The Black Vault

Australia did a lot more in both world wars then the usa did & history shows that ....

There would be a war memorial dedicated to Australia in just about every country in the world.

Not the case with the usa who barley fought in either world war.

I can't say i can think of many war memorials dedicated to the USA for their involvement in ww1 or ww2.

As the usa was absent from ww1 almost entirely & from ww2 for just as long.

The US involvement was minimal .......


Like i said READ A BOOK.



http://www.awmlondon.gov.au/

For the Fallen

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

From the poem by Laurence Binyon


'And the band played "Waltzing Matilda", As we stopped to bury the slain. And we buried ours and the Turks buried theirs; And it started all over again.'

Eric Bogle



ANZAC Day, the 25th of April, is a very special day in Australian (and New Zealand) history. ANZAC stands for the Australia New Zealand Army Corps and the reason that it is so important is that on the 25th of April, 1915 Australia went into battle for the first time as an independent nation. We had only became a country in 1901 - before that we were a loose collection of colonies - and this was our "baptism of fire" on the shores of Gallipoli.

Our troops landed on beaches (now called ANZAC cove) on the Turkish peninsular at dawn in this fateful day. They suffered a terrible defeat but our men fought with great bravery and would have succeeded if not for one man - Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk. Although it was a disaster it brought out some great characteristics of mateship and sacrifice for this little island continent of ours. We talk about the "Anzac Spirit" which was born that day and use the term as a mark of the greatest respect. We use this day to remember those who fought, and especially those who fell, in this war and all subsequent wars.

Drawing by Mike Chapell. From the website "ANZAC Memories" (below)
The Battle

In 1915 Australia along with its Allies (Britain, France and Russia, Italy, and Japan) was at war, fighting the Central Powers (Germany, the Ottoman Empire aka Turkey, and Austria-Hungary). When most people think of WW1 they think of fighting Germans in the trenches across France however Russia was also under attack from the Turks in the Caucasus. To aid their plight the Allies hatched a plan to distract Turkey by attacking the Gallipoli Peninsula, on Turkey's Aegean coast. Once the peninsula was taken the Allies would be able to take control of a strait of water called the Dardanelles and lay siege to Turkey's main city, Istanbul (then Constantinople).

Australian and New Zealand troops then training in Egypt were tasked to participate in the attack. On April 25, 1915, the Australian troops landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula on what they had been told was a nice friendly flat beach. Instead, they found that they had been landed at the incorrect position and faced steep cliffs and constant barrages of enemy fire and shelling. Around 20,000 soldiers landed on the beach over the next two days to face a well organised, well armed, large Turkish force determined to defend their country - and led by Mustafa Kemal, who later became Ataturk, the leader of modern Turkey. It is said that Ataturk just happened to be holidaying in the area and took control of the Turkish forces right at the last moment. Thousands of Australian men died in the hours that followed the landing at the beach that would eventually come to be known as Anzac Cove.

What followed was basically a disaster. The Aussies hung in for several months however could make little headway against the Turks. They had nowhere to go and no real hope however they dug in tenaciously and absorbed whatever the Turks threw at them. Many thousands of Aussie and Kiwi soldiers died, not only from the battle but from disease brought about by the poor living conditions. However from this disaster was born the image of the Aussie Digger, a brave and laconic battler, betrayed by the mother country but facing impossible odds with humour, courage and mateship.

Eventually the ANZAC troops were withdrawn from the peninsula having accomplished nothing. Those that survived went on to fight on other fronts but it was at Gallipoli that the legend was born.


For the Fallen

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

From the poem by Laurence Binyon
The Words of Ataturk

These words attributed to Ataturk are inscribed on a memorial at ANZAC Cove (see picture below).

"Those heroes that shed their blood
and lost their lives;
You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies
and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side
here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers,
who sent their sons from far away countries,
wipe away your tears;
your sons are now lying in our bosom
and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have
become our sons as well."

Ataturk, 1934




For Australians, Anzac Cove is the best-known spot on Gallipoli. While the dawn landings were spread out over three-quarters of a kilometre of coastline, during the rest of 25 April 1915 the men of the ANZAC corps waded ashore at Anzac Cove. They were sent immediately inland into battle along Second Ridge at places which became famous in the story of Anzac – Lone Pine, Courtney’s Post, Quinn’s Post and the Nek. By the afternoon of 25 April, the beach was crowded with the wounded from the ferocious actions being fought out along the ridges. That day an estimated 2000 wounded passed through the cove, while others lay out on the battlefield awaiting evacuation.



