Australians at War 1901-2000
1941–1942
3 January 1941
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- A telegraphist of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS). Over 67,000 women enlisted in Australia’s armed services in World War II. [AWM negative 009233]
3-5 January 1941
Australian troops captured Bardia, Libya, from the Italians.
1941
Formation of three women's services – Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS), Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS), and the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF).
10 April 1941
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- In action with a Bren gun at the front line, siege of Tobruk, August 1941. [AWM negative 009510]
10 April – 7 December 1941
Siege of Tobruk, Libya.
April – May 1941
Australians took part in the Greece and Crete campaigns.
13 April 1941
Corporal J H Edmondson, 2/17th Battalion, 2nd AIF, awarded posthumously the first Australian Victoria Cross of World War II at Tobruk, Libya.
8 June 1941
8 June – 12 July 1941
Australians defeated Vichy French forces in Syria and Lebanon.
19 November 1941
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- HMAS Sydney sunk with all hands off Western Australia on 19 November 1941. [AWM negative 007888]
HMAS Sydney sunk off Western Australia after engagement with the German raider, Kormoran.
7 December 1941
7–8 December 1941
Japan attacked the American Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, and invaded Malaya and Thailand, beginning the Pacific war.
15 February 1942
The British and Australian forces surrendered at Singapore. More than 15,000 Australian soldiers became prisoners of war.
16 February 1942
On Banka Island, in the Straits of Sumatra, 22 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service, and other survivors from the SS Vyner Brooke were massacred by the Japanese. The only survivor from this party of Australian nurses was Sister Vivian Bullwinkel.
19 February 1942
First Japanese air raid on Darwin. The city was bombed 64 times between February 1942 and November 1943. This marked the beginning of a series of actions and battles, culminating in 1943 in the defeat of the Japanese in Papua, which are now collectively known as 'The Battle of Australia'.