The forgotten battle: Wau 

It's the stuff of Anzac legend - an against-all-odds victory for a small company of Australian diggers faced with defending a crucial strategic base against overwhelming numbers of enemy troops.

Yet while the landmark WWII battles of Kokoda and Tobruk are burned into the national psyche, the efforts of a brave group of Australian soldiers at the Battle of Wau lie largely unrecognised.

Although their march south had been halted at Kokoda, the Japanese threat to New Guinea remained strong in January 1943.

The Japanese regrouped at Lae and Salamau following the Kokoda campaign, making nearby Wau, the only Allied base north of the Owen Stanley Range, the new front line.

Throughout 1942, Wau, a small gold-rush settlement in the rugged mountain terrain near the north coast of PNG's main island, had been virtually abandoned by Allied command, with only a small number of troops, known as Kanga Force, left to defend the area.

However, as Wau took on greater importance, Allied commanders began shifting troops there in anticipation of the Japanese attack that was to come.

The attack began on January 27, 1943, and Australian troops began moving down the two established tracks between Wau and nearby Mubo to attempt to cut off the enemy.

However, in a move unforeseen by Allied commanders, the Japanese avoided both tracks by forging their way through the middle, apparently along the route of a long forgotten track.

Two battalions of Japanese troops reached the village of Landing just a few kilometres from Wau, early on the morning of January 28.

All that was left to stop them from taking Wau airfield was Captain Wilfrid "Bill" Sherlock's depleted A Company.

Sherlock was a farmer from western Victoria who had just married his sweetheart Elaine, while he was on leave in Australia following active service in the Middle East. He also was a highly dedicated, resourceful and courageous soldier.

Though he occupied a strong defensive position, atop a sharp ridge behind Landing, the odds were stacked overwhelmingly against Sherlock, who with less than 100 men, was faced with holding off a force of more than 1,600.

Still, as the adage goes "the hour maketh the man" and Sherlock and his men would fight to hold their ridge at all costs.

When members of his company were forced to abandon a vital knoll during the battle, Sherlock himself led the successful counter attack to reclaim the position.

For 36 hours they kept the Japanese from taking the ridge, allowing Allied command to fly in 58 aircraft full of troops and artillery, which turned the battle in the Australia's favour.

"It was an incredible thing that they managed to get two battalions in behind the Australian lines but it was the Australians who stood tall to hold them off," said military historian Phillip Bradley, who will launch his book The Battle for Wau this month.

Retaining Wau and its airfield allowed the Allies to retain their foothold north of the Owen Stanley Range, which was to prove vital to their efforts to drive the Japanese from New Guinea over the coming months.

Sadly, Captain Sherlock would never know of the victory he and his men had made possible.

He died a hero's death, gunned down as he led his remaining 18 men down the ridge, while the sound of the first Allied planes landing echoed in the background.

"It all came down in the end to one man, which was Captain Sherlock, who held his troops together up on that ridge and stopped the Japanese advance," Bradley said.

"If he hadn't done that they would have lost Wau airfield, no question - and all the troops in front of it would have been cut off so they could have lost the good part of two battalions of Australian infantry.

"Everyone I've talked to has always mentioned Sherlock. He was the one that made the difference on the day."

Elaine Sherlock never remarried and remained dedicated to her husband right up until her death last year.

Though heartbroken by her husband's death, Bradley said she received a lot of support from Captain Sherlock's fellow soldiers upon their return.

However, although he paid the ultimate sacrifice for his bravery, Captain Sherlock never received the recognition many believed was owed to him.

Bradley believes his name was put forward for a Victoria Cross, but for whatever reason, it was not awarded.

Sherlock has however been recognised by his local community, who established a memorial near Hamilton, in western Victoria.

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