 Air units based at the airfield later supported an air superiority campaign against Allied forces at Port Moresby.In July 1942 after the Japanese abandoned plans to invade Port Moresby from the sea, the base at Salamaua–Lae supported the ultimately unsuccessful Japanese land offensive towards Port Moresby along the Kokoda Track.In early 1942, the Japanese high command began planning operations in the New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, as part of an overall strategy of establishing bases in the South Pacific from which to interdict Allied lines of communication between the US and Australia.