Here's some info on Aussies in Battle:
From asinah.net
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The north African campaign began in 1940, when small British forces in Egypt turned back an Italian advance from Libya. This advance was stopped in 1941 when German forces under Erwin Rommel landed in Libya. Thus began a seesaw campaign that culminated in the two Battles of El Alamein. In addition, In June 1941 the Australian Army and allied forces invaded Syria and Lebanon, capturing Damascus on June 17.
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Due to geographical location, most Aussies fought in the Pacific and Asian areas.
The following site (which is one of the great "free" ww2 sites) is a diary of WW2 day by day. I will start you off on Feb 8 1942, a week before Singapore was captured by the Japs. A lot of material on Aussies defending Singapore here. The site is easily navigated by clicking on "Yesterday" to go back one day and "Tomorrow" to advance one day. If you start from here this is where Aussies get a lot of action in the pacific.
http://www.angelfire.com/my/rememberww2/1942/02/08.htm
In the end:
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The Malayan campaign lasted 70-days during which the Japanese had advanced 650 miles (1046 kilometers). The Allied defenders numbered 138,708: 67,340 Indians; 38,496 British; 18,490 Australians; and 14,382 local volunteer troops. More than 130,000 troops become POWs.
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As for RAAF pilots, when I was at the Ardenne, out of about 30-40 commonwealth graves which I personally visited, 2 of them were RAAF pilots.
For such a small country (population wise) Aussies were really in the thick of it.
[ 17. February 2004, 03:56 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]