Download resource

A new commemoration — ‘Battle for Australia Day’
In June 2008 the Governor-General of Australia issued a proclamation to declare the first Wednesday in September
each year as ‘Battle For Australia Day’.
During the year Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that with the Battle For Australia:
We commemorate a time when our nation itself was under attack. We commemorate a time when a
young nation found its very survival at risk. We commemorate a time when the Australian mainland
and Australian cities were themselves under attack. When one million Australians served in uniform to
protect their country. When a further six million Australians were mobilised. When thousands, tens of
thousands lost their lives in neighbouring nations, on the seas, in the air, and on Australian soil.
(www.pm.gov.au/media/speech/2008/speech_0454.cfm A full copy of this speech is included later in the unit.)
Australians are familiar with Anzac Day and Remembrance Day as key commemorative events — but what was the
Battle For Australia? What happened? Where? When? Who was involved? What did they do? How was it part of the
overall war effort? Why should we commemorate it? How can we commemorate it?
There is also disagreement among some historians over whether the events of 1942 can really be called ‘The Battle for
Australia’. So you will also be able to understand and take part in this debate if you want to.
These are all questions that you will be able to answer by the end of this unit.
Your task
Your overall task is to prepare a commemorative presentation about the Battle for Australia for a year level
or school assembly. This commemoration will need to clearly explain what the Battle for Australia was, and why it
was so important.
To do this you will need to complete these four investigations, using the appropriate resource pages:
Investigation 1
How and why was Australia involved in the Second World War from 1939 to December 1941?
Investigation 2
What was the Battle for Australia between December 1941 and January 1943?
Investigation 3
How did Australians on the Home Front respond to this crisis?
Investigation 4
How was 1942 different from the later war years 1943-45 for Australians?
Investigation 5
What does the Battle for Australia tell us about citizenship?
Some of these Investigations will involve individual work, but most will involve group work by five groups. The findings
of each group need to be shared with the whole class for everybody to gain the whole picture. In all cases what you
are trying to do is to find out what happened, why it happened, and what it meant for Australia. The information
provided in this unit is sufficient for you to complete every investigation and to prepare your presentation, but there
are additional sources of information listed on each Resource Page if you want to explore some aspects further.
A Commemoration Summary Page to help you create your presentation is on page 20.
19
THE BATTLE FOR AUSTRALIA
Commemoration summary page
20
Your task
Your task is to create a whole class commemorative activity or presentation to a year
level or whole school assembly for the Battle for Australia commemorative day, on the
first Wednesday in September.
What you need
to explain
This commemoration presentation needs to explain to the audience:
Stages to develop
this knowledge
and understanding
To develop this knowledge and understanding you will work in groups on the first four
Investigations in this unit.
Elements of a
commemorative
presentation
In developing your presentation you should consider which, if any, of these common
commemorative elements you want to include in your own presentation:
the context of Battle for Australia Day as part of Australia’s involvement
in the Second World War
what happened, how and why during the Battle for Australia period —
December 1941 – January 1943
how the Battle for Australia was different from Australia’s participation
in the Second World War before and after 1942
the significance of the Battle for Australia, and why it should be specially
commemorated.
Then, as a whole class, you need to develop a commemorative ceremony that
incorporates this knowledge and understanding.
Prayers
Hymns
Other music
Maps
Guests
Illustrations
Re-enactments
Words
Readings of documents or extracts
Characters
Stories
Images
Significance
Meanings
Visual
Aural
Oral
Acknowledgements
Songs
Symbols
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
INVESTIGATION 1
How were Australians involved in the Second World War
before 1942?
To understand the significance of what happened in 1942 with the Battle for Australia you need to be able to explain
why and how Australia was involved in the Second World War up to December 1941.
Your task in this Investigation is to complete the Summary Report on page 22, which will help you decide how to
create your Battle for Australia Presentation (see page 20).
This task has been divided between five groups. Each group should report back to the whole class, and contribute to
the creation of the Summary Report for this period of the war.
Group work
AWM 042822
Here are your group roles that will enable you to achieve the overall task for this Investigation:
GROUP 1
1 Prepare a short statement and map that explains why Australia became
involved in the Second World War.
AWM PO2817.001
2 List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived through
this period in Australia.
GROUP 2
1 Prepare a short statement and map explaining how and where the Royal
Australian Navy was involved in the war in this period. Include some
information about the main events in which the Navy was involved.
AWM 000172
2 List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived through
this period in Australia.
GROUP 3
1 Prepare a short statement and map explaining how and where the
Australian Army was involved in the war in this period. Include some
information about the main events in which the Army was involved.
AWM 010753/12
2 List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived through
this period in Australia.
GROUP 4
1 Prepare a short statement and map explaining how and where the Royal
Australian Air Force was involved in the war in this period. Include some
information about the main events in which the Air Force was involved.
AWM 000010
2 List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived through
this period in Australia.
GROUP 5
1 Prepare a short statement and map explaining how the Australian
Home Front was affected by the war in this period.
2 List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived through
this period in Australia.
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
21
Summary page
1
WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY
Combine your individual group reports to complete this Summary Page:
Aspect
Your explanation
5 questions to ask of someone
who was part of this period are:
The world went to
war in 1939 because:
Australia became
involved because:
The Navy’s main
involvement in
the war from
September 1939 to
December 1941 was:
The Army’s main
involvement in
the war from
September 1939 to
December 1941 was:
The Air Force’s main
involvement in the
war from September
1939 to December
1941 was:
The Home Front’s
main involvement
in the war from
September 1939 to
December 1941 was:
So, by December
1941, Australia was:
CREATE A MAP of the main war events
affecting Australia in this period.
22
Think about how you would include this part of the story of the
war in an overall annotated map and a narrative that explains
the Battle for Australia to a year level or school assembly.
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Resource page 1
1939
During the 1930s Germany’s Nazi government was
expanding its territory and re-arming. In 1939 it
threatened to invade Poland. Finally confronting German
expansionism, Britain and France warned Germany that
if it invaded Poland, they would declare war. Germany
did invade on 1 September, and on 3 September Britain
and France declared war on Germany.
Australia was a British nation and most people felt
very closely tied to Britain. They were also opposed
to German expansion by force. When the British
Government declared war, Prime Minister Menzies
announced that ‘Australia was also at war’.
With the coming of war, Australia had to make a
decision: whether to look after home defence (there
was a fear that Japan, which had invaded Manchuria
in 1931, and China in 1937, might try and expand its
power even further in Asia), or to commit troops to help
Britain against Nazism in Europe. England had assured
Australia that it would protect it from Japan — it
expected that sending a British Pacific fleet to the British
naval base at Singapore would stop any Japanese
advance in the Pacific towards Australia. This had been
the basis of Australia’s pre-war defence planning.
So Australia committed itself to the European War.
While Australia had started a re-armament program
before 1939, it was not well-prepared to fight a war, and
in this early part of the conflict Menzies stressed that it
was ‘business as usual’ while an effective fighting force
and supply system were developed. Those elements of
the Royal Australian Navy that were overseas were put
under British command; the Army began recruiting and
training men; and under the Empire Air Training Scheme
(EATS) RAAF recruits were sent to Canada and South
Africa for training, and then posted to serve in Royal
Air Force units (though where possible to maintain their
separate RAAF identity).
GROUPS 1– 5
The Germans then tried to gain control of the air over
Britain, to enable them to launch a sea-borne invasion
of that nation. In the Battle of Britain Germany tried to
destroy both the British fighter planes and their bases.
They failed. About 30 Australian airmen were involved
in this ferocious air battle as part of Fighter Command
of the RAF. Once defeated in this way, Germany
switched its tactics to bombing British industrial
centres and large cities.
Mediterranean and North Africa
When Italy entered the war on the side of Germany new
theatres of war opened up — the Mediterranean and
North Africa.
Planes of the Royal Australian Air Force and ships of
the Royal Australian Navy were now sent into action in
this area. In July HMAS Sydney sank the Italian cruiser
Bartolomeo Colleoni, a significant Australian naval
success of the war.
Home Front
The Commonwealth Government worked to increase
industrial production as fast as possible — this was to
be a war which would be won as much by the factories
as by the men and women in uniform. Increasingly,
civilian production was changed to production of
war-related goods.
AWM ARTV02156
Investigation 1
1940
Europe
After the invasion of Poland in 1939, there had been
little fighting. Then in the summer of 1940 Germany
attacked. Its blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’), used aircraft and
tanks to move quickly and break through the defences
of most western European nations. After June, Britain
remained the only European country still at war against
Germany — but with German forces in France now less
than 50 kilometres from the British coast.
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
23
Investigation 1
Resource page 2
GROUPS 1– 5
1941
Europe
In July 1941 Germany broke its peace pact with Soviet
Russia, and invaded. This now meant that Germany
had to supply troops against Russia as well as in
western Europe.