By 1 May 1915, more than 27 000 men of the ANZAC corps had landed at Gallipoli, and Anzac Cove was being transformed into the main port and administrative centre for the Anzac area. Piers were built to offload essential supplies and reinforcements, the best-known being Watson’s Pier, built by a party of the 2nd Australian Field Engineers under the supervision of Lieutenant Stanley Watson of the 1st Division Signal Company AIF. For the remainder of the campaign, huge rectangular piles of boxes were crammed into the narrow beach area and there was a constant fetching and carrying between the cove and the front line along the ridges. Some of this vital transport of supplies was undertaken by an Indian Army unit, the Indian Mule Cart Transport Company.


Anzac Cove, Gallipoli.

Up the slopes of the eroded valleys behind Anzac Cove, a virtual town of lean-to shelters, dugouts and more elaborate structures emerged to house the ANZAC staff. Australia’s official historian, Charles Bean, felt that this hillside settlement resembled ‘the Manly of New South Wales or the Victorian Sorrento, while the sleepy tick-tock of rifles from behind the hills suggested the assiduous practice of batsmen at their nets on some neighbouring cricket field’. Any sense of normality suggested here was belied by the fact that the Turks had the range of Anzac Cove and the area was shelled daily throughout the campaign, causing many casualties.


The Straits of the Dardanelles, November 1914 – April 1915

When World War I broke out in Europe in early August 1914, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) initially remained neutral, unable to commit itself fully to either the Central Powers (Germany and Austro-Hungary) or the Allies (Britain, France and Russia). However, on 27 September 1914, Turkey closed the Straits of the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazi) to British, French and Russian shipping and the situation gradually drifted towards war. On 29 October, German warships, ostensibly under Turkish control, bombarded Russian Black Sea ports. Turkey now found itself drawn inexorably into the German sphere of influence, and on 5 November 1914 Britain and France officially declared war on the Ottoman Empire.



In late 1914, as the war in northern Europe developed into the stalemate of the trenches, the British sought another, and supposedly more vulnerable, front on which to attack Germany. They decided on a naval attempt to penetrate the Dardanelles and push on to Istanbul (then known as Constantinople), the Turkish capital. The Ottoman Empire’s support of Germany in the face of a British fleet would then supposedly crumble, and wavering eastern European states, such as Bulgaria and Romania, would enter the war on the Allied side.

Turkey’s response to the British naval threat right from the beginning was to strengthen the fortifications of the Dardanelles. Minefields were laid across the Straits, mobile guns were positioned on both shores, and batteries in various fortresses were brought to a state of war readiness. On 3 November 1914, even before the official declaration of war, British warships bombarded the outer forts at Seddülbahir (‘The Barrier to the Sea’) at Cape Helles on Gallipoli and Kum Kale on the Asian shore. In late February 1915, the British ships returned to complete the destruction of the guns and Royal Marines were landed at both locations to carry out this task.



The inner defences of the Dardanelles did not prove so easy to overcome. It was necessary to sweep the mines aside before the great battleships could come up to engage the forts and push through the narrowest point of the Dardanelles – the Narrows. But all British efforts to deal with the mines with fishing trawlers equipped as minesweepers failed, as the shore batteries found them an easy target. Eventually, it was decided to mount a major attack on the forts protecting the minefields, using 16 British and French battleships and battle cruisers, among them the Royal Navy’s most modern Dreadnought battleship, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

This mighty fleet moved up the Dardanelles on the morning of 18 March 1915. From 12 kilometres down the Straits the warships shelled the forts (Çimenlik and Kilitbahir) at the Narrows, and other forts such as Fort Dardanos below Kephes Point. Initially, the bombardment seemed to be going well and the minesweepers were called up, but then a French battleship, the Bouvet, struck a mine (it may also have been hit by a shell from one of the Turkish batteries on the Gallipoli shore) and sank within minutes, taking almost her entire crew of 600 with her. Two more British battleships also eventually sank. Yet again, the minesweepers made little headway in the face of accurate fire from the Turkish gunners. That night the British decided not to press ahead with the naval attack and Turkey celebrated a victory over the world’s greatest sea power.


Australian Overseas War Memorials.

