While Australia's land and sea forces were a long way from home in North Africa and our pilots were flying in the Battle of Britain, Australia was being prepared for the worst. The sight below, another informative website from the Australian War Memorial deals in a small way with the "Homefront" however there are some great links on the website which is from Australia's War 1939-1945 | Australians in war | World War 2 | War in the Pacific There has been new facts added since this was first posted so see post number (7) for the new index. There are some interesting facts. Look forward to your comments. Regards Geoff
After a quick look, it looks like a treasure trove of information, and a fitting tribute to the fighting men of Australia. I'm going to enjoy looking through it. Thanks for sharing the link!
A most interesting link. At this time, most Australians called Britain "home" and put huge faith in the two British Navy warships that were going to protect them. Their loss caused a wave of anxiety to spread across the country. Then there was the loss of the 8th Division at Singapore - except for its commander, Sandshoes Bennett. And then came the attack on New Guinea, desperately defended by the Militia who were untrained, some without rifles and not even supposed to be out of the country. The bombing of Darwin also caused much fear. These were heady days indeed.
There was a fantastic documentary on Sky during the week on the AIF from the very early days of its construction to its deployments to North Africa, Palistine, Greece (mainland/Crete), Europe, Singapore, Malaya and Japan to name just a few. It was a brilliant documentary with loads of ww2 footage. Great link by the way
There was a fantastic documentary on Sky during the week on the AIF from the very early days of its construction to its deployments to North Africa, Palistine, Greece (mainland/Crete), Europe, Singapore, Malaya and Japan to name just a few. It was a brilliant documentary with loads of ww2 footage. Great link by the way Like most other Allied countries the AIF was in "moth balls" and did well putting three all volunteer infantry divisions into North Africa (6th, 7th, 9th) and one to Singapore (8th). While the divisions were mostly supplied their tools of trade by Britain when they arrived in North Africa, the 6th had their Baptism of fire at the end of 1940 on the advance to Benghazi and Bardia by the 3rd of January 1941, then Tobruk on the 21st with the 7th and 9th having theirs very shortly after. This was not a bad effort for the 6th considering they were still in Australia training at the end of June 1940. Australia had nearly 1,000,000 personal in uniform out of a total population of 7,000,000 of which 75% served overseas. Two others, New Zealand and South Africa also had a similar % of their personal serve overseas.
While Australia's land and sea forces were a long way from home in North Africa and our pilots were flying in the Battle of Britain, Australia was being prepared for the worst. The sight below, another informative website from the Australian War Memorial deals in a small way with the "Homefront" however there are some great links on the website which is from Australia's War 1939-1945 | Australians in war | World War 2 | War in the Pacific There has been new facts added since this was first posted so see post number (7) for the new index. There are some interesting facts. Look forward to your comments. Regards Geoff Sitemap 1. War Declared | Australia at war 3 September 1939 Explore: War Declared [*]2. Rats & Scrap Iron | Libya and the Siege of Tobruk 1941 'remembering Jack' [Jack Edmondson] Explore: Rats & Scrap Iron [*]3. 'A Great Risk' | Greece and Crete April-May 1941 'A Great Risk in a good cause'[Australians in Greece and Crete April—May 1941] Explore: 'A Great Risk' [*]4. Road to Damascus | Syria and Lebanon June 1941 Explore: Road to Damascus [*]5. Japanese Advance | Malaya December 1941 to Moresby May 1942 Malaya | Invasion of Malaya: Overview Parit Sulong [Ben Hackney] 'stick to your post' [Australian Dipolmats in Singapore] RAAF in Malaya [*]Rabaul | Fall of Rabaul: Overview 'Left to their fate...' [The Australians in Rabaul] 'a miserable scene' [The execution of 11 year old Australian boy, Richard Harvey] 'hungry and...cold' [The Rabaul Army Nurses] [*]Singapore | Fall of Singapore: Overview 'ordered to leave' [Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS)] The final hours... 