Mediterranean and North Africa
Australian troops had been sent to the Middle East early
in 1941. They were very successful in defeating Italian
troops at Bardia, Benghazi and Tobruk, and Vichy French
troops in Syria. The biggest test came against the crack
German troops who were trying to take the port of Tobruk,
which would allow them to advance to Egypt. Allied
troops, including many thousands of Australians, set up
their defences, and were able to hold off repeated and
determined attacks. The Germans had contemptuously
referred to the defenders as ‘rats’ in their holes — the
Australian and British troops took on this title with pride,
and called themselves the ‘Rats of Tobruk’.
The Australians fought well and successfully in North
Africa, but disaster struck in Greece and Crete. The 6th
Division had been sent to Greece to help oppose enemy
invasion. This was a disastrous decision. The German
forces inflicted heavy casualties among the Australians
and the British, and over 2000 were taken prisoner.
The survivors retreated to Crete, where the same
thing happened — defeat, more dead, and over 3000
Australian prisoners taken. The Royal Navy, including
Australian ships, suffered heavy losses in ships sunk and
damaged while successfully carrying out the evacuation
of Greece and Crete.
Australian ships were active in the Mediterranean
against the Italian Navy, and supported Australian and
other Commonwealth troops at Tobruk, where the ships
would run supplies in to the besieged troops by night,
while frequently under heavy attack from the German Air
Force. The Navy ships Waterhen and Parramatta were
sunk while providing supplies to the troops at Tobruk,
the latter with only 23 survivors from a crew of 160.
Asia and the Pacific
The 8th Division (about 15,000 men) was formed and
most were sent to Malaya and Singapore, as garrison
troops to protect that area from any possible Japanese
invasion. RAAF Squadrons had been there since late
1940, and made up about one quarter of the British air
garrison at the time of the Japanese attack.
Home Front
Industry continued to be the main focus of the war
effort, with almost all civilian production being changed
over to war materials.
The increasingly serious war situation meant that as
many men as possible were needed in combat and
direct support roles — so the services decided to start
replacing men in non-combat roles with women. For the
first time, women were now allowed to join the armed
services: the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force
(WAAAF) was formed in February, the Women’s Royal
Australian Naval Service (WRANS) in April, and the
Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS) in July.
There was also an increased compulsory call up of men
aged between 18 and 60 for the Australian Military
Forces — the conscripted body that was reserved for
home defence of Australia.
Jeffrey Grey, A Military History of Australia,
Cambridge University Press, Melbourne 2008 page 157
There were several German raider
attacks in the Indian Ocean, and
enemy mines were laid in busy
shipping lanes.
In November the greatest Australian
naval disaster occurred — the sinking
of the HMAS Sydney by a German
raider off the coast of Western
Australia. All 645 crew died while
destroying the Kormoran, which was
threatening sea supply lines. The
location of the wreck of the Sydney
was only discovered in 2008.
Now use this information to
complete Summary Page 1
Mediterranean Area
24
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
INVESTIGATION 2
Your task in this
Investigation is to
complete the Summary
Report on page 26, which
will help you decide how
to create your Battle for
Australia Presentation
(see page 20).
This task has been divided
between five groups. Each
group should report back
to the whole class, and
contribute to the creation
of the Summary Report
for this period of the war.
Group work
Here are your group roles
that will enable you to
achieve the overall task for
this Investigation:
AWM ARTV09225
AWM 128127
But in December the war
suddenly and dramatically
changed. Japan entered
the war. What had been
a European war now
became one in Asia and
the Pacific as well. And in
1942 the war came right
to Australia.
AWM ART23615
For Australians, this war
focused on air war over
Britain, some great land
and sea victories in the
Mediterranean, and at
Tobruk, Libya, Syria; and
some catastrophic defeats
in Greece and Crete, and
with the loss of HMAS
Sydney in the Indian Ocean
off Western Australia.
AWM ART27547
You have now explored
the nature of Australia’s
early involvement in the
Second World War up to
December 1941.
AWM 129750
What was the ‘Battle for Australia’ (December 1941 – January 1943)
GROUP 1 The Japanese thrust
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Why did Japan enter the war?
Why did Australia declare war on Japan?
Where did the Japanese attack?
Why were they so successful?
What happened to Australians as a result of these attacks?
What was now the likely position of Australia in the war?
List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived
through this period in Australia.
GROUP 2 Attacks on and around Australia
A
B
C
D
G
In what ways did Japan attack Australia?
What was the aim or purpose of these attacks?
How serious were they?
Would you say that these attacks were part of an invasion plan?
List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived
through this period in Australia.
GROUP 3 Coral Sea, Midway and Milne Bay
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
Where were these battles?
Who were we fighting with, and who were we fighting against?
How was Australia involved?
What was the purpose of these battles?
What were their outcomes?
What was their signficance for the war?
List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived
through this period in Australia.
GROUP 4 Kokoda Track
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
What was the Kokoda Track?
What were the Japanese trying to achieve?
Who opposed them?
What was the nature of that fighting?
Why did the Australians eventually win this battle?
What was the significance of the Kokoda Track for the war?
List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived
through this period in Australia.
GROUP 5 Buna, Gona and Sanananda
A
B
C
D
E
G
Why was there fighting at these three places?
Who were we fighting with, and who were we fighting against?
What was the nature of the fighting?
What was the outcome of the fighting?
What was the significance of these victories?
List five questions that you would ask of a person who lived
through this period in Australia.
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
25
Summary page
2
WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY
Combine your individual group reports to complete this Summary Page:
Aspect
Your explanation
5 questions to ask of someone
who was part of this period are:
In December 1941
Japan entered the war
because:
Early in the war the
Japanese had gained
control of:
The Battles of the
Coral Sea and Midway,
and the Battle of Milne
Bay were important
because:
The Kokoda Track was
significant to Australia
because:
The Air Force’s main
involvement in the war
from September 1939
to December 1941
was:
The Battles of the
Beachheads (Gona,
Buna and Sanananda)
were important
because:
So, by January 1943,
Australia was:
CREATE A MAP of the main war events
affecting Australia in this period.
26
Think about how you would include this part of the story of the
war in an overall annotated map and a narrative that explains
the Battle For Australia to a year level or school assembly.
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Investigation 2
Resource page 1
GROUP 1
December 1941 – February 1942
Japanese entry and victories
During the 1920s and 1930s the Japanese government
was increasingly dominated by nationalistic and
militaristic individuals and groups. These leaders wanted
to secure access to vital natural resources that were
essential for Japan to increase its growth and power. In
1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, to secure raw materials.
In 1937 it invaded China. Australia stopped all iron ore
exports to Japan in 1938, and the United States and
Netherlands East Indies stopped oil exports there in 1941.
The Japanese now implemented their idea of the
Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere — they would
invade and ‘liberate’ southern and south-eastern Asia
from western colonial powers. Japan would then
dominate the area, and have access to the vital oil and
rubber of the area.
Ships were essential for this plan to succeed, to carry
the troops, supplies and planes needed.
The United States was the only power that could
possibly stop Japan’s expansion, as it had the only fleet
capable of matching Japan’s fleet in the Pacific. It could
also threaten the sea lanes that Japan needed to send
its new resources to Japan.
On 7 December 1941 the Japanese attacked the United
States base at Pear Harbor, Hawaii, hoping to destroy
a major part of the American fleet. But the American
aircraft carriers that could provide the means of
attacking Japanese invasion forces, were not in port.
The attack also failed to destroy the oil supplies held
there. Had the aircraft carriers and oil reserves been
destroyed, the outcome of the Second World War may
have been very different.
Japan also attacked Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaya,
Guam and Wake Island at the same time as the attack
on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese now seemed invincible,
and swept through Asia and much of the Pacific area.
The entry of Japan into a Pacific war threw Australia’s
war strategy into chaos. Our greatest fear — an
expansionary Asian power with a strong navy capable
of bringing the war right into Australian territory —
was realised.
Australian, British and other Commonwealth troops
resisted the Japanese invasion with mixed success.
The Japanese were outnumbered by the Allied forces,
but they were battle veterans and used the terrain much
better. There was some heavy fighting — the greatest
number of Australian combat deaths of any campaign
came in the two months of the Malaya campaign — but
there was also much retreating, confusion and in some
cases panic. The Allied troops retreated to Singapore,
and, faced with threats to the civilian population and the
certainty that their water supply would be cut off, the
Allied forces surrendered. Singapore was supposed to
protect Australia. It fell, and with it the belief that Britain
could protect Australia. The Malaya /Singapore campaign
was Australia’s greatest disaster of the war. We lost
25% of all battle deaths against the Japanese in these 8
weeks. And Australia lost over 15,000 men and a number
of women nurses as prisoners — more than one third of
whom would die as Prisoners of War over the next three
years, some of them brutally murdered.
The Navy also suffered losses. HMAS Perth was sunk on
1 March, with 457 dead in the action or afterwards as
POWs. HMAS Yarra was also sunk in March, with only
13 of the 151 crew surviving. Navy ships Vampire and
Voyager were also sunk in this period.
