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Conscription in Australia
At the beginning of the war a conscription was introduced in Australia which stated that If you were an unmarried man at the age of 21, you were required to fight in Australia. If you were a man aged 18–35 or a single men aged 35–45 you were required to join the Citizens Military Forces (CMF). Source -
Australian Declares War on Germany
Due to the invasion of Poland by Germany, Great Britain declared war upon her and Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced that Australia was also at war with Germany. Source -
Australian fighter pilots participate in the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain was a massive air conflict between Great Britain and the German's Air Force (Luftwaffe) . In this, there were Australian fighter pilots, about 35, participated at the Great Britain side. Some of the Australians became air aces for shooting down 5 or more enemy aircrafts and about 14 Australians died in the Battle Britain. Source -
HMAS Sydney sinks Bartolomeo Colleoni
HMAS Sydney fired 956 shells in an action that sank the Italian cruiser, Bartolomeo Colleoni, in the waters just north of Cape Spada. Source -
HMAS Sydney sunk in Indian Ocean
The Australian light cruiser, HMAS Sydney, encountered Kormoran, the German auxiliary cruiser, just 196 km off Dirt Hartog Island. Their encounter resulted with a massive fight between each other and ending with mutual destruction and sinking. HMAS had 645 people on-board and none of them survived. It was the largest loss of life in the history of the RAN Source -
Australia Declared War on Japan
Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia announced that war was upon Japan, one day after the Japanese bombers struck Hawaii. Source -
Bombing of Darwin
The Bombing of Darwin was the first and largest attack on Australia by a foreign power. Over 242 Japanese aircrafts that attacked and bombed the ships that were in Darwin's Harbour along with two airfields in that were in the town. This was an attempt to prevent the Allies fromusing them as base and interfere with Japan's invasions on Timor and Java. In this battle over 235 Australians were killed including civilians. Source -
HMAS Canberra sunk in the Battle of Savo Sea
The Japanese naval force launched a powerful surprise attack on the RAN heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra off Solomon Islands. This became known as the Battle of Savo Island. The HMAS Canberra was severely damaged and lost 84 of her crew. An order was given to abandon ship and HMAS Canberra was sunk by a torpedo from a US destroyer. Source -
Japanese Midget Submarines Attack Sydney Harbour
In the late afternoon that day, three Japanese Submarines were able to sneak to 13 km off from Sydney Harbour undetected. They sent three midget submarines to attack the harbour two of them were detected and destroyed before engaging. The third submarine attempted to torpedo the USS Chicago,butbut instead sank HMAS Kuttabul. Source1Source2 -
The First Battle of El Alamein
The First Battle of El Alamein was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign between Axis forces of the Panzer Army Africa and the Allied forces. The battle started in July 01 1942 and ended in July 27 1942. The battle ended in a tie, although the Allies managed to slow down the Axis forces' advancement into Egypt. Source -
The Second Battle of El Alamein
After the Frst, a second battle of El Alamein took place starting from October 23 1942 up to November 11 1942. It occured inear the Egyptian coastal city of El Alamein. The Allies achieved a decisive victory and it marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign.This victory also turned the tide in the North African Campaign and ended the Axis threat to Egypt and other countries in North of Africa. Source -
9th Division returns to Australia
The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was one of the few allied army units to serve in both the Mediteranean and Pacific theatres. The 9th Division returned to Australia after serving in the North African campaign, at the Siege of Tobruk and both the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. Source -
Japan Surrenders to the Allies
Due to the two atomic bombs that devasted Nagasaki and Hiroshima (two cities in Japan) including the invasion of the Soviet Union, Emperor Hirohito was forced to intervene and order Supreme Council to accept the terms of the Allies they were given in the Postdam Declarion for ending the war. This oficially ended the war in Asia. Source
