Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
Australia joined Britain in fighting NAZI Germany after the German invasion of Poland (1939). As in World War I, the draft became a potent political issue. War with Italy followed after Mussolini declared war and invaded an already defeated France (June 1940). Australia's small army was deployed to Egypt and played a major role in the defense of the Suze Canal against Rommel's Afrika Korps. Other Australia units were deployed to the British bastion at Singapore. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Singapore quickly fell. Perhaps the greatest disaster to British arms in the War. The British and Australians taken in Singapore were bryrally treated by the Japanese. The fall of Singapore meant that Australia itself was largely defenseless, Its army was either in North Africa or captured along with the Singapore garrison. After seizing the Dutch East Indies and much of New Guinea. The Japanese bombing Darwin and other cities in northern Australia. The Japanese next targeted Port Moresby to complete their conquest of New Guinea in preparation for an eventual invasion of Australia. The country was vulnerable because the Australian Army was largely in North Africa fighting the Afrika Korps. The Australians had also been weakened by the surrender in Singapore. At the time the only meaningful force between Australia abd the Japanese were two American carriers Yorktown and Lexington. These carrers alerted by American code breakers and intercepted the Japanese in the Coral Sea (April 1942). Although Lexington was sunk and Yorktown badly damaged, the Japanese invasion force turned back. This gave the Australians time to train a new army and for American troops and supplies to arrive in Australia to build a creditable force. The Australians then turned back a Japanese effort to seize Port Moresby in an overland attack and played an important role in the reconquest of New Guinea.
World War I was the most costly war ever fought by Australia. Australia's population in 1914 was less than 5.0 million people, less than Belgium. Conscription proved to be highly controversial. Australians reacted to the outbreak of the War in Europe with a wave of enthusiam to support Britain. Over 0.4 million men enlisted. The Army set very demanding physical standards. The first Australian troops were deployed to Egypr to protect the Suez Cannal which was threaened after the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers. The Australians were rushed Egypt with little military training. They were trained after arriving in Egypt. The Australians were used along with New Zealand, British, and French troops in the costly Gallipoli campaign (1915). After Gallipoli the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was reorganised. Reinforcements arrive from Australia expanded the force from from two to five infantry divisions. The AIF was shifted to France, beginning in March 1916. There they participated in the bloody engagements on the Wstern Front. Caulties totaled 60,000 killed, four times that of Belgium where much of the War was fought. Another 156,000 men were wounded or captured.
There had been great enthusiasm for coming to Britain's assistance when war broke out in Europe. Most Australians still saw Britain as the mother country. The fact that Britain declared war for Australia did not come into political focus until the conscription debate and even more so after the War. Australians as people in other countries began to see the War as a huge mistake. This provided great support for the Labour Party. Many Australians began to question Australia's constitutional status and ties with Britain,
Australia joined Britain in fighting NAZI Germany after the German invasion of Poland (1939). The Australian experience in Workld War I had created considerable pacifist sentiment in Australia, but news of Hitler and the NAZIs had also alerted Australians to the nature of the NAZI regime. Thus when Britain declared war on Germany, the Australian Government followed Britain. Prime Minister Menzies announced that ‘Australia was also at war’. At the time the Australian focus was on Europe. Most Australians still felt that Britain was the mother country. Must less attention was focused on Japan.
Australia had a very small military force. Britain as the the war progressed in Europe found itself in mortal danger. Australia had to decide whether to commit its small force to assist Britain or to keep it in the Pacific area because of the threat from Japan. British military planners assured the Australian Government that the bastion of Singapore would prevent the Japanese from expanding south. Of coursr the Americans in the Philippines was another barrier to Japan. Australian security was improved when the United States moved its Pacific Fleet headquaters west to Pearl Harbor. As a result, much of Australia's small army was deployed to Singapore and to North Africa to assist the British. What the Australian Government like the Americans and British did not fully appreciate was the full extent of Japanese naval power--especially their huge carrier force.
The Royal Australian Navy was put under the operatonal control of the British.