The Japanese took Java, capturing an Allied force that
included the Australian ‘Black force’ of about 3000
men after 10 days of fighting, and continued to sweep
towards New Guinea. Three Australian Battalion
Groups were sent to defend Ambon (Gull Force), Timor
(Sparrow Force) and Rabaul (Lark Force). Each comprised
about 1000 men, and they were poorly equipped, and
outnumbered by the Japanese forces. Some of these
men were killed in battle, some were executed on
surrender, and many died as a result of their brutal
treatment as Prisoners of War of the Japanese. About
400 managed to make it back to Australia.
Port Moresby was now the key to Papua-New Guinea,
and to the control of Australia — if the Japanese could
control that port and the surrounding sea lanes, they
could launch attacks against the Australian mainland,
disrupt supplies coming to Australia from America to
be used against the Japanese, and could protect any
gathering forces to invade Australia — if they wanted
to make that their aim.
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 2
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
27
Investigation 2
Resource page 2
Attacks on Australia
One of the important areas seized by the Japanese was
Rabaul, in New Britain. This gave the Japanese an air
base from which they could launch bombing raids in
the area.
The Japanese knew that the United States would try
to gather forces and equipment in Australia as a base
for launching counter-attacks against the Japanese in
the south-west Pacific area. The Japanese aim was to
stop this build-up of men and materials, and to keep
Australia isolated from effective engagement in the
area. This would also be helped if they could also seize
the port of Port Moresby, which they would attempt to
do by landing troops there.
During 1942 and 1943 the Japanese launched nearly
100 air raids on Darwin, Broome, Wyndham, and other
northern towns. The first raids on Darwin and Broome
killed hundreds of American and Australian servicemen,
civilians and refugees. Most of the later raids caused
little damage and few or no casualties.
At the same time submarines prowled shipping lanes off
the east coast of Australia.
Jeffrey Grey, A Military History of Australia,
Cambridge University Press, Melbourne 2008 page 173
In June 1942 three midget submarines entered Sydney
Harbour to sink the American warship USS Chicago. One
fired but missed and hit HMAS Kuttabul, a former ferry
that was being used as floating Naval accommodation,
killing 21 Australian and British sailors. Other
submarines shelled Sydney and Newcastle, causing
little damage.
GROUP 2
The government of the day pushed industrial production
more towards a war effort. There was an “All In” effort
to win the war on the production front, as well as on the
battle front.
Most Australians did not ‘fight’ in the war. These are
often the forgotten people: the men and, in lesser
though growing numbers, the women who worked in the
factories; those who stayed on the farms, giving up the
‘glory’ and the ‘glamour’, but also the danger in most
cases; the ‘Dad’s army’ of the Volunteer Defence Corps,
ready to resist an invasion; the coastwatchers of the
north, tracking the movement of planes and ships; the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander guides, watchers
and trackers; those manning searchlights night after
night in city areas, or standing guard over vital ports and
places in case of attack; the Civil Construction Corps
– over 100,000 of them – sent to work building roads
and aerodromes in the harshest of conditions. For every
man fighting the enemy, there were dozens of men and
women working to support him.
Sport was cut back. Petrol, clothing and some food
items were rationed. As more men were sent overseas
to fight, women were allowed to join the Air Force, Army
and Navy in roles other than the traditional nursing one,
releasing men for combat roles. Engineers and labourers
were conscripted into the Civil Construction Corps, as
roads were built in outback areas to try and create a
supply line to the northern front at Darwin. Women
were taken into previously male jobs – such as on the
trams, and in new areas in factories – though most did
not receive equal pay for the
equal work they were doing.
About 100,000 men left the
farms, and some women
joined the Women’s Land
Army to take over vital food
production – though it seems
that in most cases it was the
farmers’ wives and mothers
who took up that burden. The
main role for most women
continued to be that of home
maker, a job made much
harder and more demanding
by the blackouts, rationing,
shortages and difficulties of
wartime life.
The Japanese Advance
28
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Now use this information
to complete Summary
Page 2
Investigation 2
Resource page 3
GROUP 3
Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and Milne Bay
These three battles had an influence on Japanese
attempts to reduce Australian and American resistance
to Japan’s domination of the area.
Coral Sea
Between 5 and 8 May 1942 Australian ships and planes
contributed to the American fleet’s engagement with
the Japanese in the Coral Sea.
The Japanese plan was to spread from Rabaul, in New
Britain, and establish strong bases at Port Moresby, and
on Fiji, the New Hebrides, Samoa and the Solomons. This
would enable them to cut Australia’s supply line from
America, and to attack northern Australian mainland
bases that could be used to launch air attacks against
Japanese positions.The Japanese would also launch an
attack on Midway, between Pearl Harbor and Japan, with
the aim of attracting the American fleet and destroying it,
thereby severely limiting America’s Pacific War capacity.
The first stage of this plan was to land troops at
Port Moresby.
However, American intelligence knew that the Coral
Sea action was about to happen—they had broken the
Japanese secret naval codes, and were able to move
ships into the area to oppose the enemy.
Allied Task Force 44 consisted of a group
of Allied warships, including two
Australian ships, the heavy cruiser
HMAS Australia and the light cruiser
HMAS Hobart. They were sent to find
and attack this Invasion Group. This force
was commanded by the Australian
Rear-Admiral Crace.
There was also a second Allied force
of two aircraft carriers, the USS
Lexington (commanded by RearAdmiral Fitch) and the USS Yorktown
(commanded by Rear-Admiral Fletcher),
together with protective cruisers and
destroyers. Their task was to stop the invasion,
and to do this they would have to tackle the
main Japanese Carrier Striking Force.
A Japanese battle group planned to
intercept this American naval force from
two sides as it entered the Coral Sea.
John Coates, An Atlas of Australia’s Wars,
Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001 page 229
The battle ended the proposed Japanese sea-borne
invasion of Port Moresby. It also helped lessen the size of
the fleet that Japan assembled to destroy the American
Pacific fleet a few weeks later at Midway.
An invasion force of transports carrying
soldiers would leave Rabaul, and head
around the tip of New Guinea to Port
Moresby. They would be protected by
several warships.
The Battle of the Coral Sea 4 – 8 May 1942
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
29
Midway
The Japanese, despite the setback in the Coral Sea, were
poised to destroy the Americans. The Japanese set a trap
for the US fleet — they attacked Midway on 4–6 June,
knowing that the Americans would respond, and believing
that they could catch the American fleet unprepared.
However, the Japanese fleet was smaller than anticipated,
the American fleet was larger than the Japanese had
Milne Bay
John Coates, An Atlas of Australia’s Wars, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001 page 231
The Japanese still wanted to take Port Moresby as a
base for launching air attacks against the Allies, or to
deny its use to them.
expected, and the Americans knew of the trap — having
broken the secret Japanese communication codes.
Both sides suffered heavily, but the Japanese Pacific fleet
air power was severely reduced, so Japanese resistance
to all further Allied attacks was now significantly
lessened. It also meant that there was no longer any
practical possibility that Australia could be invaded by
Japanese forces.
Australia had established an air base at Milne Bay in
June. Australian troops, together with some American
engineers, manned the base.
On the night of 25/26 August the Japanese landed an
amphibious force to seize the area. For the first time in
the war the Allies had control of the air, and No. 75 and
No. 76 Squadron of the RAAF, with Kittyhawks fighters,
were able to disrupt the landing and isolate and strand
one of the landing parties, weakening the forces of
the attackers.
However, about 2,000 Japanese combat troops were
successfully landed, together with two tanks. Japanese
ships were also able to use their guns to support their
troops, particularly at night when the Kittyhawks were
unable to be flown.
Kokoda and Milne Bay area
The Australians and Americans had prepared their
defences well. After fierce fighting, the Japanese were
forced to withdraw on the night of 4/5 September.
Milne Bay was the first
defeat of Japanese land
forces in the war, and
provided great morale value,
as well as protecting Port
Moresby from attack from
the east. This meant that
forces could be concentrated
in resisting the attempted
taking of Port Moresby
from the north — along the
famous Kokoda Track.
Now use this information
to complete Summary
Page 2
Battle of Milne Bay
30
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Investigation 2
Resource page 4
GROUP 4
www.kokodawalkway.com.au/stations/images/map.jpg
Kokoda Track
Between July 1942 and January
1943, fighting focused on Papua,
especially at Milne Bay and along
the Kokoda Track.
The Japanese wanted to seize Port
Moresby. Their attempts to land
invasion forces had failed at the
Coral Sea and Milne Bay, but there
was still the possibility of marching
troops over the Owen Stanley range.
This is what now happened.
Japanese troops landed at Buna, and
pushed overland towards Kokoda.
