history · 27 July 1942 · 82 years ago
Australian troops began preparing defenses at the Kokoda airfield in Australian Papua. Two transport aircraft carrying reinforcements for the airfield circled the airfield and headed back to Port Moresby without landing the troops, fearing that the airfield was about to be captured. Meanwhile, Australian Captain Sam Templeton, the commanding officer of the Papuan Infantry Battalion who had been captured on the previous day at Oivi, Australian Papua, was executed by sword.
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