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===World War Two===
Shortly after the start of the [[Pacific War]], the island of New Guinea was invaded by the [[Japan]]ese. Papua was the least affected region. Most of [[West Papua (region)|West Papua]], at that time known as [[Dutch New Guinea]], was occupied, as were large parts of the [[Territory of New Guinea]] (the former [[German New Guinea]], which was also under Australian rule after [[World War I]]), but Papua was protected to a large extent by its southern location and the near-impassable [[Owen Stanley Ranges]] to the north.
[[File:Australian troops at Milne Bay.jpg|thumb|200px|Australian troops at Milne Bay, Papua.The Australian army was the first to inflict defeat on the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] during [[World War II]] at the [[Battle of Milne Bay]] of Aug-Sep 1942.]]
The [[New Guinea campaign]] opened with the battles for New Britain and New Ireland in the [[Territory of New Guinea]] in 1942. [[Rabaul]], the capital of the Territory was [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)|overwhelmed on 22-23 January]] and was established as a major Japanese base from whence they landed on mainland New Guinea and advanced towards Port Moresby and Australia.<ref>http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/remember.nsf/Web-Printer/C6FD73CC5C579789CA256AC000135979?OpenDocument</ref> Having had their initial effort to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne invasion disrupted by the [[U.S. Navy]] in the [[Battle of the Coral Sea]], the Japanese attempted a landward invasion from the north via the [[Kokoda Trail]]. From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action against a Japanese advance along the [[Kokoda Track]], towards Port Moresby, over the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges.<ref>http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_291.asp</ref> The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, were relieved in late August by regular troops from the Second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in the [[Mediterranean theater]].
In early September 1942 Japanese marines attacked a strategic Royal Australian Air Force base at Milne Bay, near the eastern tip of Papua. They were beaten back by the Australian Army, and the [[Battle of Milne Bay]] is remembered as the first outright defeat on Japanese land forces during World War II.<ref>http://www.awm.gov.au/units/event_345.asp</ref> The offensives in Papua and New Guinea of 1943–44 were the single largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces.<ref>http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/23/new-guinea-offensive/</ref> The Supreme Commander of operations was the United States General [[Douglas Macarthur]] , with Australian General [[Thomas Blamey]] taking a direct role in planning and operations being essentially directed by staff at New Guinea Force headquarters in Port Moresby.<ref>http://www.awm.gov.au/wartime/23/new-guinea-offensive/</ref> Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the largely Australian force and the Japanese [[Eighteenth Army (Japan)|18th Army]] based in New Guinea until the [[Japanese surrender]] in 1945.
Civil administration was suspended during the war and both territories (Papua and New Guinea) were placed under [[martial law]] for the duration.{{
===Administrative unification with New Guinea===
After the war, the [[Papua and New Guinea Act 1949]] united the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea as the [[Territory of Papua and New Guinea]]. However, for the purposes of [[Australian nationality law|Australian nationality]] a distinction was maintained between the two territories.{{
==See also==
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