Meanwhile, a small body of
Australian Militia troops slogged
over the razorback Owen Stanleys
to meet them. The two forces met,
and for weeks there was sharp and
bloody fighting as the Japanese
pushed forward. The Australians
carried out a fighting withdrawal,
and delayed the enemy for several
weeks. The Japanese reached
Isurava, only 60 kilometres from
Port Moresby, but their supply lines
were over-extended, and many were
starving and ill. With the build-up
of American troops ready to invade
Guadalcanal, the Japanese high
command decided to withdraw
their troops from the Kokoda Track,
and to concentrate their forces
at Guadalcanal. They therefore
ordered the Kokoda Track force to
withdraw. All their efforts had been
for nothing! Sick, exhausted, starving
and dispirited, they started their
withdrawal back to the Buna area.
The Australians, now reinforced
by well-trained, experienced and
well-equipped fresh troops, pushed
the enemy hard. Jungle warfare
was an horrific experience. Men
had to cope with the heat, tropical
rain, stinging and biting insects, and
the terror of not knowing where the
enemy was — even perhaps only
metres away in the thick jungle. The
ground was steep and often muddy,
and men’s legs felt as though they
were being torn from their bodies
as they climbed and crawled up
almost sheer mountain sides —
always mentally alert for the hidden
enemy. The sounds of the enemy
were everywhere, but they were
often not seen until the woodpecker
noise of the Japanese machine gun
suddenly ripped into the foliage.
Fighting was often hand to hand and
savage — there would only be one
man who would survive from such
a conflict; there was no way to look
after prisoners. Diseases racked
bodies. Hunger and thirst had to be
endured, with the difficulty of getting
supplies to men. The wounded had
to be carried out by stretchers carried
by local bearers — the ‘fuzzy wuzzy
angels’ as they were later nicknamed.
Others, less well-known, performed
the equally important task of carrying
supplies forward. As the Australians
and the American allies gained control
of the skies, re-supply became easier,
and the chances of success increased.
On 2 November the Australians
re-took Kokoda. The Japanese were
pushed back towards Buna, where
much savage and bloody fighting
would be needed before the Japanese
were finally defeated in Papua.
Now use this information to
complete Summary Page 2
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
31
Investigation 2
Resource page 5
GROUP 5
Battles of Guadalcanal and the Beachheads — Buna, Gona and Sanananda
In August 1942 the Allies went on to the offensive for
the first time in the south-west Pacific, at Guadalcanal.
The Japanese had been building an airfield that could
have created serious problems for the Allies. A massive
American attack included Royal Australian Navy heavy
cruisers Australia and Canberra (so damaged that it had
to be sunk), and the light cruiser Hobart.
The Japanese tried to win back the airfield, but were
unable to do so. They were forced to withdraw their
remaining forces, and were now on the defensive in
the Pacific.
Japanese forces were also very well established in
the Papuan coastal strip encompassing Buna, Gona
and Sanananda.
In late November American troops attacked Buna,
Australians attacked Gona, and a combined force
attacked Sanananda.
The Japanese occupied well-sited and heavily fortified
bunkers that created killing fields for their machine guns
should the Australians advance from the surrounding
swamps.
The Allies attacked, but were unable to break the
Japanese defences. The Allies built airstrips so that
supplies could be brought in from Port Moresby.
The Japanese refused to surrender or be beaten. The
weather and the terrain took a toll on the attackers, and
disease hit both attackers and defenders. The Japanese
were in fact starving, as they were unable to bring in
any supplies.
Gona finally fell on 9 December 1942, Buna on 3 January
1943, and Sanananda on 22 January.
By the time all the battles were concluded 2165
Australians, 1300 Americans and more than 6000
Japanese had died or been killed in the campaign.
John Coates, An Atlas of Australia’s Wars, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001 page 239
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 2
Battle of the Beachheads
32
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
INVESTIGATION 3
Was there a ‘Battle for Australia’?
This unit is about the ‘Battle for Australia’.
But was there such a thing?
Historians agree that 1942 was a year of crisis for
Australia, and that many Australians believed they
were fighting to defend Australia from an imminent
Japanese invasion.
But not all historians agree that the period can be
described as a ‘Battle for Australia’.
One view believes that invasion was close to being
planned and implemented, and that the battles fought
in and around Australia at this time were in fact battles
to protect Australia. The other view believes that there
were no specific plans or attempts to invade (but that
this could have changed if the results of the Pacific War
had changed during early 1942), and that the battles in
and around Australia in this period were part of a larger
strategy, and not to protect Australia itself. You will see
what their main ideas are in more detail in Activity 1.
In this Investigation you are being asked to look at these
two broad arguments, and decide which you accept.
This is important because it will influence what you say
about this period in your own commemoration of the
events to your year level or school assembly.
Your task in this Investigation is to look at points of
view and evidence, and come to your own conclusion.
This will mean that you need to:
look at the characterisations
of the two sides,
explore some evidence (drawing
on work you have already done
in groups about 1942)
decide which of the two sides
you think is better supported by
the evidence
decide how this dispute will
influence what you have to
say about the event in your
commemorative presentation.
AWM ARTV09225
AWM ARTV06766
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
33
Summary page
3
WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY
Combine your individual group reports to complete this Summary Page:
Group task
1
Was there a
Japanese plan to
invade Australia?
2
Was there an
attempt to invade
Australia?
3
Was there a fear
of invasion?
4
Why might
Australians have
believed that
there might be
an invasion?
5
How did
Australians
respond to the
crisis of 1942?
34
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Your comments/Conclusions
Activity
1
UNDERSTANDING THE COMPETING VIEWS
A main supporter of the idea that Australia was in
imminent danger of invasion is Bob Wurth.
A main critic of the idea that Australia was in imminent
danger of invasion is Dr Peter Stanley.
His basic viewpoint is:
His viewpoint is:
1942 was the year of Australia’s
greatest peril as the nation
awaited invasion from Japan.
Darwin was devastated by
bombing, Australian ships
were torpedoed within sight
of our coast, midget Japanese
submarines attacked shipping in
Sydney Harbour, and the Japanese
forces on their inexorable march south invaded
New Guinea and islands to Australia’s near north.
In Australia [in 1942], a nation
justifiably feeling threatened
with invasion mobilised its
military, industrial and civilian
resources, accepted American
aid and MacArthur’s command
and confronted the Japanese in
the south-west Pacific. Alarmed
by the crisis, Australia largely
withdrew from the broader struggle, concentrating on
the liberation of its territories and on operations
on adjacent islands.
This is the true story of the genuine and imminent
threat to Australia in early 1942 as passionate Imperial
Navy staff officers and their illogical admirals debated
with the Imperial Army over the invasion of an almost
defenceless nation. Australia’s fate hung in the balance.
So while Australians played a substantial part in the
battles of 1942, there was no ‘Battle for Australia’,
as such … Thank goodness.
www.awm.gov.au/events/talks/oration2006.asp
www.1942.com.au/
Here are two sets of
statements that add some
details to the two conflicting
points of view about the
‘Battle for Australia’. The
statements are in an order
that does not create a clear
and logical statement.
Re-arrange each set in an
order that makes sense.
VIEWPOINT 1
VIEWPOINT 2
By mid-1943 the danger of invasion and
attack had passed.
Attacks on Australia were in support
of other strategies, not an invasion
of Australia.
In 1942 the Japanese advance came
closer to Australia.
By mid-1942 the danger of invasion and
attack had passed.
The Government organised the nation
to resist this threat.
In 1942 the Japanese advance came
closer to Australia as part of its Pacific
war strategy.
The Japanese planned to attack and
invade parts of Australia.
The Government organised the nation
to resist this threat.
The victories in Papua and New Guinea
removed this possibility.
The Japanese victories were part of a
plan to isolate, but not attack or invade
Australia.
Their activities in the Pacific and
Papua brought the possibility of
attack/invasion closer.
The victories in Papua and New Guinea
removed this possibility.
Victories in Papua would have led to
attacks/invasion.
Victories in Papua might have led to
the development of plans to attack/
invade Australia.
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
35
Investigation 3
Resource page 1
GROUPS 1– 5
It is difficult for non-expert students to make a decision on matters where expert historians disagree!
Here is some main evidence to analyse. For each, analyse the evidence using the questions to help you, and then decide
which of the two arguments the evidence supports (and some evidence may support both!).
SOURCE A Four propaganda posters from 1942
AWM ARTV09053
AWM ARTV09061
AWM ARTV09225
1 Who are the main character/s in these posters?
2 What is shown as the threat?
3 What is the message that is being put to the Australian people?
4 How would you expect people to respond to these at the time?
5 How does this evidence help your group answer the question you
are investigating?
AWM RC02371
1 Describe what is shown on the
SOURCE B Invasion money
AWM RELC01152
36
This is an example of
Japanese ‘invasion
money’ that many
Australian soldiers
brought back from the
Pacific and Asian areas.
Many people believe
that it is evidence of a
Japanese plan to invade
Australia.
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
notes.
2 How might it support the idea
that there was a plan to invade
Australia?
