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The Chocos = The Chocolate Soldiers were the 39th Btn of the Australian Militia (Citizens Military Force (CMF)). They had been barely trained and were part of a militia drawn in part from conscripts and regular army rejects who were only meant to defend their homeland.
The name derived from the title character of Lehar's operetta The Chocolate Soldier (which was based on G.B. Shaw's Arms and the Man) who kept chocolates instead of bullets in his gun belt. The militia mostly bitterly resented the name, but some used it to chide the AIF after the Kokoda campaign because in the case of most the militia the chocolate did not melt.
They were also known as Koalas, because, like Koalas they were not to be shot at, not to be exported and were protected by the Government- there was a law protecting the militia from overseas service. But New Guinea was mandated Australian territory so the government argued that they could serve there and they were released for what was really overseas service.
The 39th Battalion were among the first troops to meet the Japanese along the track from Port Moresby over the Owen Stanley Ranges to the north-east coast.
They basically held the Japanese by slowly withdrawing until troops from the AIF (mostly the 9th Div) could arrive.
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