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Occupation of Port Moresby New Guinea would have provided Japan a springboard for the invasion of Australia. In early 1942, after establishing a base at Rabaul, New Britain, Japan began landing troops on the north coast of New Guinea. In July, after plans for a direct naval attack on Port Moresby were disrupted by the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japanese troops landed along New Guinea’s northeast coast with a plan to advance south over the Owen Stanley Range and seize Port Moresby. Pressing inland , they soon captured the airfield at Kokoda from an undermanned Australian force after heavy fighting.