Belgium
Brunei Darrussalam
Crete
Egypt
France
Indonesia
Israel
Libya
Malaysia
Papua New Guinea
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom







Belgium

See the memorials in historical perspective:

* Western Front - Campaigns & Battles 1916-1918

See also:

* Cemeteries Overseas : Memorials to the Missing

1st Australian Tunnelling Company,
Hill 60, Ieper (Ypres)


Details


WW1

5th Division Memorial,
Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke


Details


WW1


Brunei Darrussalam

Memorial to Australian Operations in 1945,
Pantai Muara


Details


WW2


Crete

Historical background: Greek & Crete Campaigns 1941.
See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Hellenic-Australian Memorial Park,
Rethymno


Details


WW2


Egypt

See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

9th Division Memorial,
El Alamein


Details


WW2


France

The memorials in historical perspective: Western Front - Campaigns & Battles 1916-1918
See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

1st Division Memorial,
Pozieres


Details


WW1

2nd Division Memorial,
Mont St Quentin


Details


WW1

3rd Division Memorial,
Sailly le Sec


Details


WW1

4th Division Memorial,
Bellenglise


Details


WW1

Australian Corps Memorial Park,
Le Hamel


Details


WW1

Australian Memorial Park,
Bullecourt


Details


WW1

Australian Memorial Park,
Fromelles


Details


WW1

Australian National Memorial,
Villers-Bretonneux


Details
CWGC details


WW1

Mouquet Farm Battle Exploit Plaque


Details


WW1

Windmill Site,
Pozieres


Details


WW1


Indonesia

Historical background: The Nurses of Bangka Island
See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Nurses Memorial (Vyner Brooke Memorial),
Bangka Island


Details


WW2


Israel

See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Australian Memorial,
Jerusalem


Details


WW1


Libya

See also: Cemeteries Overseas.

Tobruk Memorial


Details


WW2


Malaysia

Historical background: Sandakan.
See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Parit Sulong Memorial


Details


WW2

Sandakan Memorial Park,
Sabah


Details


WW2

Surrender Point Memorial,
Labuan Island


Details


WW2


Papua New Guinea

The memorials in historical perspective: PNG Campaigns 1942-1945.
See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

AIF Memorial,
Lae



Details



WW2

Coastwatchers' Memorial,
Madang



Details


WW2

Isurava Memorial


Details


WW2

Kokoda Memorial


Details


WW2

Milne Bay Memorial


Details


WW2

Milne Bay - Turnbull Field Memorial


Details


WW2

Popondetta Memorial


Details


WW2

Rabaul Memorial


Details


WW2

Sogeri Memorial


Details


WW2

Surrender Memorial,
Cape Wom



Details



WW2

Wau Memorial


Details


WW2


Thailand

Historical background: Burma-Thailand Railway.
See also: Cemeteries Overseas.

Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum & Walking Trail


Details


WW2


Turkey

See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Anzac Commemorative Site,
Gallipoli


Details
http://www.anzacsite.gov.au


WW1


United Kingdom

See also: Cemeteries Overseas; Memorials to the Missing.

Australian War Memorial,
Hyde Park Corner, London


Details
http://www.awmlondon.gov.au


WW1 & WW2

2nd AIF United Kingdom Force Memorial,
Wiltshire


Details


WW2



Australian Memorial Villers–Bretonneux,



Australian war memorial


Australian war memorial U.K


Australian war memorial BELGIUM

First World War, 1914-18 will get to ww2 later.

First World War, 1914-18

Australia entered ww1 from day one in 1914 & before the usa had entered the war in 1918.

Australia had pushed Germany out of, France, Belgium, Italy, Africa & the south pacific.
the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, Palestine


1 October 1918 - Australian Light Horsemen take Damascus
The Light Horse advances into Damascus, the Syrian capital, at the end of the long and victorious advance that ended the First World War in the Middle East



30 October 1918 - Armistice with Turkey
Armistice signed with Turkey, ending Turkish involvement in the First World War. Australian troops had taken the most prominent part in the war against the Ottoman empire, especially on Gallipoli and in Sinai-Palestine.

31 October 1917 - Beersheba, Palestine
At Beersheba the 4th Light Horse Brigade's bold charge against Turkish positions at Beersheba, seized a critical wells that enabled British empire forces to break the Ottoman line near Gaza and advance into Palestine.


See -Australian & German Battle At
Villers–Bretonneux.
Pozières.
Fromelles.


The Hindenburg Line- the last and strongest of the German army's defence - consisted of three well-defended trench systems, established in 1917. Throughout September 1918, Australian forces had helped the British army to secure positions from which an attack on the Hindenburg Line could be launched. Planning began for a major attack at the end of the month. It was hoped that this attack would finally break the power of the German army.




