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First World War Existing as a collection of British colonies until Federation in 1901, Australia necessarily shared close political, economic, and social ties with Britain on the eve of the First World War. At the outbreak of war, Australia was one of five British Dominions, alongside Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and the Union of South Africa. The vast bulk of Australians were of British descent, and felt strong social, cultural, familial and emotional connections to the British Empire. When Britain declared war in 1914, Australia was automatically committed as part of the Empire. Australian politicians immediately pledged their full support for Britain and the war. Opposition Leader Andrew Fisher declared on 31 July 1914 that “Australians will stand beside our own to help and defend [the Empire] to our last man and our last shilling”. Within days of the declaration of war, plans for what would become the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) had been completed, and the Australian government had offered Britain 20,000 troops and vessels of the Royal Australia Navy for service. By December 1914, more than 50,000 Australians had volunteered for overseas service to defend the Empire, including those Indigenous Australians who sidestepped military restrictions in order to serve. Australia sent more than 400,000 men and women overseas to serve in the First World War, including almost 900 Indigenous Australians. By the end of the conflict, the dead numbered almost 62,000, from a population of five million. Sixty-six Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross during the First World War, including seven who were born in Great Britain. The Gallipoli campaign, arguably Australia’s most famous involvement in the First World War, was fought alongside a large imperial contingent. Australians served alongside men from New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, Newfoundland, the Indian sub-continent, and France throughout the eight-month campaign. Although the Gallipoli campaign was unsuccessful for the Allies, it established the military reputation of Australian soldiers and has since become a central element of Australia’s memory of the First World War. Australian troops continued to serve closely with the British and other imperial troops after the Gallipoli campaign. In 1916, many AIF divisions were transferred to the Western Front where they participated in the brutal fighting on the Somme and in Flanders, eventually advancing with the British and other imperial divisions to break the Hindenburg Line in 1918. In the Middle East, men of the Australian Light Horse fought across Egypt, Palestine, and the Jordan Valley. Australians were central to the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade, which also included the Hong Kong and Singapore Mounted Battery, New Zealanders, and British soldiers. Men of the Royal Australian Navy served alongside other British imperial ships in all theatres, while the Australian Flying Corps served as part of the British Royal Flying Corps in the Middle East and on the Western Front. Many Australian troops and nurses spent their leave periods in England, visiting family and friends and taking in the sights of major cities and the countryside. Several developed strong relationships while in Britain, and many married prior to returning to Australia after the end of the war in 1918. First World War Images in the slideshow (links below) https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1001470 A group of eight unidentified Australian artillerymen and two Indian drivers on the beach at Anzac Cove, August 1915. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C26482 King George V watching an Australian army soldier assembling a Vickers gun while blindfolded in a training camp in England. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C57935?image=1 Members of the Royal Australian Navy aboard a lifeboat from HMAS Sydney, on their way to the wreck of the German raider SMS Emden, November 1914. Second World War Australia was still a Dominion of the British Empire when Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, and, as such, was also at war. Almost one million Australian men and women served in the Second World, including over 2,000 Indigenous Australians. Australians fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean, and North Africa, and against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. In all theatres, they were joined by other members of the British Empire, including from the Indian sub-continent, Africa, and the Caribbean. By the end of the war, almost 40,000 Australians had lost their lives from a population of just over seven million. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, Japan turned its attention to the south Pacific, including the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore. Thousands of Australian soldiers, along with members of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) were sent to defend against the Japanese offensive. Imperial defence planners had regarded Singapore as an “impregnable fortress”, but by late 1941 the resources required to defend the peninsula had been allocated elsewhere. From the initial attack on 8 December 1941, the Japanese advanced rapidly through Malaya, overwhelming Commonwealth troops. Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942. Some 1,800 Australian soldiers had died in the fighting. Nearly 85,000 British, Indian, and Commonwealth troops, including 15,000 Australians, were captured and became prisoners of war. In a seven-week period, 22,000 Australians, including 71 nurses, became prisoners of war. Over the next three and a half years, thousands of prisoners died in captivity, including on the Thai-Burma Railway and during the Sandakan Death Marches. Australians continued to fight alongside British and Commonwealth forces throughout the Pacific, including in the Burma Campaign. Most Australian airmen who served in Europe during the Second World War trained in Australia and Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), with a small number training in the African colony of Rhodesia. As part of EATS, Australians trained alongside airmen from across the British Empire, and – particularly in Canada – developed strong relationships with locals. Arriving in England in large numbers from 1941, EATS saw almost 16,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers join RAF squadrons; another 11,541 joined RAAF squadrons based in Britain. It is estimated that around 10,000 Australians joined Britain’s RAF Bomber Command in the air offensive against Germany. Of the 125,000 Bomber Command aircrew who served in the Second World War, some 55,500 died in the offensive. This included around one in three Australian aircrew – a total of 3,500 (4,050 including ground crew). This accounted for nearly 20 per cent of all Australian combat deaths during the war. Australians have continued to serve in war and peacekeeping operations alongside British troops and other members of the Commonwealth since the Second World War, including in south-east Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Written by Rachel Caines, Historian, Australian War Memorial. Second World War Images in the slideshow above (links below). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1023433 Group portrait of the seven man aircrew of Lancaster bomber AR F2, 460 Squadron, RAAF. The crew contained men from both Australia and Britain. Taken at their base in Binbrook, Lincolnshire, January 1945. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C201831 NX141132 Pte R. Nunan and Dial Singh (17th Indian Field Company, Punjab Regiment) have a quiet game of draughts at 9 Australian Prisoner of War Reception Camp following their time as prisoners of the Japanese. Morotai, Borneo (1945). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C273600 A photograph showing a soldier from each of five different allied armies fighting together against the Germans and Italians at Tobruk in Libya. From the left they are Polish, British, Indian, Australian and Czech. October 1941. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C292720 Portrait of a WAAAF Corporal standing in front of a recruiting poster on display in the city area of Melbourne, Victoria. Further Reading
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AuthorMany thanks to Australian Defence Staff at the Australian High Commission, London, Dr Karl James, Rachel Cains and team, for providing the historical content and images attached. ArchivesCategories |
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