3 How might it not be good
evidence of an invasion plan?
4 How does this evidence help
your group answer the question
you are investigating?
Investigation 3
Resource page 2
GROUPS 1– 5
SOURCE C John Curtin and the ‘Battle for
Australia’
SOURCE D Douglas MacArthur and the
‘Battle for Australia’
At the fall of Singapore in February, 1942, Prime Minister
John Curtin said:
In March 1944, when John Curtin was ill, the US
commander in chief, Southwest Pacific, General Douglas
MacArthur, sent the Australian leader a photograph
of himself … across which he scrawled in pen:
“To the Prime Minister who saved Australia in her hour
of deadly peril.”
“The fall of Singapore can only be described as
Australia’s Dunkirk … The fall of Dunkirk initiated the
Battle for Britain. The fall of Singapore opens the Battle
for Australia.”
www.users.bigpond.com/battleforAustralia/battaust/
AustInvasion/Confronting_revisionists.htm
Peter Stanley says of this:
Let me remind you of the setting of John Curtin’s 1942
speech in which the phrase “battle for Australia” first
appeared. He gave this speech the day after the fall
of Singapore and three days before the bombing of
Darwin. It was not a judgment upon what had occurred:
it anticipated what he thought would occur. It was almost
a prediction. Curtin, a man passionately devoted to his
people, for justifiable and understandable reasons feared
that the fall of Singapore – believed to have been the
keystone of imperial defence in Asia and Australasia
– would open a struggle for the possession of his
homeland. Or so it very reasonably seemed at the time.
When Curtin died months before Japan’s surrender in
1945, MacArthur in a communiqué said of the Australian
leader: “He was one of the greatest wartime statesmen,
and the preservation of Australia from invasion will be
his immemorial monument.”
Bob Wurth, www.1942.com.au/invading-australia-myth.html
Was invasion planned? Wurth quotes Douglas
MacArthur as if he is a reliable witness. But MacArthur
was flattering then prime minister John Curtin by telling
him he “saved Australia in her hour of deadly peril”.
MacArthur was a better politician than Curtin. He was
known to exaggerate, notoriously painting Australian
successes as Allied: why would Wurth — or anyone —
take MacArthur at his word?
Peter Stanley, Weekend Australian Review, 30-31 August 2008
www.awm.gov.au/events/talks/oration2006.asp
1 What does Curtin say is the ‘Battle for Australia’?
1 How does the MacArthur quote support Wurth?
2 How might this quotation support Wurth?
2 How does Stanley try to undermine its value as
3 How does Stanley challenge it?
4 What does this evidence help your group understand
about the question you are investigating?
evidence?
3 How does this evidence help your group answer
the question you are investigating?
1 How does this evidence
SOURCE E Douglas MacArthur and the danger of invasion
support Stanley?
Curtin’s apprehensions [about invasion] ought to have been greatly calmed
by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the South-West
Pacific Area. MacArthur briefed the Advisory War Cabinet five days after
arriving in Melbourne, in March [1942]. Its members may have been relieved
to hear his opinion that “it is doubtful whether the Japanese would undertake
an invasion of Australia …”, though they may have entertained misgivings
over his reason “as the spoils here are not sufficient to warrant the risk”.
MacArthur consoled the Council by suggesting that the Japanese might “try
to overrun Australia in order to demonstrate their superiority over the white
races”, but as a strategist he thought that an invasion would be “a blunder”.
2 How does it support
Wurth?
3 How does this evidence
help your group answer
the question you are
investigating?
Peter Stanley, www.awm.gov.au/events/conference/2002/stanley_paper.pdf
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
37
Investigation 3
Resource page 3
GROUPS 1– 5
SOURCE F Japanese map in a Tokyo museum
Japan’s second phase operations between
February and April 1942, according to this chart
on display in the extreme nationalist Yasukuni
Shrine Museum in Tokyo. The blue dotted line
around northern Australia refers [to] ‘invasion
manoeuvres, or operations’. The heading in
English is the Museum’s. The line encircling the
whole of Australia is a shipping route.
Bob Wurth, www.1942.com.au/invading-australia-myth.html
1 What does this map show?
2 How does it support Wurth?
3 How might Stanley challenge this as
reliable evidence?
4 How does this evidence help your
group answer the question you are
investigating ?
The Campaign Plan: The 2nd Phase (February–April 1942)
SOURCE G Japanese invasion map in the Australian Archives
Staff file entitled “Japanese
Plan for Invasion of Australia”.
The file does give a full outline,
complete with a map annotated in
Japanese, for a Japanese invasion
of Australia via Western Australia
with a diversionary attack around
Darwin. The map was forwarded
via the Australian legation in
Chungking from Nationalist China’s
Director of Military Intelligence,
Admiral H. C. Yang. But if John
Curtin accepted it as genuine …
none of Curtin’s military advisers
agreed. Even the Chinese did not
consider it genuine. In any case,
the invasion was supposed to have
been launched in May 1942, but
the map was “discovered” only five
months later.
Peter Stanley, www.awm.gov.au/events/
conference/2002/stanley_paper.pdf
1 What does this map show?
2 Does it support either Wurth or Stanley?
3 How does Stanley challenge this as reliable evidence?
4 From your knowledge of Australia, how likely does this
invasion plan seem? Explain your reasons.
38
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Investigation 3
Resource page 4
GROUPS 1– 5
SOURCE H Bob Wurth and Peter Stanley on plans to invade Australia
(i)
[T]here were so many high ranking officers, including those in the Navy General Staff, who were arguing
about attacking Australia. Also in the Combined Fleet. Arguing about attacking and invading Australia.
It wasn’t just the initiative of junior officers involved in this talk.
It was official conversation because the Navy officially submitted it to the Army. The Navy military orders
[planning] section officers visited the Army strategic section. They were always visiting the Army pushing
this point of view between February and March 1942 about invading Australia.
2007 interview with Professor Hiromi Tanaka, senior historian at Japan’s National Defense Academy, Yososuka,
in Bob Wurth, 1942. Australia’s Greatest Peril, Pan Macmillan, Sydney, 2008 page 362
(ii)
It has become abundantly apparent in the course of my research that influential elements of this great
[Japanese] navy wanted to invade Australia in 1942, although they never got as far as issuing orders
to invade. The evidence is overwhelming from the Japanese side, though, that such an invasion was a
serious possibility.
Bob Wurth, 1942. Australia’s Greatest Peril, Macmillan, Sydney, 2008 page 3
(iii) Curtin’s fears about an invasion of Australia in the first months of 1942 were thoroughly justified. The
question of … whether to capture Australia … was keenly debated in a series of formal meetings in
Tokyo. The debate was carried on at the highest levels within Imperial General Headquarters, and was
supported by senior naval officers and influential middle echelon rankers.
Bob Wurth, 1942. Australia’s Greatest Peril, Macmillan, Sydney, 2008, page 3 Page 128
(iv) It is argued by revisionists today that Australian troops in New Guinea and on the Kokoda Track did not
help save Australia as the war was decided elsewhere. Yet General Douglas MacArthur had no doubts that
the loss of Port Moresby would have meant the loss of Australia. He wrote in his memoirs:
… I decided to … move the thousand miles forward into eastern Papua, and to stop the Japanese on the
rough mountains of the Owen Stanley Range of New Guinea — to make the fight for Australia beyond its
own borders. If successful, this would save Australia from invasion and give me an opportunity to pass
from defence to offence, to seize the initiative, move forward, and attack.
… Curtin felt the same about the battle for the Kokoda trail, telling newsmen in a long private briefing on
21 September: ‘We are not defending New Guinea, we are defending Australia.’
Bob Wurth, 1942. Australia’s Greatest Peril, Macmillan, Sydney, 2008, page 3 Pages 287-8
(v)
Those who assume that Japan actually planned to invade Australia in 1942 make a great deal of the fact
that the Japanese high command considered the idea early in 1942 (before Singapore fell). For weeks,
senior army and navy officers wrangled over options (considering not just whether to invade Australia, but
facing the question, ‘where next?’).
They decided not to invade Australia, but to hold on in China, take on the US in the Pacific and advance
towards India. If things went well, they thought they could tackle Australia later. In the meantime, they
decided to try to isolate Australia, using submarines to disrupt the sea routes to the US. (Even that failed:
Australia was never isolated.)
Peter Stanley, www.1942.com.au/reviews-news.html
1 What does this evidence help your group understand about the question you are investigating?
Now use this information to complete Summary Page 3
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
39
INVESTIGATION 4
How was 1942 different from the later war years 1943-45
for Australians?
A key feature of the Battle for Australia period is that
this part of the war was very different for Australians
compared to before and after 1942.
Your task in this Investigation is to summarise the
nature of Australian involvement in each area of the war
after January 1943. Each group can help complete the
Summary Page on the next page.
AWM ART22744
You have already seen what the war was like before
1942. Now you need to explore what the war was
like after January 1943, and decide how this influences
your ideas about what the Battle for Australia was,
and how you will explain it to others during your
commemorative assembly.
