Australia in WWII?

did Australia do much in WWII? I know they were at the Normany beaches on D-Day but what about other theatres or battles?

 

For a start, 10,000 Australians flew with Bomber Command....

 

Yep, and I do recall they did alot in North Africa battles and especially during the Tobruk defence phase ( the first battle ). Just one to name that I come to think of, if one tried to bring the famous Aussie battle scenes in WW2.
( The European front )

 

Here's some info on Aussies in Battle:

From asinah.net

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:

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 ]

 

And no less than 10% of the men who flew on the Dams Raid wre Australian, including 4 pilots who won three DSOs.....

 

...and don't forget the 6,500 Australians who fought on Crete in 1941.....

 

hmmm...didn't know that! Was that when the german paratroops were clobbered?

 

Yes - the Australians were mainly involved in the defence of Retimo airfield, where Bren-gunners were able to fire at short range directly into the Ju52s as they flew past the hillsides....

 

A couple of things that come to my mind on Australians and WW2:

The Kokoda trail

http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/history.html

The siege of Tobruk

The siege was only a couple of months old when the renegade Lord Haw Haw, broadcasting from Berlin, said they were "caught like rats in a trap" and applied it to the garrison because most of its men could find shelter only underground while the bombers were overhead. Our men accepted the title with relish. To one another, they were "the rats." To the Axis they were rats with razor-sharp teeth. They became "The Rats of Tobruk"

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-battles/ww2/tobruk.htm

 

In addition, the following Australian Army units were in the UK at the beginning of the war:

18th Infantry Brigade (originally 6th Australian Div., then the 9th)
Scotland from 17/6/1940-15/11/1940 when they arrived in Egypt.

25th Infantry Brigade (originally 9th Australian Div., then the 7th).
UK from 22/6/1940, began shipping to Palestine 1/1/1941, completed by 27/2/41.

By the same token, the NZ 5th Infantry Brigade arrived in Scotland 16/6/1940, then went onto garrison duties in England on 24/6/1940. I have no record of when they shipped overseas, unfortunately.
If memory serves, these units were en route for somewhere when they were overtaken by events and diverted to the UK. Anyone got more info?

Regards,
Gordon

[ 17. February 2004, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: The_Historian ]

 

And let's not forget about the RAN (Royal Australian Navy).

The RAN took a part in the Battle of the Atlantic and is credited with sinking one U-boat. They hunted the Bismarck and took also part in the D-Day landings.

In 1939 its strength was a mere 7 ships —1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, 1 destroyer and 2 sloops— and one destroyer in reserve. When the war ended they had a fleet of 1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, 11 destroyers, 6 frigates, 2 sloops, 53 corvettes, 1 minelayer and 73 other vessels.

The RAN lost 2.176 men and women during the war. This was 5,5% of its peak strength on 30th June 1945 of 39.650 personnel. Among the ships lost were HMAS Canberra, HMAS Sydney, HMAS Voyager, HMAS Yarra and HMS Perth.

The sloop Parramatta was sunk by U-559 on 27th November 1941 with the loss of 139 lives.

The destroyer HMAS Nestor sank the U-127 on 14th December 1941. HMAS Wollongong also helped sinking the U-617 on 12th September 1943. RAN forces also sank 2 Italian and 3 Japanese submarines.

 

...and then there's Don 'Pathfinder' Bennett, AOC 8 Group and one of the war's most skilled airmen, born in Toowoomba, Australia....

 

OF COURSE AUSTRALIA DID GREAT THINGS IN WW2.

KOKODA
TOBRUK
CRETE
EL ALAMEIN
BORNEO
MALAYA
R.A.N AGAINST ITALIAN NAVY, GERMAN NAVY, IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY
R.A.A.F BOMBERS OVER GERMANY, OVER JAPAN
TOO MANY BATTLE HONOURS TO NAME, OF COURSE WE DID ALOT.....OH NOT TO MENTION THE SUFFERING OF THE ATTACKS ON DARWIN, SYDNEY AND NEWCASTLE.....OH AND THOSE POUR SOULS LIKE MY GRANDFATHER ROBERT OXLEY IMPRISONED FOR YEARS IN CAMPS LIKE CHANGI!!!! THOSE BLOKES ALL DESERVE VC'S FOR SURVIVING THOSE SHITHOLES-BRAVEST BASTARDS AROUND!!! REST IN PEACE BOYS-YOU GAVE YOUR TOMORROWS SO WE COULD HAVE OUR TODAYS...

OF COURSE AUSTRALIA DID ALOT!!!

 

Sorry guys-hit a raw nerve. People are always questioning whether our tiny island nation did actually make a ripple in WW2. They always get a fight from me because of my grandfather aswell...I apologise for my use of language on what is usually a civilised site...

 

im with ya pazerkacker aussies didnt get as much reconition as they desevred

 

Well, er, Panzerknacker - I was about to introduce you to some Polish gents we've met here recently.....

 

Whatever you do don't mention the war!


(or the rugby)

No.9

 

I think we can say with all honesty that contributors to this forum fully respect the Australian contribution to WW2.

The original question ( raised by an American ) got good answers from an Englishman, a Scotsman, a Finn, a French citizen with German forebears, and a Chinese-Australian living in England....

From what I've read and seen, Australia as a Nation seems to honour its veteran fighting men and their achievements more so than many others do. Long may this continue - I only wish other Countries would do the same !

 

A tiny island, Ryan?! I then don't know what a big island is... Africa perhaps? Quite a big island...

And it's alright. People recognises Australia's valuable contribution to Allied victory and fortunately we don't see Aussies claiming that one Australian division at El Alamein destroyed Rommel's forces, thus winning the African campaign, which means the strategical advantage of the Allies in the Italian one, which means providing experience for amphibious landings and then...

 

What about the New Zelanders that defended Crete?

Was Freyburg a Kiwi???