Most Australians had rallied to aid Britain during World War I. There was wide spread support for forming a voluntary army to fight in Europe. Conscription was, however, highly controversial. Australian law permitted conscription, but not outside of Australia. There were bitter debates in Parliament as well as street demonstrations. Australian voters in a national vote rejected compulsory military service twice (1916 and 1917). World War II was a very different conflict. The Australian Army was deployed in the Western Dessert when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and moved south toward Australia. For a time only a few American carriers stood between Australia and the Japanese. With the Japanese threat Australia confronted the issue of conscription again. This time the Japanese were moving toward Australia itself and actually invaded New Guinea, an Australian protectorate. Australian sconscriptts were used there and played a key role in preventing the Japanese from seizing Port Moresby, from where they would have threatened northern Australia. The Cabinet proposed major changes in the conscription law. The Defence (Citizen Military Forces) Act 1943 included provisions allowing the use of in the South West Pacific Area during the War. A provision of the Act provided for the rescinding of this authority 6 months after the end of the War. As the fighting moved away from Australia in 1943, the issue arose of using conscripts in the new theaters further north. As American conscripts were fighting in these areas, still much closer to Australia than America, limitations on conscription seemed to represent a lack of commitment on Australi's part. The Government had the votes in Parliament, but the issue had been so contentious during World War I, Prime Minister Curtin from the Labour Party was reluctant to act. Curtin had been a vocal opponet of conscription in World war I. Instead he staged a debate within the Labour Party. Opposition proved so limited that the Government proiceeded to amend the conscrioption law. The area was expanded, but there was still significant limitations. There proved to be no substantial objection to conscription during the War--in sharp contrast to World War I.
The Royal Navy was stressed by the German u-bpoat attacks in the North Atlantic. Italy's declaration of war, however, significantly changed the strategic naval balance. The defeat of France had removed the French fleet from the Allied order of battle. It also meant that the British now faced the powrful Italian fleet in the Mediterranean. This meant that there was no realistic prospect for the British to deploy meaningful forces in the Pacific in case of war with the Japanese.
War with Italy followed after Mussolini declared war and invaded an already defeated France (June 1940). Australia's small army was deployed to Egypt and played a major role in the defense of the Suze Canal against Rommel's Afrika Korps.
Japan in 1941 had the largest, most advanced caarier force in the world. The commander of the Imperial Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, was a proponent of naval aviation. The Imperial Navy had 13 carriers. It was not just that the Japanese had more carriers, but they had higher performance aircraft and more experienced pilots. The carriers had Mitsubishi Zero fighters which out performed any fighters available to either the U.S. Navy or the U.S. army Air Corps had. Japanese carrier pilots went through a rigorous training program. Many had combat experience from operations over China. The Japanese pilots were the most skilled naval aviators in the world. The U.S. Navy Pacific fleet had two carriers, Lexington and Yorktown. Rising tensions in the Pacific caused the Navy to shift Enterprise to the Pacific to join them. The significance of this disparity in forces was not fully appreciated in 1941 because most naval planners still considered the battleship to be the capital ship. Also most Americans did not consider the Japanese to be capable of building hogh quality ships or planes or the Japanese to be effective fighters.
The Japanese decided on a "southern advance" policy with the understanding that this could lead to war with the United States. Japan had earlier acted to safeguard its northern territories by signing a neutrality pact with the Soviets (April 13, 1941). The NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22) provided further assurance that there would be no danger of interference from the Soviets if Japan moved south.
The United States by 1941 was the only country with the naval power needed to oppose Japan and protect Australia. The Japanese carrier strike on the American Pacific fleet at Pear Harnor was devestating. All eight American battleships were sunk. Large numbers of aircraft were destroyed. The battleships were put out of action, but only two were destroyed. Even more importantly, the American aircraft carriers were not at Pearl. Largely unnoticed by the Japanese was that the American Pacific fleet was disabled but not destroyed. The Pacific Fleet would be unable to effectively oppose the Japanese offensive which took the Philippines, Dutch West Indies, Singapore, and much of New Guina. It would, however, succeed in stopping the Japanese drive on Australia.
The imobilization of the U.S. Ps\acific Fleet after Pear Harbor permotted a massive Japanese offensive in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. The Japanese invaded British Borneo (December 16). The Japanese invaded Hong Kong (December 18). The Japanese launched invasion of Luzon in the Philippines (December 22). After an initiak repulse, the Japanese took Wake Island (December 22). The British surrendered Hong Kong (December 25). The Philipino Government declared Manila an open city (December 26), but the Japanese bomb it (December 27).