The Hindenburg Line: Breaking the Hindenburg Line

On 18 September 1918, Australia's preliminary attack was launched when Lieutenant General Sir John Monash's troops reached the first part of the Hindenburg Line. At 5.20 am, Monash's troops, supported by huge artillery barrages, attacked the heavily fortified German defences and machine-gun posts. Using only eight tanks (as well as dummy tanks to distract the Germans), they broke through German positions and took 4,300 prisoners. Although there were 1,000 dead or wounded, this cost was fairly slim compared to the losses of the German forces.
The Second Attack

On 29 September, the line was finally broken. Australian troops spearheaded this battle, given the task of breaking defences in the centre. They attacked a strongly defended sector at Bellicourt with tanks, artillery, and aircraft working in concert. Advances were made, but it was a struggle between the two forces. The fighting lasted four days and resulted in heavy losses.

Gunner J.R. Armitage wrote:

As we went over the ridge we found ourselves in the midst of the most wonderful and impressive battle field scene imaginable. It was a scene never to be forgotten with infantry, tanks, guns, everything in action in a sort of inferno of smoke and shell bursts.

Eventually, the Allies broke through the third and final stage of the Hindenburg Line, and the Germans were forced to fall back. Private Albert Golding wrote after the battle that he and some fellow diggers slept that night in an abandoned German trench and ate a hearty breakfast from hastily abandoned German supplies!


In this attack, troops captured the entrance to the St Quentin canal tunnel. Inside was a kitchen where German bodies were found – one of them in a cooking cauldron. There were wild claims that the enemy was boiling down the dead, and this was exploited by the allies’ propaganda system. Anti-German sentiment was so strong that it was widely believed. An investigation soon proved that, during the fighting, a shell had exploded in an improvised kitchen, killing the unfortunate Germans and throwing one into a pot.

An attack on 5 October The Australian last brigade fought and took Montbrehain village, and with that, the Hindenburg Line was completely broken.

By this time, most Australian troops had been fighting for six months without a break, 11 out of 60 battalions were disbanded because there were so few men left in them, and 27,000 men had been killed or wounded since the Battle of Amiens. The troops were worn and war weary.



http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields.html




Australian VC Corner Cemetery - Fromelles

When the Australian Army came to France, the French people expected a great deal of you … We knew that you would fight a real fight, but we did not know that from the beginning you would astonish the whole continent … I shall go back tomorrow and say to my countrymen: ‘I have seen the Australians. I have looked into their faces. I know that these men … will fight alongside us again until the cause for which we are all fighting is safe for us and our children. - French Prime Minister, Georges Clemenceau, 1918

http://www.awmlondon.gov.au/

Second World War, 1939–45

over a million + Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War.

Australia fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific, such as Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Malaya.

Greece, Crete and Lebanon & Syria

Tunisia, Sicily and Italy.

Netherlands East Indies and Rabaul
The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time, as Japanese aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney Harbour.

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) participated in operations against Italy after its entry into the war in June 1940. A few Australians flew in the Battle of Britain in August and September, but the Australian army was not engaged in combat until 1941, when the 6th, 7th, and 9th Divisions joined Allied operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa.


Following early successes against Italian forces, the Australians suffered defeat with the Allies at the hands of the Germans in Greece, Crete, and North Africa.

In June and July 1941 Australians participated in the successful invasion of Syria, a mandate of France and the Vichy government.
Up to 14,000 Australians held out against repeated German attacks in the Libyan port of Tobruk, where they were besieged between April and August 1941.

After being relieved at Tobruk, the 6th and 7th Divisions departed from the Mediterranean theatre for the war against Japan. The 9th Division remained to play an important role in the Allied victory at El Alamein in October 1942 before it also left for the Pacific.

Japan entered the war in December 1941 and swiftly achieved a series of victories, resulting in the occupation of most of south-east Asia and large areas of the Pacific by the end of March 1942. Singapore fell in February, with the loss of an entire Australian division. After the bombing of Darwin that same month, all RAN ships in the Mediterranean theatre, as well as the 6th and 7th Divisions, returned to defend Australia. In response to the heightened threat, the Australian government also expanded the army and air force and called for an overhaul of economic, domestic, and industrial policies to give the government special authority to mount a total war effort at home.

In March 1942, after the defeat of the Netherlands East Indies, Japan's southward advance began to lose strength, easing fears of an imminent invasion of Australia. Further relief came when the first AIF veterans of the Mediterranean campaigns began to come home, and when the United States assumed responsibility for the country's defence, providing reinforcements and equipment. The threat of invasion receded further as the Allies won a series of decisive battles: in the Coral Sea, at Midway, on Imita Ridge and the Kokoda Trail, and at Milne Bay and Buna.