RAAF Debriefing after the Battle of the Bismarck Sea (1943)
40
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Summary page
4
WHOLE CLASS ACTIVITY
Combine your individual group reports to complete this Summary Page:
Aspect
Your explanation
5 questions to ask of someone
who was part of this period are:
GROUP 1
The nature of
Australian involvement
during 1942 in areas
other than the Pacific
was:
GROUP 2
The nature of
Australian involvement
during 1943 in Europe,
the Pacific and on the
home front was:
GROUP 3
The nature of
Australian involvement
during 1944 in Europe,
the Pacific and on the
home front was:
GROUP 4
The nature of
Australian involvement
during 1945 in Europe
was:
GROUP 5
The nature of
Australian involvement
during 1945 in the
Pacific and on the
home front was:
CREATE A MAP of the main war events
affecting Australia in this period.
Think about how you would include this part of the story of the
war in an overall annotated map and a narrative that explains
the Battle For Australia to a year level or school assembly.
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
41
Investigation 4
Resource page 1
1942 in other theatres of the war
In 1942 the war was being waged in Europe, in Russia,
in Asia and in the Pacific.
The emphasis on Australian involvement in the Pacific
War means that their contributions in other areas are
often not recognised.
Increasing numbers of in the RAAF were coming out of
the EATS training scheme, and were active in helping
the Royal Air Force in the air war over Europe.
Australian naval ships continued to successfully carry
out their primary role of protecting sea supply lines
for men, equipment, food and supplies in the Atlantic,
Pacific and Indian Oceans.
RAN personnel were also deployed in the United
Kingdom performing bomb disposal and making mines
safe. A small number were also involved in the RAN’s
midget submarine program.
RAAF airmen took part in the defence of Malta, and
several thousand RAAF and Army personnel served in
Burma, India, Cyprus, Ceylon and even in China where
Tulip Force helped train Chinese guerrillas to fight the
Japanese.
Coastwatchers — men who remained hidden in enemy
territory — watched silently and then secretly reported
on enemy shipping movements. Their activities were
significant at the Battle of Guadalcanal — though the
fact that the Allies had broken enemy secret codes was
probably more significant.
HMAS Canberra was sunk during the Battle of Savo.
Australians played an important part in defeating
the German forces in North Africa at the battle of
El Alamein. RAAF airmen were part of the RAF sorties
that supported the troops of the British Eighth Army,
including Australians of the 9th Division. Over 2600
Australians died in this campaign.
Once the threat from the Japanese arose, the Australian
Government wanted to bring these troops back from
fighting the Germans and Italians in North Africa
and the Middle East to protect Australia by fighting
the Japanese in New Guinea. British Prime Minister
Churchill wanted to send the Australians to Burma
to protect India — but Australian Prime Minister
Curtin fought him and insisted that they be returned
to Australia. The victorious troops were returned to
Australia to fight the Japanese.
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 4
AWM ART27559
HMAS Nestor was lost in the Mediterranean in
June 1942.
GROUP 1
Battle of Alam el Halfa (1942)
42
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Resource page 2
1943
The path that Australian forces would now take in the
Pacific War for the remainder of the conflict was now
largely set. The big battles had been won, the enemy
was in retreat, there was a long and difficult period of
‘mopping up’ and consolidation, though this would still
involve severe fighting against the Japanese for whom
surrender was unthinkable and shameful.
In Western Europe, the emphasis was on building up
strength for the invasion of Europe, while battering the
Germans in the industrial centres of Germany itself and
the occupied countries.
On the Eastern Front Soviet forces were locked in battle
with the Germans.
In Australia, the emphasis was moved from an “All In”
approach to a “Balanced War Effort”, which involved
transferring some men from the fighting forces back to
industry and production.
Europe
Between 1940 and 1943 RAAF airmen had participated
in operations in North Africa, the Middle East, the
defence of Malta. This was the period of the greatest
part of the air war, particularly the strategic bomber
offensive raids against the great German cities.
Australian RAAF volunteers were now in Britain in
large numbers, mostly serving in Bomber Command.
Some were ground crews, working on keeping the
huge machines flying, but most were crewmen in the
huge and powerful bombers, which flew from bases in
Britain over enemy occupied territory in France, and over
Germany. This was a terrible and dangerous experience.
The planes were cold, the trip was long, conditions were
cramped, many of the men were very inexperienced
pilots — accident rates were high. The planes were
frequently attacked by fighters, and shot at from the
ground by anti-aircraft guns. The bombers were at their
most vulnerable as they came in to drop their deadly
load on target areas — they had to fly a straight course
to ensure accuracy, and could not evade fighters or
anti-aircraft fire at this point. Once the bombs had been
released, the bomber would head home — still evading
fighters and flak.
GROUP 2
A number of RAN personnel were serving on British
ships in the European theatre of war.
Pacific and Asia
By early 1943 the Japanese had been defeated in Papua
by the victories at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. But they
still held most of New Guinea.
Australian forces now fought a series of battles to retake occupied areas from the enemy. In May Australian
troops took Wau; in September they captured Salamua.
A joint Australian-American air, land and sea operation
was carried out to capture Lae. The 7th Division then
entered the Markham-Ramu Valley to pursue Japanese
forces across the Finisterre Range, where the fighting
for Shaggy Ridge continued into 1944.
At the same time the 9th Division was fighting
the Japanese on the Huon Peninsula, and took the
strongholds at Finschafen and Sattelberg.
There was significant RAAF involvement in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea, with the destruction of a Japanese
convoy heading for Lae.
AWM ARTV06392
Investigation 4
Home Front
Japanese submarines remained active off the east coast.
The RAAF and the RAN patrolled the coastal waters,
protecting the vital merchant shipping bringing the huge
supplies of weapons being churned out in the great
industrial centres of the USA. However, a Japanese
submarine sank the unarmed, clearly-marked and welllit hospital ship Centaur in May, with the death of 268
civilian crew and Army medical personnel.
Fifty-seven percent of all RAAF casualties came from
this period. Air crews were required to fly 30 missions
before being taken out of the fighting — though the
average life span for a crew was only 14 missions.
People continued to support the war effort in their
work and their voluntary activities, but as the fear of
invasion began to recede, it became harder for people
to maintain their 100% commitment to the war. It was
during this time that tensions over such things as black
market abuses began to increase.
RAAF squadrons also participated in anti-submarine
patrols, and attacks on shipping.
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 4
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
43
Investigation 4
Resource page 3
1944
The main operations for Australians in 1944 and 1945
were in New Guinea and Borneo, and in the skies
of Europe.
Europe
The United States and British forces continued to bomb
Germany and occupied countries, while building up for
the great invasion of Europe from the west on 6 June
1944, D Day. The Soviets pushed towards Germany
from the east. The Allies were now fighting their way
towards Berlin from the two directions. RAAF airmen
took part in the Allied drive through Italy and Sicily.
Pacific and Asia
Several Australian naval vessels were part of the
massive Allied ‘island hopping’ strategy in the Pacific to
drive the Japanese out of the areas they had occupied
since early 1942. Australian ships and airmen were part
of the invasion fleets that landed American troops on
islands in New Britain, Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea,
and the Netherlands East Indies. Australian ships and
airmen were also part of the massive invasion at Leyte
Gulf in the Philippines. HMAS Australia became the
first Allied ship to be hit by a kamikaze aircraft during
this battle.
Home Front
The intensity of the war effort continued to ease slightly,
as the Allies seemed more certain of success, and as
the emphasis continued to swing towards production
rather than military engagement.
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 4
John Coates, An Atlas of Australia’s Wars, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2001 page 293
The large Japanese force at Rabaul was cut off from
supplies and 100,000 Japanese soldiers neutralised by
the American naval blockade and Australian
ground forces.
GROUP 3
Defeating Japan — RAN ships at surrender points 1945
44
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
Investigation 4
Resource page 4
1945
With Germany surrendering on 8 May, 1945, the focus
switched to defeating the Japanese. The Americans
used a strategy of ‘island hopping’ — attacking a
Japanese stronghold, securing the beach area for
the landing of supplies, driving the Japanese into an
isolated area, then leaving troops and fire power to ‘mop
up’ the enemy. Those islands that were necessary for
the supply lines were re-taken in this way; others were
just cut off, and the Japanese defenders on them left to
‘wither on the vine’ without supplies.
Finally, the Americans were able to set up air fields in
islands near the Japanese home islands, and to start a
campaign of bombing Japan’s major cities. The final act
was to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August,
and Nagasaki on 9 August. On 15 August the Japanese
surrendered.
There is controversy about the dropping of these bombs
— was it justified? Supporters argue that the Japanese
were ready to fight to the last man, woman and child,
and that casualties would have been greater by normal
battle or a blockade than from the atomic bombs.
American troop casualties were also saved. It is also
likely that virtually every Allied prisoner of war in Japan
would have been murdered before Japan surrendered.
