One million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War – 500,000 overseas. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and the Pacific.
As part of the British Empire, Australia was among the first nations to declare war on Nazi Germany and between 1939 and 1945 nearly one million Australian men and women served in what was going to be the Second World War.
From 1942 until early 1944, Australian forces played a key role in the Pacific War, making up the majority of Allied strength throughout much of the fighting in the South West Pacific theatre.
Nearly one million U.S. troops would pass through Australia between 1941 and 1945, roughly 80,000 of whom were stationed in Brisbane at the height of the war.
We never had enough troops to [invade Australia]. We had already far out-stretched our lines of communication. We did not have the armed strength or the supply facilities to mount such a terrific extension of our already over-strained and too thinly spread forces.
They inspired a new kind of terror on the battlefield — German soldiers called it 'Panzerschreck': Tank Terror. Mephisto was deployed against Australian soldiers in France, but the Australians managed to steal the tank from right under the noses of the German army.
Australia's history is different from that of many other nations in that since the first coming of the Europeans and their dispossession of the Aboriginals, Australia has not experienced a subsequent invasion; no war has since been fought on Australian soil.
While considered excellent soldiers, Australians were known for their easygoing natures, their ability to enjoy themselves heartily when on leave, as well as their reputation for a relaxed attitude to discipline.
WINSTON CHURCHILL - NO FRIEND TO AUSTRALIA
His assurances of British military support for Australia against the Japanese were lies. He had already betrayed Australia to the Japanese at the Arcadia Conference held in Washington in late December 1941.
Japan wanted to destroy our country's northern defenses, so it could invade Timor and in the process send Australia a warning. Just before 10 a.m., Japanese forces launched 188 fighter planes from ships in the Timor Sea and headed for Darwin.
And the German learned to fear Australians, because they were reckless, ruthless - and revengeful. During the Third Battle of Ypres, autumn 1917, the ANZAC's (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) met the Germans on high ground, in front of Polygon Wood.
Although no Australian units were engaged in operations, many individuals did become involved through service with the British Army during the North Russia Campaign. They served in many roles, including as advisors to White Russian units as part of the North Russian Expeditionary Force (NREF).
There were no Australian fighter planes and just ten United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Kittyhawk fighters. The defences consisted primarily of anti-aircraft batteries.
However, Axis surface raiders and submarines periodically attacked shipping in the Australian coastal waters from late 1940 to early 1945. Japanese aircraft bombed towns and airfields in Northern Australia on ninety-seven occasions during 1942 and 1943.
The US naval victory at the battle of Midway, in early June 1942, removed the Japan's capability to invade Australia by destroying its main aircraft carriers.
The endurance, courage, “mateship,” and never-give-up attitude the Australian soldiers displayed during the campaign fostered the so-called ANZAC legend, the tradition of the indomitable spirit of Australian troops that began with the original ANZACs in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915 and continues today as an important ...
3 Sir Robert Menzies wrote in his memoirs that Churchill thought of Australia as 'a very distant country which produced great fighting men and some black swans for the pond at Chartwell, but it cannot be said that otherwise it excited his imagination or interest'.
On 19 February 1942 Japanese bombs fell on mainland Australia for the first time. The port and city of Darwin suffered two devastating attacks by over 188 Japanese aircraft that day.
The Japanese first attacked the Australian mainland on 19 February 1942 when they launched a devastating air raid on Darwin in the Northern Territory. Two weeks later, more aircraft attacked Broome in Western Australia killing about 70 people.
The breed is considered highly intelligent and easy to train. Aussies are known for being especially eager to please their owners. True to their herding instincts, Aussies are very protective of their families and territory and will let you know if strangers approach, but they are not considered aggressive.
These stereotypes served to conflate Nikkei-Australians with the soldiers in the Japanese military that Australia witnessed during wartime, who were regarded as “subhuman beast[s]” and “vermin” (Saunders 1994, 325–27). Moreover, they were thought of as being absolutely loyal to Japan (Oliver 2002, 275).
The German soldiers feared and respected the skills of the Australians. In a letter captured and translated by the 7th Australian Infantry Brigade in May 1918, a German soldier wrote to his mother: We are here near ALBERT, I am in the foremost line, about 200 metres opposite the British.
However, is it true that Australia waged war against the emus in 1932 and lost? The Great Emu War of Western Australia, as the incident came to be called, was one of the most bizarre and futile military operations in Australian history.
For 2022, Australia is ranked 17 of 142 out of the countries considered for the annual GFP review. It holds a PwrIndx* score of 0.2377 (a score of 0.0000 is considered 'perfect').