Submachine guns used were MP40 from Germany.
In Quentin Tarantino's novel "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (2021), it is revealed this film is a highly fictionalized account of the escape led by one of the novel's main characters, Cliff Booth (played by Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).
The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought from 4 May to 8 May 1942 to prevent the Japanese from capturing New Guinea and fully controlling the Coral Sea, thus isolating Australia from the Allies. The battle was the first strategic defeat for the Japanese Imperial Navy.
In November 1959 Columbia Pictures distributed this film on a double bill with The Crimson Kimono (1959).