Opponents of the bombing argue that Japan would have
surrendered if they had known that the position of the
Emperor would have been maintained, and that the
bombs were dropped both to test their effects, and to
limit the Soviets from occupying Japanese territory and
holding it after the war.
Europe
When the allied armies invaded Europe on D Day,
6 June 1944, and started to push into Germany and
occupied European countries, they liberated thousands
of prisoners of the Germans — and many of these were
Australians.
Australian soldiers who had been captured in fighting in
Greece, Crete and North Africa, and hundreds of airmen
who had been shot down, had been kept in POW camps
in Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and other European
countries. For the most part the captors of these men
treated them according to the accepted rules of warfare,
and fed, housed and clothed them adequately, and
did not physically or mentally abuse them. There were
exceptions where prisoners were tortured, beaten or
virtually starved, and cases where men who tried to
GROUP 4
escape were murdered by their captors — but these
were relatively rare. At the end of the war prisoners
were sometimes forced to go on marches to new camps,
and conditions were severe — but for the most part
prisoners were adequately fed and cared for.
Most Australian captives received mail and Red Cross
parcels, and this helped the men to survive. Many spent
much of their time planning escapes, and trying to keep
themselves occupied in often harsh conditions. They
played sport, went to lecture programs, put on plays
and concerts. Most Australian prisoners of war of the
Germans did survive, and returned to try and re-establish
their lives in Australia after the war.
However, as the allied armies liberated Europe from
German control, and as they pushed into Germany and
Poland, they made a horrific discovery — not German
prisoner of war camps, but German concentration and
extermination camps — camps set up specifically to
murder people, or to work them to death.
Part of the Nazi philosophy against which Australians
fought was ‘racial purity’ — which for them included
eliminating Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, radicals, Slavs,
and the physically or mentally handicapped. As the allies
liberated such places as Belsen and Dachau in Germany,
and especially Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, they saw
the results of this Nazi attempt to destroy these people.
The largest group targeted was the Jews. Germans, and
many other Europeans, had a strong cultural bias against
Jews — they were depicted as scheming, subversive,
exploitative and dangerous. Special discriminatory laws
had been passed against them as soon as the Nazis
had seized power in Germany in 1933, but by the start
of the war they were being taken from their ghettos —
concentrated places in cities — and either executed by
roving execution squads, sent to be worked to death,
starved to death, or gassed in camps. There was some
resistance by some of the victims, but most were simply
unable to resist the well-organised and ruthlessly
efficient process.
It is impossible to know how many people — men,
women, children — died in this way. Whole families
were wiped out. There are survivors living in Australian
cities today who can name dozens of close family
members and friends who simply disappeared in these
camps. The most commonly accepted estimates say
about 6 million Jews died in this holocaust.
Now use this information to complete Summary
Page 4
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
45
Investigation 4
Resource page 5
GROUP 5
Pacific and Asia
The campaigns begun in 1944 continued until the
surrender of Japan.
Australians were in action from October on Bougainville,
New Britain and the Aitape-Wewak region of New
Guinea, and in Borneo at Tarakan, Labuan, and
Balikpapan. These last campaigns in Borneo cost more
than 500 Australian dead, and are controversial — many
argue that there was no need for the campaigns, as the
Japanese could have been left to surrender.
Australian prisoners of Japanese now started to return.
All had suffered the minimum of inadequate food and
medical treatment. Many had suffered bashings and
physical mistreatment
Home Front
People who lived during wartime stress how sacrifices
and shortages brought them together. But there were
tensions as well. There were ‘black market’ operators,
who managed to find rationed goods or goods in short
supply, and sell them at high prices. American troops
came to Australia in large numbers, and were frequently
seen as Australia’s saviours. They brought new ways and
new manners and customs to Australia, and impressed
the locals. But again this sometimes caused tension, as
jealousies grew towards the well-paid and free-spending
‘Yanks’. Many people were upset at strikes called
by wharfies and coal miners during the war. Strong
government controls sometimes upset people — who
resented wartime restrictions. At times of greatest
crisis — such as the bombing of Darwin, the shelling
of Sydney and Newcastle by Japanese submarines —
some Australians acted with only their own safety in
mind, and hoarded goods, or ignored what was best for
the community as a whole. But for most people, it was a
time of voluntary work, and ‘making do’ in determination
to support the troops and secure victory.
The End of the War
The war had cost over 39,000 Australian lives. Many
more had been damaged physically or mentally —
particularly the thousands of troops who had been
prisoners of the Japanese. Many of these men and
women, and their dependants, would need support from
the Australian government for a long time to come.
The war had cost Australians the equivalent of about
$74 billion. Many industries had, however, prospered
and developed far more quickly than would otherwise
have been the case. There were great shortages of
civilian materials — especially
building materials to meet the
demand of returning soldiers eager
to set up their new lives. Jobs were
needed for the returning soldiers
and servicewomen. Educational
opportunities had been cut off for
many, and they would now look
to complete courses and training.
Australia itself had changed —
people had been exposed to new
ideas, experiences and influences.
Millions of people throughout the
war-torn countries were destitute
or refugees, and looked to make
a new life in a better place —
could Australia help them? Could
Australians revert to their pre-war
lives and standards, or would they
have to create a new society in
Australia which reflected post-war
values and needs?
Now use this information to
complete Summary Page 4
Peace celebrations
46
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
AWM 112664
INVESTIGATION 5
What does the Battle for Australia tell us about citizenship?
You are now ready to prepare your group
commemorative presentation of Battle for Australia Day.
Wartime citizens
You should use the Battle for Australia
Commemoration Summary Page (page 20) as a guide
in preparing your presentation.
The key focus of your commemoration should be placing
the events of the Battle for Australia in the context of
citizenship — what do the events of the war tell us
about people’s attitudes, values and sacrifices at
the time?
This speech by Prime Minister Rudd on the first Battle
for Australia Day (2008) will also be helpful in deciding
what information and ideas you might include, and what
meanings you might emphasise. For example, you might
identify such values as service, sacrifice, volunteering,
duty, leadership, teamwork, and many others as
significant and desirable attributes that we should be
aware of, and value in our society.
AWM 006818
AWM 006608
AWM 066322
AWM 021160
AWM 013551
AWM 002161
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
47
Address at Battle For Australia Commemorative Ceremony
Australian War Memorial, Canberra 3 September 2008
Today we gather to commemorate the Battle for
Australia …
On this day, the 3rd of September, in 1939, Prime
Minister Robert Menzies declared war on behalf of
Australia on Germany.
On this day, the 3rd of September, in 1942, with John
Curtin as Prime Minister, Australian and American
forces were heavily engaged in the Battle of Milne Bay
– a Battle that was soon to become the first defeat of
Japanese forces on land and a turning point in the war
in the Pacific.
The third of September therefore has particular
significance in our nation’s story.
For nearly a century now we have commemorated
ANZAC Day as the great commemorative event to
honour those who gave their all in war.
For nearly a century we have also celebrated
Remembrance Day as the end of that bloodiest of wars.
But in the more than half a century since the end of
the war that came to our own shores, we have yet to
determine a day to commemorate those who came to
the defence of Australia itself.
And today as a nation we settle that question.
For today, as a nation, for the first time we officially
commemorate the first Wednesday in September as the
day to remember the Battle for Australia following the
official proclamation of this day by His Excellency the
Governor-General in June this year.
The day when we together with our American ally began
to turn the tide of the war in the Pacific. The day when
we honour specially those who gave their all in the
defence of Australia itself.
We commemorate a time when our nation itself was
under attack. We commemorate a time when a young
nation found its very survival at risk. We commemorate
a time when the Australian mainland and Australian
cities were themselves under attack. When one million
Australians served in uniform to protect their country.
When a further six million Australians were mobilised.
When thousands, tens of thousands lost their lives in
neighbouring nations, on the seas, in the air, and on
Australian soil.
The bombing of Darwin. The attack on Broome. The
Battle of the Coral Sea. On the Kokoda Trail. At the
Battle of Milne Bay. The Battle of Guadalcanal.
48
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The Battle of the
Beachheads – at Buna, and Gona and Sanananda. The
death march at Sandakan. And this bloody list goes on.
We know that some question whether there was indeed
a Battle for Australia. And yes, there’s fertile ground for
historical debate on the views of Curtin and Churchill,
the plans of the Japanese Imperial Army and the
Imperial Navy, and what might have happened had the
Japanese advance not been stopped at Milne Bay and
Imita Ridge.
But on this there can be no doubt: Never in our history
was our nation so threatened.
Never in our history was our future less certain. Never
in our history was our determination to defend ourselves
so fully tested. From the factories to the Volunteer
Defence Corps, the air raid shelters and the barbed wire
across the beaches.
We’ll never know what success by the enemy might
have meant for Australia – invasion, occupation or
isolation.
