempt at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.

Before this climactic battle could take place, though, the Japanese reached the limit of their supply line and the strategic situation elsewhere in the Pacific – specifically the defeats around Milne Bay and on Guadalcanal[3] – resulted in the tide shifting towards the Australians.

By late September, the Japanese commander, Horii, received orders to assume a defensive posture rather than continuing the drive on Port Moresby.

[6] An ad hoc force known as the "Stanley Detachment", consisting mainly of the 2nd/144th, was subsequently tasked with establishing a stronghold in the Owen Stanley Ranges, while the rest of Horii's force fell back further north to await for more favourable conditions to develop to allow a renewed assault on Port Moresby.

[7] Brigadier Kenneth Eather, commanding the Australian 25th Brigade, ordered patrols toward Ioribaiwa, both to harass the Japanese and to gather intelligence on their disposition.

The 3rd and 2/25th Battalions assumed the lead, and they subsequently found Menari devoid of Japanese troops and then continued on to Brigade Hill, where they were confronted by evidence of the battle that had taken place there in early September.

Meanwhile, commencing 3 October, the 16th Brigade, which had landed in Port Moresby a fortnight earlier, followed to occupy the positions on Imita Ridge.

[11] With the 16th Brigade committed to the advance, direct command passed to the 7th Division, under Major General Arthur "Tubby" Allen.

[12][notes 2] Allen was conscious of the supply difficulties he would encounter and moderated his advance accordingly but was pressured by General Sir Thomas Blamey, commander of Allied Land Forces, and General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, to pursue what they perceived to be a fleeing enemy.

In fact though, Horii's force had made a clean break and withdrawn back to a series of four defensive positions prepared in advance.

When the Stanley Detachment was forced to withdraw from Templeton's Crossing, he sent all available reinforcement to man the final position at Eora Village.

Overlooking the village from the north was a spur-line rising to the west to join the main Eora Ridge, marking the western side of the valley.

Anderson describes what followed as being highly confused but, dawn of 24 October found the attacking force of battalion strength largely pinned down in front of the Japanese position, having suffered 34 killed and many more injured, with no prospect of success.

Lloyd then ordered the 2/3rd Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel John Stevenson to attack down on the Japanese positions from the top of Eora Ridge (to the west) but deploying this force to a forming-up point would take time.

The 2/3rd Battalion resumed its attack on 28 October, now under the command of Major Ian Hutchinson who had taken over from Stevenson who had been evacuated due to an ear injury.

With a loss of positions that commanded The Gap and the approach to Port Moresby, Horii turned his attention to defending the beachheads at Buna–Gona.

Vasey had re-gained access to the village's vital airstrip which helped relieve the pressure on the supply chain which had largely relied upon Papuan carriers.

After this, the Japanese abandoned most of their artillery and completed their withdrawal across the Kumusi River, falling back to Buna and Gona, where heavy fighting followed in December 1942 and January 1943.

[46][47] The fighting around Eora Creek was later described by Sunday Telegraph journalist Barclay Crawford as the "bloodiest and most significant battle of the Australian Army's campaign to retake the Kokoda Track".