Further Allied victories against the Japanese followed in 1943. Australian troops were mainly engaged in land battles in New Guinea, the defeat of the Japanese at Wau, and clearing Japanese soldiers from the Huon peninsula. This was Australia's largest and most complex offensive of the war and was not completed until April 1944. The Australian army also began a new series of campaigns in 1944 against isolated Japanese garrisons stretching from Borneo to Bougainville, involving more Australian troops than at any other time in the war. The first of these campaigns was fought on Bougainville and New Britain, and at Aitape, New Guinea. The final series of campaigns were fought in Borneo in 1945. How necessary these final campaigns were for Allied victory remains the subject of continuing debate. Australian troops were still fighting in Borneo when the war ended in August 1945.

While Australia's major effort from 1942 onwards was directed at defeating Japan, thousands of Australians continued to serve with the RAAF in Europe and the Middle East. Athough more Australian airmen fought against the Japanese, losses among those flying against Germany were far higher. Australians were particularly prominent in Bomber Command's offensive against occupied Europe. Some 3,500 Australians were killed in this campaign, making it the costliest of the war.

Over 30,000 Australian servicemen were taken prisoner in the Second World War and 39,000 gave their lives. Two-thirds of those taken prisoner were captured by the Japanese during their advance through south-east Asia in the first weeks of 1942. While those who became prisoners of the Germans had a strong chance of returning home at the end of the war, 36 per cent of prisoners of the Japanese died in captivity.

Nurses had gone overseas with the AIF in 1940. However, during the early years of the war women were generally unable to make a significant contribution to the war effort in any official capacity. Labour shortages forced the government to allow women to take a more active role in war work and, in February 1941, the RAAF received cabinet approval to establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). At the same time, the navy also began employing female telegraphists, a breakthrough that eventually led to the establishment of the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) in 1942. The Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) was established in October 1941, with the aim of releasing men from certain military duties in base units in Australia for assignment with fighting units overseas. Outside the armed services, the Women's Land Army (WLA) was established to encourage women to work in rural industries. Other women in urban areas took up employment in industries, such as munitions production.

http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/

The Beginnings of World War 1 1915


March the First, 1915, would go down in history as the date which brought on the conflict, later to be called, the Great War. The Great War had, in fact, almost commenced in Europe in the previous year, but frantic attempts of diplomacy, wise decisions by German generals, not to mention convenient disobedience of orders, had isolated the Austro-Serbian war to merely Serbian territory. The European nations, except for France, were satisfied with their various diplomatic achievements & believed that a European war had been diverted. They were wrong.

The beginning of 1915 indicated no hint whatsoever in how the year would end. The Austro-Serbian war had become quiet after the Christmas battles, & apart from a few border skirmishes, little activity took place during the winter of the New Year period. Although negotiations took place between the two combatants, none of the attempts were serious. Instead, both sides had spent the time readying their respective armies for spring campaigns.

The Austrians trained & recruited more troops as did the Serbians. Meanwhile, the Russians were able to smuggle armaments to the Serbs. The Austrians, on the other hand, had to fend for themselves. Their allies, the Germans, were still fuming over the fact that the Austrians had gotten involved in a conflict without any consideration as to their part. Furthermore, a militant Austria, one trying to gain in power & territory via conquest, was not ideally what Germany wanted. Within living memory, both empires were once at war as Prussia went about alienating Austria while uniting the rest of Germany. The last thing the German government thus wanted was a powerful Austria; one which was capable of undoing all of Prussia’s hard work.

Yet this somewhat international balancing act would suddenly change due to the actions of a small British Dominion in the South Pacific. Australia, a small country by population standards, had only recently become a nation in 1901. Its existence up to that date, as an outpost of the British Empire, had only come about as a convenient penal colony in 1788. Prior to that, it was a continent which was owned by the Aboriginals, whose culture & society had little in common with that of Europe. Yet, within 140 years, this country’s actions would hasten on the Great War.

The island of New Guinea, located north of Australia, had seen little European activity over the years. As Australia was taken by the British & later developed, nearly one hundred years would go by before anyone took any interest in New Guinea. But spurred on by empire building, this would soon change.

Accompanying empire building, Australians have long harboured a tradition of invasion paranoia, one which their governments over the years had in abundance. From the beginning, in 1788, it was feared that the French would invade. Next came the Chinese. Then the Russians. After the American Civil War, it was feared that the Americans, now employing a powerful navy & army, would try to conquer Australia as pay-back to the British by establishing a Untied States of Australia. After no American invasion took place, & with the Dutch now firmly established throughout the Indonesian Archipelago, naturally the Dutch were then feared. Next in line, with the reforms delivering the fruits from modernisation & European influence (especially British), Japan was seen as the next potential invader & became known as the "yellow peril". Finally, with the Germans sniffing around the Asia-Pacific region, the Germans likewise joined this list of paranoid delusions.

