December 2017

13 DEC 1915: World War I and the Australian Light Horse fights at Umm el Rakam. The Light Horse was deployed against the Senussi, in Egypt’s western desert. In response to the growing threat from a pro-Turkish Islamic Arab sect known as the Senussi, a composite British force — the “Western Frontier Force” — under […]

12 DEC 1917: Today, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia was damaged in a collision with the British battle cruiser HMS Repulse. On 22 April 1916 Australia collided with New Zealand in heavy fog and the damage kept her in dockyard hands until 9 June 1916. She thus missed the Battle of Jutland, her place as […]

11 DEC 1952: The Korean War and the 1st Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment begins Operation Fauna, its objective is to capture prisoners and destroy enemy defences. Operation Fauna was a major trench raid on Chinese positions near Hill 355 to snatch a prisoner. Although no prisoners were taken, Chinese dispositions near Hill 355 were […]

10 DEC 1941: World War II and HM Ships Repulse and Prince of Wales are sunk. The sinking of these powerful warships by Japanese torpedo bombers off Malaya came as a shock to those who had under-estimated Japan’s military ability and had relied on the imagined impregnable Singapore naval base. The sinkings heralded the significance […]

9 DEC 1942: World War II and Australians occupy Gona, New Guinea. The Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda Trail enabled the allies to plan the encirclement of important Japanese positions in the Buna, Sanananda and Gona beachhead. Gona was the first of the three to fall to the allies after weeks of heavy fighting. On […]

9 DEC 1917: World War I and Jerusalem is occupied by the Desert Mounted Corps. The capture of Jerusalem, a city significant for Christians, Jews and Muslems, was one of the triumphs for British empire forces in the Middle East in 1917. In the first Battle of Gaza, 26/27 March 1917, Sir Harry Chauvel was […]

8 DEC 1941: Australia is at war with Japan. Australia announces that it is at war with Japan. Some 17,000 Australians would die in the three-and-a-half-year war against Japan, 8,000 as prisoners of war. Just one hour after Japanese bombers struck at Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941, Prime Minister John Curtin of […]

8 DEC 1941: World War II and Japan invades Malaya and Thailand. This attack (which occurred virtually simultaneously with the attack on Pearl Harbor) would lead within three months to the loss of Malaya and Singapore. The Japanese invasion of Thailand also occurred on this day. It was fought between Thailand and the Empire of […]