The Japanese take the American naval base at Cavite and enter Manila (January 2, 1942). The Japanese launched their offensive against the American and Filipino forces that had withdrawn to Bataan in the Philippines (January 7). The Japanese invades the Dutch East Indies and Dutch Borneo (January 11). The Japanese began an advance into Burma through Thailand from Indochina (January 16).
Japanese took North Borneo (January 19). Japanese began the Solomons campaign by taking Rabaul on New Britain (January 23). The Japanese were to turn Rabaul into the most powerful military base in the South Pacific. The Japanese also invaded Bougainville, the largest island in the Solomons. The Japanese invaded Java in the Dutch East Indies (February 2). The Japanese invaded Sumatra in the DEI (February 14). The Japanese invaded Bali (February 19).
Surving Allied naval units attemp to slow down the Japanese in the DEI.
The Japanese emerged victorious in the Battle of the Java Sea (February 27- March 1) The crusier Houston, the largest American warship (except the cartiers) still aflot in the Pacific, was sunk. The British are forced to evacuate Rangoon (March 7). Rangoon was the principal port in Burma. Without Rangoon, the British position in Burma was untenable. It also effectively cut the Burma Road, cuting off China from American war materials. The Japanese landed at Salamaua and Lae on New Guinea (March 7). The Dutch on Java are forced to surrender (March 8). The Japanese invaded the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal (March 23). The Japanese move into central Burma (April 29). They occupy Mandalay May 1). They then proceeded to drive the British out of Burma, reaching India (May 20). Here the Japanese were stopped, in part by Britiah and Indian forces and in part by the difficulty of transporting supplies. As a result the Japanese decide to construct the Thailand-Burma railroad using POWs and local conscripts as a labor force. The Japanese move south into the Solomons, taking Tulagi (May 3). This was at the southern end of the Solomons next to Guadacanal. The Japanese had successfully carved out a huge empire in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. They now had the territory with the raw materials they so craved including oil. It is at this point that the Battle of the Coral Sea (April 1942) first slows the Japanese advance and the defeat at Midway (June 1942) disaterously weakens the Imperial Fleet on which this offensive was based. Even so the offensive had brought Japanese forces perious close to Australia as they commanded the DEI, most of New Guinea and the Solomons.
Australia units were deployed to man the key British bastion at Singapore. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also moved on Singapore which was central to the British and Australian stategic position in the Pacific. The Singaporre defense plan involved the use of heavy guns were sited for a sea attack. The Japanese, however, attacked by moving down the suposedly inpassable Malayan Peninsula to Singapore. British forces proved inept and unprepared for the jungle fighting in the Malay Peninsula. The British withdrew into Singapore (January 30). The Japanese with command of the sea began the siege of Singapore. Japanese attacked the Singapore (February 8/9). Singapore quickly fell. General Percival surrendered at Singapore (February 15). Singapore fell with relatively little ressistance. It was perhaps the greatest disaster to British arms in the War. Australians were shocked. It in effect meant that Australia was on the fromtbline of the War. Australia had fought World war I far removedcfrom the front lines. World War II was very different.
Thousands of Allied troops, including over 15,000 Australians, were taken prisoner after the fall of Singapore. The British and Australians taken at Singapore were brutally treated by the Japanese.
The Webb Report was a Commonwealth effort to collect information on Japanese attrocities.
Next tgo Singapore, the other bulwark to Japanese expansion was the Philippines, at the time an American Cimmonwealth. The Japanese attack on the Philippines began with the destruction of Americans planes clustered together at Clark Field. With the Japanese commanding the sea and the air forceds largely destroyed, the Philippines was cut off and incapable of preventing a Japanese invasion. General MacArthur decided to withdraw his outnumbered forces to Bataan. The problem was that there had been no planning for this. The defense plan had involved an air force and the Pacific Fleet. Now both were gone. MacArthur was able tgo withdraw to Baatan. He was unable, however, to get adequate supplies there. The American and Filipino forces managed to hold out on Bataan against the larger and well supplied Japanese forces for 3 months.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered General MacArthur out of the Philippines (February 22). He was spirited off Corregidor by PT boats (March 11). He was ordered to Australia to oversee Allied operations, inituially the defense of the Australia. General Jonathan Wainwright replaces MacArthur as the U.S. commander.The Japanese launched a massive offensive (April 3). The American forces on Bataan runing out of food and amunition finally had to surender (April 9). The Japanese forced the starving, sick prisonors on a forced march that became known as the Bataan Death March (April 10). Over 76,000 POWs were forced to march in hot, tropical conditions without adequate food or water over 60 miles. Over 5,000 American died. The Japanese take Corregidor (May 6).