So when the Dutch began taking an interest in the western half of New Guinea &, if that was not bad enough, the Germans began taking an interest in the eastern half not long afterwards, for the northern Australian colony of Queensland, this was far too much. Fearing a future German or Dutch invasion, the Governor of Queensland Henry Chester, in April 1883, announced that the eastern half of New Guinea was now part of Queensland. The decision, taken without any arrangements with the British, was cheered on by Australians, but was greatly frowned upon by Westminster. The Australian colonies were not even 100 years old & already they had commenced empire building themselves. To everyone it was politics. To the Australians it meant that they were coming of age. To the British it meant their authority was being challenged by a small colony. Furthermore, there were possible international repercussions from Europe or America.

By July 1883 the British ordered the Queenslanders out of the island. At first the Queensland government refused, but after lengthy negotiations, the British agreed that for Queensland’s withdrawal, Britain would declare New Guinea as a protectorate. A disgruntled Queensland government was forced to accept this situation as their original reason for annexation, that being a German takeover, was negated by the promised British presence.

Unfortunately for the Queenslanders, the Germans more or less ignored the British protectorate & in September of 1883 took possession of the northern coast of New Guinea. The Queenslanders would never trust the British in New Guinea again & this event would also help to hasten on the Australian Commonwealth & nationhood. The immediate result, however, was the return of Queensland’s small army to the southern coastline of New Guinea. Well established in the south by 1889, the Queensland government refused all requests by the British to withdrawal, citing that the Germans refused to leave the north. Thus the battlelines were set for the future.

Upon Australia becoming a nation in 1901, the paranoia of the past would govern Australia’s foreign policy up until 1915. Further evidence of German expansion by military conquest came in the form of the German Pacific Naval squadron being permanently stationed in the South Pacific. Although it was nothing in the overall scheme of things, it was enough for the Australian government to order the latest naval vessels from Britain. By 1913, Australia had assembled the most powerful fleet, except for the Japanese, in the region which included a battle cruiser as well as several cruisers & destroyers.

The decision in 1915, by Australia’s Prime Minister Billy Hughes, to invade German New Guinea also had other factors. Coupled with the need for a powerful modern navy were improvements in the army. This was built upon the great experience of Australia’s army during the Boer War. This inturn, fuelled the paranoia in Australia, as Germany, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, had expressed his full support for the Boers. If war was ever to start, as a result of the Boer War between Britain & Germany, Australia would discover very quickly that it was on the front lines by default.

Another aspect to Australia’s consideration, one that has been much overlooked, was trade. Australia wanted the trade of the South Pacific to itself. The only consideration about sharing the trade within the region was given to New Zealand: another British dominion in the South Pacific & one thought to be a de facto state of the Australian Commonwealth. However, far more important than trade was gold. Not only was it discovered in abundance in Australia/British New Guinea, but it was also discovered in German New Guinea.

Thus for a whole range of reasons, Prime Minister Hughes, confident that the military forces would defeat the Germans, ordered them to invade German New Guinea on 1 March 1915. The invasion was extremely successful. Somewhat ridiculously, no one in Australia, however, believed that Germany would go to war over the issue. Noting that Germany had backed down the previous year, in a major way, during the crises in Europe over bigger events, the Australian government wrongly believed that Germany would take even less interest in losing a small colony on the other side of the world.

The Germans, naturally, were outraged. They immediately demanded to the British that their colonials evacuate German New Guinea & pay reparations. Britain too was furious at the Australians & quietly demanded that they return the territory invaded back to its rightful owners. This the Australians refused & citied the usual paranoia about an beating back a mythical immediate German invasion of Australia/British New Guinea. The Germans, after noting the ominous silence on behalf of the British, soon raised the spectre of war.

Once again Europe was in crisis. As the Austro-Serbia conflict now disappeared to the sidelines, now it appeared that Britain & Germany were going head to head. The French, noting a chance to gain at the expense of the Germans immediately threw their lot in with the British. Although no defence treaty per se existed between Britain & France, this was soon ratified. As the deadline for the Australian withdrawal drew close, the Royal Navy Grand Fleet went to sea. In response so too did the German High Seas Fleet.

In a similar fashion, the French army mobilised upon hearing the news that the High Seas Fleet had sortied. Naturally the Germans quickly responded. It the relief of Germany, but to the annoyance of France, Russia declared neutrality over these events. Russia was more interested in seeing Germany & the others distracted while she inturn watched the Austro-Serbian war. If & when the moment raised, then Russia would act by joining the Serbs. Not only would this catch Austria off balance, ensuring territorial gain at the expense of the Austrians, but it would mean that Russia would live up to its image of defender of Slavic Peoples.

