Australian Military History

Coming from a long line of Indigenous servicemen, going all the way back to the Boer War, Reg Saunders joined the Second AIF in 1940. He would see action in Greece, avoid capture for eleven months on the island of Crete, and fight his way through the Salamaua Campaign. Along the way, he would be come the first aboriginal soldier to received a battlefield commission. When the Korean War broke out,...

After weeks of heavy fighting, only Gona had been successfully wrenched from the Japanese forces. The Australian 21st and 25th Brigades were worn out, and in front of Buna, the Americans were going nowhere. General Blamey had one more Brigade left to throw into the fight, the 18th Brigade. But their battalions were scattered between Milne Bay and the surrounding islands. Eventually they would be b...

With Allied forces checked at Buna and on the Sanananda Track, the campaign hinged on the Australian attack to seize the westernmost village on the Japanese beachhead, Gona. The 25th Brigade, already exhausted from the fighting across the Owen Stanley Ranges, was tasked to seize Gona, but the attack would soon wear down the 25th as well as the 21st Brigade which was sent in to relieve them. It wou...

By late 1942, the Allies had pushed the Japanese forces back along the Kokoda Track and were now down on the coastal plains of northern New Guinea. The Japanese may have been retreating, but they intended to hold the vital beachheads from Gona down through Sanananda to Buna. The fight to take the beachheads would be bloody and brutal, but first the Australians and their American comrades had to ge...

As Delta Company, 6RAR move into the rubber plantation near Long Tan, 11 Platoon surprises a Vietnamese patrol and the first shots of the Battle are fired. With orders to chase the fleeing enemy, 11 Platoon unknowingly heads directly towards the North Vietnamese HQ. The next three hours would become an example of the best, and some of the worst, of the Australian military and their New Zealand com...

With the newly established 1st Australian Task Force settled in to Nui Dat, work started on neutralising the Viet Cong activity in the area. The Viet Cong had other ideas. They wanted to draw out the Australians and engulf them with overwhelming numbers. Despite the mounting evidence, Brigadier Jackson didn't believe the North Vietnamese Army had arrived in Phuoc Tuy Province, even after a mortar...

G'day everyone. Follow this here link to tune into the story of our most humiliating military defeat. https://anchor.fm/hsmh/episodes/Episode-03-The-Great-Emu-War-e1m08lk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the backs of the victories of Menin Road and Polygon Wood, the 1st Anzac Corps pushed on towards the dominating feature of Broodseinde Ridge. This time though, they would have the men of the 2nd Anzac Corps fighting alongside them. The Battle would see the Allied troops looking down upon green pastures for the first time in three years, bringing hope that the war may soon be over. Hosted on Aca...

Following on from the success of the Battle of Menin Road, the 4th and 5th Australian Divisions took over from the 1st and 2nd Divisions to launch the attack at Polygon Wood. But the day before the battle is to commence, a strong German counter attack seized the ground which elements of the 15th Brigade were to attack from. It was a precarious situation which needed to be rectified immediately or...

In 1917, General Haig began what would become known as the Third Battle of Ypres, with the intention of capturing the village of Passchendaele. But getting to the village would require a series of bite-and-hold battles. In September, the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions, along with British and South African Divisions, launched the third in the series of assaults, at Menin Road. For the first time...

During the 1st Battle of El Alamein the 9th Australian Division was tasked with the capture of Ruin Ridge. Despite heavy fighting during the opening stages they achieved some of their objectives, but their successes obliged General Rommel to divert large numbers of troops to contain the Australian advance. The fighting then became desperate, leading to heavy casualties and the near decimation of o...

With control of the towns of Lae and Salamaua the troops of the Imperial Japanese Army were able to maintain control of shipping in and around the north coast of New Guinea and the island of New Britain. From here they had the potential to launch another attempt to capture Port Moresby. For the Allies, having pushed the Japanese back across the Owen Stanley Ranges and out of Buna, Gona and Sananan...

To all our veterans, young and old, thank you for your service and have a good day tomorrow. Lest We Forget Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia's 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) joined the UN Forces in Korea as they pushed north into North Korea. Their first battle in the was was the highly successful Battle of the Apple Orchard. Leading the UN Forces north, along with the Argyll and Sutherland Regiment and Middlesex Regiment of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade, they pushed the North Koreans back almost to the Manch...

As the Allied armies fought across North Africa, first against the Italians and then the Vichy French and Rommel's Afrika Korps, one squadron of the RAAF was there from the beginning. No. 3 Squadron was the first RAAF squadron to leave Australia and played an important part in many of the important battles from 1940 to 1943 across North Africa, Tunisia and Sicily. This episode is sponsored by Hist...

Having been forced to abandon the position at Isurava, Maroubra Force conducted at textbook fighting withdrawal to Efogi. The subsequent Battle of Mission Ridge nearly bought Maroubra Force to disaster and the fighting moved south to Ioribaiwa. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While researching for an upcoming episode, I came across a couple of incidents involving No. 3 Squadron in World War 1. I thought they were interesting so I'm sharing them in this bonus episode. Enjoy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the Japanese army captured the village of Kokoda, the 39th Militia Battalion fell back to the next defensive position at Isurava. Exhausted, battered and bruised, the 39th dug in and waited. As the Japanese headed south, the 2/14th and 2/16th Battalions of the AIF were making their way north to relieve the 39th. The defence of New Guinea would be determined by which force arrived first. Host...

It's been a long time coming, but in this episode we look at the role Australian nurses played during World War 2, Korea, Malaya and Vietnam. With the changing methods of waging war, the challenges facing nurses required innovation, adaptability and courage. Wherever and whenever they were needed to treat sick and wounded troops, they went and enhanced the reputation their predecessors had establi...

With a career spanning two world wars, few Australians have played such an important role in the history of Australia at arms. Landing at Gallipoli on 25th April 1915, he proved himself to be a courageous and competent soldier. In 1918 he served as Chief of Staff to General John Monash helping to plan the pivotal battles of Hamel and Amiens. Throughout World War II he was Australia's top ranked so...

In this bonus episode we tell the story of Private Bruce Kingsbury, the first Australian to receive a Victoria Cross for actions in New Guinea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After playing a large role in halting the German Spring Offensive outside of Villers Bretonneux in April 1918, Australian troops saw an opportunity to hit back and recapture large sections of the German front line. But rather than launch a full scale battle, the unofficial operation 'Peaceful Penetration' managed to push the German line back an average of three miles with very little fighting. Hos...

In this third and final episode on the Royal Australian Navy in the Great War, we follow HMAS Pioneer on her patrol off German East Africa. Then we turn to the main theatre of the war, the North Sea. The HMAS Australia , HMAS Sydney and HMAS Melbourne joined in the blockade of Germany and for some members of Australia's crew, the opportunity to take part in a raid which would set the formula for C...

With the first AIF convoy safely arrived in Egypt, the escorting ships were free to be deployed elsewhere. But while the ANZAC troops were landing at Gallipoli, the submarine AE2 was pushing forward through the Turkish minefields embarking on five days of 'running amok' throughout the Dardanelles. Later in the Campaign, the 1st Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train forged their own part of the Gall...

In 1900 the Naval defence of Australia was in the hands of the British Admiralty. The need for an Australian Navy, run by Australia for Australian purposes was keenly felt in the Antipodes. By 1914, the fledgling Royal Australian Navy was the first Australian unit to engage with German troops and by the end of 1914, they had claimed an important victory which would keep the Indian Ocean more or le...