General Wainwright after the Japanese threaten to masacre the Corregidor garrison including the Army nurses unconditionally surrenders all U.S. And Filipino forces in the Philippines (May 6).
Most accounts of World War II find that the Pacific War was fouught more savagely than the European War, especially the fighting between the Germans and Western Allies. The differences can be exagerated. Tere were German attrcities in the West (Oradour-surGlane and Malmedy). Both the Germans and Allies carried out air raids on cvilian populations. There are, however, reasons to conclude that the fighting in the pacific Gheater reached a level of savergy not normally experienced in the Western Front of the European War. A range of explanations have been offered to explain the savagery of the conflict. Race certainly was a factor. The overwealmin factor, however, appears to be the Japanese martial code (Bushido) and the assumtion as in the case of the NAZIs that the War was won and Japan would never have to answer for the attrocities committed. In fct Japan has a nation has never come to terms with the attricities committed by the Imperial army in its name.
The fall of Singapore meant that Australia itself was largely defenseless, Its army was either in North Africa or captured along with the Singapore garrison. After seizing the Dutch East Indies and much of New Guinea.
The Japanese began to target Australia. The Japanese launched the largest air raid since Pearl Harbor. They targeted the norther Australian city of Darwin (February 19).
The Australian Army was used by the British in the Desert Campaign (1940-42) and played a key role in the War. Deploying the Army to North Africa, however, left Australia largely undefended when the Japanese declared war. Before the War, Australians had looked on Britain and the Royal Navy as their primary defense. After Pearl Harbor, however, the Royal Navy proved incapable of resisting the Japanese. The Japanese seizure of the British bastion at Singapore left Australia exposed to the Japanese. Australia in large measure was defended by the Americans, most notably in the Battle of the Coral sea. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy prevented American from resupplying and reiforcing MacArthur in the Philipines. American men and material did flow into Austrlia. Australian politicans decided that in the future the country had to have greater control over declaring war and deploting its military forces. Parliament adopted the Statute of Westminster, giving it complete authority over its own affairs. The Australian Government backdated it to 1939 to pass their own Declaration of War.
MacArthur arrived in Australia expecting to find a force to launch an offensive against the Japanese. He finds that American troops and equipment have not yet arrived in force. He announced to the public about the Philippines, "I shall return." Typical for MacArthur, it was "I' not "we".
President Roosevelt appointed MacArthur appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater (March 18). While MacArthur brought no military forces with him, his appointment and assignment was critical for Australia. It meant that Australia would not face the Japanese alone, but would be supported by United States of America. The first U.S. troops arrived in Australia (April 6). They were followed by a steady stream of troop and cargo vessels. Until this time Australia had always looked at Britain. The first forces to make that commitment meaningful were two carriers of the American Pacific fleet.
The Japanese next targeted Port Moresby to complete their conquest of New Guinea in preparation for an eventual invasion of Australia. The country was vulnerable because the Australian Army was largely in North Africa fighting the Afrika Korps. The Australians had also been weakened by the surrender in Singapore. At the time the only meaningful force between Australia abd the Japanese were two American carriers Yorktown and Lexington. These carrers alerted by American code breakers and intercepted the Japanese in the Coral Sea (May 7-8, 1942) Although Lexington was sunk and Yorktown badly damaged, the Japanese invasion force turned back. The Japanese only lost a small carrier, but the damage was much more severe. One of their front-line carries was badly damaged and the air crew of a second was mauled. This meant that two of Japan's major carriers were not available for the Midway Operation or to interdict the American men and supplies streaming into Australia in quantities that the Japanese never perceived.
Admiral Yamamoto was convinced that the remaining American carriers could be brought to battle and destroyed at Midway. The Japanese plans were based on achieving an element of curprise and on the fact that two American carriers had been destoyed in the Coral Sea, in fact the Yorktown, although heavily damaged had not been sunk. American code breakers had alerted the Ameicans to the Jaspanese plans. Admiral Nimitz positioned Enterprise and Hornet, along with the hastily patched up Yorktown northwest of Midway to ambush he Japanese. The American carrier victory at Midway dealt a crippling blow to the Imperial Navy. The Americans sank four first-line Japnese carriers, killing most of the well-trained crews. While the Imperial Navy still held an advantage, it was no longer an overwealming one. Meanwhile American shipyards were turning out the new Essex clss carriers that would engage the weakened Imperial Navy in 1943.