But before anything eventful took place in Europe, it was the Australians who once again got involved. As troop ships were being convoyed by the Royal Australian Navy, in order to invade other German colonies on islands to the north of New Guinea, the German cruiser Emden deliberately manoeuvred into a threatening position trying to halt the invasion force. This was seen as an act of war on behalf of the Royal Australian Navy ships & HMAS Sydney, several times more powerful than the Emden, gave battle sinking the German ship. News of the naval encounter spread rapidly around the world. So do did the German response - the declaration of war on 30 March 1915.

Battle almost commenced at once in Europe. Although nothing large at first, the Royal Navy & the German Navy skirmished throughout the North Sea. Both sides, though, could sense a major sea battle would soon take place. They were not to be disappointed. On 31 May 1916, the largest sea battle ever to take place in history did so at Jutland. Even though the Royal Navy lost more ships, the High Seas Fleet retreated in disarray never to venture into another major naval battle ever again. Instead the Germans commenced U-Boat attacks for the next four years that almost won the war for them.

On land it was a similar story. The French & German armies skirmished with one another until the French put Plan XVII into action. This plan called for the liberation of the provinces of Lorraine & Alsace, which were both taken by Germany after the 1870 war. Alas, through inept French generalship & a well organised German defence, Plan XVII proved to be a useless offensive which cost the life of many a Frenchman. In response, the Germans unleashed their almost successful Schlieffen Plan. It was only stopped, however, by the heroic defence of the French & British armies.

Four years would go by before Germany & Austria surrendered. In that time, almost the entire world, including the United States & Russia, were to be sucked into the vortex of battle. Millions of people, including civilians, would die during the war. Furthermore, the world would change forever. Alas the lessons from the horrors of the Great War were not listened to. Instead an even bigger war would return within a generation. In the meantime, Australia would keep its conquests of German colonies while avoiding much of the blame for starting the Great War. Instead, as the war historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote, it was to be a war which was bound to happen.

http://www.geocities.com/marcuswest/1915.html

the usa's biggest battle of ww2, was the battle of midway.

The battle of midway, was just a tiny event ..... when considered against the fact the Australian's & British forces had been fighting the japan in Asia since 1939 in around 20 different countries with millions of lives lost.


Manila,
Singapore,
Philippines,
Burma,
Borneo,
islands of the Dutch East lndies,
Sumatra, Java and Bali through to Timor,
various islands in the Central Pacific,
Marshall Island groups
French Indochina
Solomons
New Guinea
Australia


ECT ECT ........


While the USA only entered ww2 in 1941, AFTER japan had already been defeated in most of the pacific & pushed back.


Do your research.


Australia was pushing Japan, back through Asia, between 1939 - 1942.

while the usa only entered ww2 after Japan had been defeated throughout south east Asia .... & only then did the USA have its 1st minor victory at midway in 1942.

1942 ..... around 7 months after the usa enter the war ..... a war that was already in it's 4 year.

& it was Australia's victory's over Japan that allowed American forces Who had retreated back into Australia, to Join Australia & England in a Joint attack against Japan.

After world war 1 Australia was the occupier & Victor in the Mid east & much of Europe. & as such with our allies,
( USA was not there ) Founded nations such as, Israel ...... Iraq, ...... Palestine .... Israel ...... Jordan ......... ect ect.

The Battle for Beersheba 31st October 1917 - 1 October 1918.

Charge of Light Brigade

1 October 1918 - Australian Light Horsemen take Damascus
The Light Horse advances into Damascus, the Syrian capital, at the end of the long and victorious advance that ended the First World War in the Middle East.

Great Escape: The Untold Story


The Great Escape – the escape from a Nazi prison camp of 76 airmen in 1944 – was made famous by the triumphant 1963 Hollywood movie starring Steve McQueen but Steve Westh, the writer and director of ABC TV’s The Great Escape: The Reckoning, a docu-drama on Thursday (October 29th) at 8.30pm on ABC1, unearthed a plethora of facts that didn’t sit well with Hollywood producers – the most obvious one being that NO Americans were among the Great Escapers. And no one escaped by motorcycle either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5I3nGpQBA4

Manfred von Richthofen

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918) was a German fighter pilot known as the "Red Baron". He was the most successful flying ace during World War I, being officially credited with 80 confirmed air combat victories. He served in the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte). Richthofen was a member of an aristocratic family with many famous relatives.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen was the most famous flying ace of World War I, a German fighter pilot who was known to the English as "The Red Baron." Von Richthofen joined the army in 1911 and was a lieutenant in the German cavalry when the war broke out in 1914. He transferred to the air service in 1915 and joined Jagdstaffel 2, a new squadron of fighter pilots, in 1916.