'surrender' [unconditional surrender] [*]Ambon | Fall of Ambon: Overview Driver Doolan [Driver Thomas William Doolan (2/21st Battalion)] Massacred at Laha ['Gull' Force] 'a life nobly given forever remembered' [Flying Officer William White DFC] [*]Timor | Fall of Timor: Overview 'badly need boots' [Winnie the war winner] 'anything for mates' [Ordinary Seaman Edward 'Teddy' Sheean] Men of Timor [famed cameraman Damien Parer and war correspondent, Bill Marien] [*]Java | Fall of Java: Overview Qantas in Java [The disappearance of the 'Circe'] Blackburn VC [The surrender of 'Black Force'] 'Sunk' [HMA ships Perth and Yarra] [*]Moresby | The Defence of Moresby: Overview lost...and found... [Squadron Leader John Francis Jackson DFC] SS Macdhui The 'Moresby Microbes' [an RAAF concert party formed to boost troop morale] Explore: Japanese Advance [*]6. Australia Attacked | Australia Under Attack 1940-1945 Air raids [Darwin and Northern Australia] Broome [*]Sydney Harbour [midget subs attack Sydney Harbour] [*]Coastal menace [threat of coastal attack] '3 more attacks' [City of Rayville, MV Koolama and Port Gregory] Explore: Australia Attacked [*]7. As Far As They Got | Coral Sea, Kokoda and Milne Bay May-September 1942 Coral Sea | The battle of the Coral Sea 'Task Force 17.3' [The RAN at the Battle of the Coral Sea] 'carrier battle' [American and Japanese accounts of the Carrier battle] [*]Kokoda | The Kokoda Track 'angels' ['Fuzzy wuzzy angels' – Papuan carriers on the Kokoda Track] 'the Salvos' ['Thank God for the Salvos'] 'Track 'n Teeth' [Captain Alan Oliver Watson – dental officer and anaesthetist] Remembering Isurava [*]Milne Bay | Milne Bay: Overview Maiogura [a Papuan mission nurse who saved the life of an Australian airman] 'Polly' [Pilot Officer Bruce ’Buster’ Brown, 75 Squadron RAAF] Explore: As Far As They Got [*]8. Beyond All Praise | El Alamein October-November 1942 Explore: Beyond All Praise [*]9. All in | 'All in' - The Australian homefront 1939 'emergency![home defence] 'Yanks down under' [American service personnel in Australia] [*]From wool to Wirraways [photo gallery of ordinary Australians drawn into the war effort] [*]'living with war' [rationing and regulations] 'more war work' [women and children in the employment of war work] [*]'leaving home' [young women participate in the armed services] [*]Indigenous service [How were the Indigenous peoples of Australia drawn into World War II?] [*]'aliens' [internment camps around the country] 'break-out' [escape by Japanese POWs at Cowra POW camp] 'the fox' [The only prisoner to escape from the Hay camp was an Italian POW, Lieutenant Edgardo Simoni] [*]a town at war [contributions made by the townspeople of Drouin, a typical Australian country town during World War II] Explore: 'All in' [*]10. The Coastwatchers | The Coastwatchers 1941-1945 Explore: The Coastwatchers [*]11. Behind the Wire | Australian Prisoners of War 1940-1945 The dixie [Father John Kennedy] Gunner Cleary [The Sandakan death marches] Found [Army nurses in Sumatra] Forced marches [POWs in Europe] Explore: Behind the Wire [*]12. Far Flung Australians | Little-known operations 1939-1945 'POWs in Eritrea' [operations off the mainland of Africa] 'cutting cables' [Maxwell ‘Max’ Shean] 'the Far East' [operations in Burma and the Indian Ocean] 'Parer's last reel' [Damien Parer, Australia’s most famous official war photographer] Explore: Far Flung Australians [*]13. Beachhead Battles | Beachhead Battles (Papua 1942-1943) Beachheads | The Battle of the Beachheads: Overview 'Ben's diary' [excerpts from the diary of Trooper Benjamin (Ben) Love] 'medics attacked' [2/4th Field Ambulance, AIF] 'starving' [sick, starving Japanese troops] Explore: Beachhead Battles [*]14. Pushing Back | The Japanese retreat March 1943-January 1944 Explore: Pushing Back [*]15. 'Peril on the Sea' | War at Sea 1939-1945 Ironbottom Sound [The Coastwatchers HMAS Canberra, Guadalcanal] Kamikaze [HMAS Australia] Landings Lost at Sea HMAS Sydney HMAS Parramatta HMAS Matafele Explore: 'Peril on the Sea' [*]16. 'The Angry Sky' | Air war Europe 1939-1945 Explore: 'The Angry Sky' [*]17. Last Battles | Last Battles (Bougainville, Borneo, New Britain, New Guinea 1944-1945) Jungle Island | New Britain 1944-45 Long Green Shore | Aitape-Wewak campaign 'Indian POWs' [liberation of Indian Prisoners of War] [*]In the Shadows [the Bougainville campaign] [*]The Return [The Philippines] [*]The Landings [The Borneo campaign] Black Magic [Fighter pilot Len Waters] Explore: Last Battles [*]18. Victory 1945 | Victory (8 May 1945/15 August 1945) Death Camp [Sister Muriel Doherty] a-bomb[Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August 1945] surrender coming home[POWs liberated, troops return] war crimes[prosecution of Japanese military and civilian leaders for alleged war crimes] A family at war[the Lucas family] Explore: Victory 1945 Contact | Website Contact Details Disclaimer | Website legal and policy statements What's New | What's New on the website Further Research | Further information on Australians in World War II Search | Search Australia's War 1939-1945
Glad to see that they have mentioned Sandakan in the Behind the wire section. There is a good book about it called Operation Kingfisher (ref the abortive op to rescue the guys who were massacred on those marches)... Dee