But we know that Australian soldiers at Milne Bay
brought those forces their first defeat on land in the
entire Pacific war. And we know it was from then that
the course of the war began to change.
We struggle today to understand just how serious
Australia’s situation was in 1942. The impregnable
fortress of Singapore had fallen. Over 15,000 Australians
had become prisoners of war.
Prime Minister Curtin understood the threat. On the day
that Singapore fell, he warned:
“The fall of Singapore can only be described as
Australia’s Dunkirk ... [The] fall of Dunkirk initiated the
battle for Britain. The fall of Singapore opens the Battle
for Australia.”
So said Curtin. And Curtin added: “What the battle for
Britain required, so the battle for Australia requires.
That meant service and struggle and complete devotion
for Britons in the defence of Britain. It means the same
thing for Australians for the defence of Australia.”
This was a battle that would involve all Australians.
A fight for survival itself.
The imminent threat was brought home just days later
when Darwin was bombed. Curtin described it as the
first “physical contact of war within Australia”. He
called on Australians to:
continued > >
>>
“vow that this blow at Darwin and the loss it has
involved and the suffering it has occasioned shall gird
our loins and steel our nerve”.
But the Japanese imperialist forces kept advancing.
Islands continued to fall. The Americans withdrew
from the Philippines. The advance reached Papua New
Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor. As the southward
march continued, the myth of the invincibility of the
Japanese Imperial Forces grew.
In May 1942 at the Battle of the Coral Sea, American
and Australian ships and our air forces fought side-byside against a Japanese flotilla that was part of the
strategy to take Port Moresby and isolate Australia from
our allies. There were losses on both sides, but Port
Moresby never fell. It was a sign of things to come.
When speaking in Parliament of the Battle of the Coral
Sea, Prime Minister Curtin called on all Australians to join
in the war effort. He said: “Men are fighting for Australia
today; those who are not fighting have no excuse for not
working.” This was for Australia, total war.
As Curtin had said to the Americans in March: “out of
every ten men in Australia, four are wholly engaged in
war as members of the fighting forces or making the
munition and equipment to fight with … The proportion
is now growing every day.”
As our men fought along the Kokoda Track, the men and
women at home were hard at work in support. As our
airmen fought in the skies of the Pacific the population
at home was devoted to production and the civil defence
effort. As our sailors sought to claw back control of the
oceans the population at home continued to sign up for
the war. And then there came a day when the news from
the frontline changed. When the myth of the invincibility
was stripped away from the advancing enemy forces
– at the Battle of Milne Bay. Both sides in the Pacific
War recognised the importance of Milne Bay. It offered
a sheltered harbour on the south-eastern tip of Papua
New Guinea. Whoever controlled Milne Bay would have
a strong position to defend Port Moresby and the waters
around. From 1942, the Allies developed airfields there.
But the advancing Japanese forces set their sights
on Milne Bay too, as a crucial stepping stone to Port
Moresby. In August of 1942, they attacked at Milne Bay.
Their initial progress was rapid. But when they reached
the edge of the airfield, they were stopped. Then they
were then pushed back, pursued - and eventually they
fled. At Milne Bay, Australian and American soldiers
– working side by side – proved they could stop the
Japanese imperial forces. The impact on morale was
enormous. After seeing Malaya, then Singapore and
then a string of islands fall, the Allies had now seen
their troops turn back the advancing army on land. It
was in every respect, a turning point.
And that is why we mark Battle for Australia Day on
the first Wednesday of September, commemorating this
great victory at Milne Bay.
There are many stories of bravery that can be told
about Australian soldiers, sailors and airmen during the
Battle for Australia. I want to mention just one today.
In commemorating the Battle for Australia in the years
ahead, the nation will have the chance to hear many,
many more stories, and so they should.
The Royal Australian Air Force played a critical role
in supporting the troops at Milne Bay. At Milne Bay
the RAAF’s 76 Squadron was led by Keith ‘Bluey’
Truscott. Truscott was one of Australia’s best-known
flying aces during the Second World War. Before the
war he had been a well known Aussie Rules player.
He had played in Melbourne’s 1939 Premiership team.
We all make mistakes. In fact he was nominated as
one of the best on the ground and finished the match
with two goals.
But like so many young Australians, then and since, he
answered the call to arms. He enlisted in the RAAF in
1940 and, after training, he joined the war in Britain.
In 1941 and 1942 he flew and fought over the skies of
Europe. And, by the time he returned to Australia in
early 1942, he was a decorated hero who had destroyed
at least 11 German aircraft over Europe.
Truscott deployed to Milne Bay with Number 76 Squadron
in August 1942 – just before the Japanese landing.
And the Squadron flew out of Milne Bay throughout the
conflict. In terrible weather, on metal landing strips that
were slippery and dangerous, the aircrews of 75 and
76 Squadrons flew “beyond the point of exhaustion” in
support of the ground forces. They flew so much and fired
so many rounds in support of the ground forces that the
barrels of the guns on their aircraft were worn smooth
from the number of rounds that were fired. The aircraft
would land, refuel, re-arm and immediately take to the
skies again – day after day after day.
Bluey Truscott, the other pilots and the ground crews
showed the sort of dedication that was required to
turn the tide in this great Battle for Australia. Their
commitment to the task was the equal of any unit
throughout the war. And to people like them and
thousands more, we as a nation, owe a profound
debt of gratitude.
There are many such heroes in the Battle for Australia.
Heroes of battle. And heroes on the home front as well.
continued > >
Understanding 1942 and the Battle for Australia
49
>>
One of those was John Curtin. Like Churchill and
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he was an outstanding leader
of a democracy who rose to the occasion when he
needed to serve the nation. He poured himself out in the
defence of our nation. He drove himself to exhaustion
and ultimately, of course, to an early death, just months
before the war ended.
General Douglas MacArthur gave Curtin this remarkable
tribute in 1945: “He (Curtin) was one of the greatest
wartime statesmen, and the preservation of Australia
from invasion will be his immemorial monument.”
Today, we commemorate the spirit of Curtin and all of
those who served in this nation’s defence in the Pacific
during our nation’s darkest time. Today, we carve a date
in the nation’s calendar – the first Wednesday of every
September – to remember this Battle for Australia. To
remember a time when our nation was in peril. And to
remember those who answered the call of their nation
and risked their lives to defend the nation.
British children learn their nation’s finest hour was
when their troops stood alone against Hitler in 1940.
And Americans learn that their Greatest Generation
was the men who took Normandy in 1944 and Iwo
Jima in 1945. It’s time all Australians knew more
about 1942.
Every year we remember the events at Anzac Cove that
are etched so deep in our national memory. It’s often
said, at Gallipoli our nation was born. But at the Battle
for Australia, our nation stood up and confirmed that we
as a nation, would endure.
And that’s why we have come here today to remember
Battle for Australia Day. We remember that freedom is
always purchased by sacrifice. And that liberty can only
be guaranteed by courage.
On Bluey Truscott’s grave in the Perth War Cemetery are
the following words: “In loving memory of our darling
Keith, his duty nobly done.”
Today we honour all those who served and sacrificed
their lives in the Battle for Australia, their duty was
nobly done.
www.pm.gov.au/media/speech/2008/speech_0454.cfm
Further reading:
www.ww2australia.gov.au for all aspects
www.awm.gov.au and go to Encyclopedia and type in entries
www.australiansatwar.gov.au for stories from various theatres
www.australiansatwarfilmarchive.gov.au for full interviews with people from many theatres
Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry, Battle For Australia (CD-ROM and Teacher Resource Book), Ryebuck Media, 2002
www.ryebuck.com.au
‘The Battle of the Coral Sea — Did it save Australia?’, STUDIES magazine 1/2002, Ryebuck Media,
www.ryebuck.com.au
Robert Lewis and Tim Gurry, War and Identity, Ryebuck media for ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee of
Queensland, 2000
‘Defending Australia — Australia and the Pacific War’, STUDIES magazine 3/2001, Ryebuck Media,
www.ryebuck.com.au
‘How does a society respond to war? Investigating Australia during the ‘Battle for Australia’ in 1942’, STUDIES
magazine 3/2002, Ryebuck Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
‘Tragedy and triumph in wartime — Investigating three case studies from World War 2: the sinking of the
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, the Jaywick Raid, and Operation Rimau’, STUDIES magazine 2/2003, Ryebuck
Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
‘“Overpaid, oversexed and over here!” — Investigating the American “invasion” of Australia 1942-1945’,
STUDIES magazine 2/2002, Ryebuck Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
‘Should we remember “Weary” Dunlop?’, STUDIES magazine 2/2001, Ryebuck Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
‘Australia’s holocaust? — The Sandakan Death March, Borneo, 1945’, STUDIES magazine 1/1999, Ryebuck
Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
‘Their service, our heritage — The experience of prisoners of war on the Burma-Siam Railway’, STUDIES
magazine 1/1998, Ryebuck Media, www.ryebuck.com.au
50
Defence 2020 Is the Australian Defence Force a responsible citizen?