This is the story of Brigadier Arnold Potts, a Great War and World War Two hero, a country farmer from Western Australia who led the Australian 21st Infantry Brigade in crucial engagements against Japanese forces in Papua in 1942.

       He organised and inspired his outnumbered and out-gunned brigade, together with the remnants of ‘Maroubra Force’, to conduct a three-week-long fighting withdrawal back along the Kokoda Track. The Japanese force was eventually fought to a standstill along the ridges overlooking Port Moresby.

        Instead of receiving the accolades of his superiors and the thanks of a nation, Potts was ignominiously removed from his command and sent to the 23rd Brigade at Adelaide River, south of Darwin.

       Many veterans of the Kokoda campaign regard Potts' dismissal as a disgrace, an attempt to cover up the inadequacies of the Allied High Commanders, MacArthur and Blamey. Others, however, think he was transferred for legitimate military reasons. The controversy remains.  Chicanery and heroism went hand-in-hand during Australia's darkest hour in 1942.