The Japanese war plan envisioned a quick victory after which the Allies would sue for peace. Most realized that Japan could never win a war of attritiion. They assumed in 1941 that Britain would have difficulty surviving let along be able to project its power into the Pacific again. They also calculated that America would not have the stomache for the daunting and costly operations needed to retake the islands being fortified. Here the Japanese grossly miscalculated. Before Pearl Harbor, America was a divided nation with string isolationist and pacifist sentgiment. After Pearl Harbor America was a united nation, determined to use its industrial strength to wage war. The Allied war plan involved giving priority to the European theater. Even so America rapidly shifted its economy into a war mode and vast quantities of supplies streamed out of American ports to Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, and India. The naval battles at Coral Sea and Midway, the Australians time to train a new army and for American troops and supplies to arrive.
Japanese operations in New Guiea were the last offensive operations in the Pacific War. After being twarted in their amphibious operation to take Port Moresby, the Japanese expanded operations along the northern coast. They seized (July 21, 1942). They then launched an incredible land attack on Port Moresby involving moving across the Own Stanley mountains. The Australians turned them back only a few miles short of Port Moresby. The Australians then launched thedir own overland attack. Australians forces supported American forces which after Guadacanal landed along the northern coast took New Guinea back frfom the Japanese.
Virtually no Americans and few Australians had ever heard of the Solomon Islands, let alone Guadacanal. The Solomons were British territory administered from Australia. The Japanese seized the Solomons (January-May 1942). Rabaul in the north was turned into a major base from which to support the conquest of New Guinea and then Australia. The Japanese after Midway had to reassess their stategy. The loss of four carriers meant that they were no longer the overwealingly dominant naval force. They knew that American forces were flowing into Australia by sea. They decided to build an air strip on the southern-most island in the Solomons--Guadacanal. Interestingly the Japanese never deployed their poweful submarine fleet to interdict the American convoys in a meaningful way. When American reconisance aircraft spotted the airstrip being constructed, the Americam marines training on New Zealand were ordered to launch the first Allied offensive of World War II. The American 1st Marine Division land at Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the southern Solomons (August 7). The Marines take the unfinished Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal and rename it Henderson Field after Maj. Lofton Henderson, a pilot killed at Midway (August 8). The American invasion surprised the Japanese. But air attacks from Rabaul destroyed or drove off the supply ships leaving the Marines without much of their supplies and equipment. The Japanese Navy moved down the slot and destroyed the Allied naval force covering the landings in a savage night action--the battle of Salvo Island. The Japanese were highly skilled in night fighting and the Allies were not yet exploiting their advantage with radar to best effect. Eight Japanese ships manage to sink three U.S. heavy cruisers, an Australian cruiser, and one U.S. destroyer. This all occured in one disastrous hour. In addition another U.S. cruiser and two destroyers were damaged (August 8-9). This serious impaired the Navy's ability to support the Marines on Guadacanal. The Japanese did not have a substantial garison in Guadacanal and the Marines had destroyed the force on Tulagi. The Japanese quickly landed ground forces and attack the Marines who had dug in to defend the airfield (August 21). The Japanese landed substantial forces on Guadacanal, but they were committed peace-meal. The terraine also made it difficult for the Japanese to move artillery and other heavy guns forward. The Japanse were also unable to adequately supply the forces landed. As a result the Marines were terribly mauled, but were able to hang on. The Japanese had superior naval forces in the Solomons, especially after the Battle of Salvo Island. The U.S. And Japanese carriers fought the Battle of the Eastern Solomons (August 24). This discouraged the Japanese from fully commiting their naval forces for the effort to retake Guadacanal.
The Australian Government conscripted both men and women into industries essential to the war effort. Women enlisted to serve as nurses in the military services. Women enlisted in the Air Force, Army and Navy to serve in support roles, primarily in Australia. The Government conscripted engineers and labourers into the Civil Construction Corps. They performed a wide range of duties such as building landing strips, and roads. This was especially important early in the war to connect Darwin which had come under Japanese attack gto the rest of Australia. Before the War sea transport had been more important. Many women found work in the war industries, entering the job market for the first time. The Government following the British example formed the Women’s Land Army, filling in for men who joined the services to maintain agricultural production.
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