Within two months he had already scored a dozen victories in the air, including a win over Britain's leading ace, Major Lanoe Hawker. At the beginning of 1917 Richthofen was made commander of Jagdstaffel 11, later known as the "Flying Circus" for their brightly colored aircraft.

Richthofen, who had painted his plane red, was known in Germany as "Der Rote Kampfflieger" ("the red fighter pilot") and he became a national hero for his derring-do in the skies. In June of 1917 he was made commander of the first independent fighter wing, Jagdgeshwader I, and was shot down two weeks later, shortly after his fifty-seventh victory. He recovered from a head wound quickly and returned to duty three weeks later. Richthofen recorded a total of 80 victories before being shot down and killed on 21 April 1918 over the Somme Canal in France.

The fame of The Red Baron was resurrected in the 1960s, thanks to the popular novelty song "Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron" (1966, by The Royal Guardsmen), in which he is the imagined enemy of Snoopy, a character from the newspaper comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz.

His Death


Richthofen was killed just after 11 a.m. on 21 April 1918, while flying over Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River. 49°56′0.60″N 2°32′43.71″E / 49.9335°N 2.545475°E / 49.9335; 2.545475

At the time, the Baron had been pursuing (at very low altitude) a Sopwith Camel piloted by a novice Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Wilfrid "Wop" May of No. 209 Squadron, Royal Air Force. In turn, the Baron was spotted and briefly attacked by a Camel piloted by a school friend (and flight Commander) of May's, Canadian Captain Arthur "Roy" Brown, who had to dive steeply at very high speed to intervene, and then had to climb steeply to avoid hitting the ground. Richthofen turned to avoid this attack, and then resumed his pursuit of May.

It was almost certainly during this final stage in his pursuit of May that Richthofen was hit by a single .303 bullet, which caused such severe damage to his heart and lungs that it must have produced a very speedy death.

In the last seconds of his life, he managed to make a hasty but controlled landing in a field on a hill near the Bray-Corbie road, just north of the village of Vaux-sur-Somme, in a sector controlled by the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). One witness, Gunner George Ridgway, stated that when he and other Australian soldiers reached the aircraft, Richthofen was still alive but died moments later.

Another eye witness, Sgt Ted Smout of the Australian Medical Corps, reported that Richthofen's last word was "kaputt".

His Fokker Dr.I, 425/17, was not badly damaged by the landing, but it was soon taken apart by souvenir hunters.

No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, as the nearest Allied air unit, assumed responsibility for the Baron's remains & Australian troops gave him full military honors.

In 2009, Richthofen's death certificate was found in the archives in Ostrów Wielkopolski, Poland. Richthofen briefly stationed in Ostrów - which was part of Germany until the end of World War I - before going to war. The document, which is a one-page, handwritten form in a 1918 registry book of deaths, misspells Richthofen's name as "Richthoven" and simply states that he has "died 21 April 1918, from wounds sustained in combat".



Controversy and contradictory hypotheses continue to surround the identity of the person who fired the shot that actually killed Richthofen.

The RAF credited Brown with shooting down the Red Baron. However, Richthofen died following an extremely serious and inevitably fatal chest wound from a single bullet, penetrating from the right armpit and resurfacing next to the left nipple. If this had come from Brown's guns, Richthofen could not have continued his pursuit of May for as long as he did.

Brown himself never spoke much about what happened that day, claiming "There is no point in me commenting, as the evidence is already out there".

Experts now generally agree that Richthofen was killed by someone on the ground. The wound through his body indicated that it had been caused by a bullet moving in an upward motion, from the right side, and more importantly, that it was probably received some time after Brown's attack.

Many sources, including a 1998 article by Dr. Geoffrey Miller, a physician and historian of military medicine, and also a U.S. Public Broadcasting Service documentary made in 2003, have suggested that Sergeant Cedric Popkin was the person most likely to have killed Richthofen.

Popkin was an anti-aircraft (AA) machine gunner with the Australian 24th Machine Gun Company, and was using a Vickers gun. He fired at Richthofen's aircraft on two occasions: first as the Baron was heading straight at his position, and then at long range from the right. Popkin was in the right position to fire the fatal shot as Richthofen passed him for a second time on the right.

Buddy, you've got issues. You may want to lay off the drugs.