17 NOV 1943: Today in the Pacific Campaign, Australia’s 9th Division begins its attack on Sattelberg (also spelt Satelberg, translation ‘Saddle Mountain’), a village on the Huon Peninsula, in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea). The Battle of Sattelberg took place between 17 and 25 November 1943, during the Huon Peninsula campaign of the Second World […]
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AWAS to Deploy
15 NOV 1944: World War II and Australian government approves sending Australian Women’s Army Service members overseas. Australian Women’s Army Service went to Lae, New Guinea, and served in the forward area for the first time. Members of the Australian Army Nursing Service and the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service were already serving in New Guinea. […]
Battle of Ypres Ends
14 NOV 1917: World War I and today sees the end of the third battle of Ypres, on the Western Front. Australian troops had been involved in the third battle of Ypres for three and a half months and suffered heavy losses at such places as Menin Road, Glencorse Wood, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde Ridge and […]
WO2 Kevin ‘Dasher’ Wheatley, VC
13 NOV 1965: Viet Nam and WO2 Kevin ‘Dasher’ Wheatley, Australian Army Training Team Vietnam, is awarded the first Victoria Cross of the Vietnam War posthumously in the Tra Bong Valley, Quang Ngai province; Warrant Officer Class 2 Wheatley was awarded a Victoria Cross posthumously for remaining with a mortally wounded comrade while his position was […]
Last Raid on Darwin
12 NOV 1943: World War II and today sees the last Japanese air raid on Darwin. This, the 64th raid since February 1942, was the last air raid made on Australia during the war. On 19 February 1942, 188 planes were launched against Darwin whose harbour was full of ships. Eight ships were sunk, two […]
Battle of the Strait of Otranto
12 NOV 1940: World War II and HMAS Sydney [II] is in action at the Strait of Otranto in a diversion for the British attack on Taranto. The Australian cruiser became the most celebrated ship in the RAN after its performance in the Mediterranean against the Italian navy in 1940. The battle occurred when an […]
The Armistice of Compiègne
11 NOV 1918: World War I and Germany signs an armistice also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed – and the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. The First World War ended at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. […]
Nashos for the Confrontation
10 NOV 1964: Selective conscription was introduced for the Indonesian Confrontation. The Australian government introduces selective conscription of 20-year-old males by ballot under the National Service Act. A couple of years later and The National Service Scheme also saw the beginning of a series of deployments where 15,381 ‘nasho’ volunteers served in Viet Nam. Many say […]
Japanese forced from Oivi
10 NOV 1942: World war II and the Japanese forced back from Oivi and Gorari by Australian troops. Japanese troops doggedly contested the Australian pursuit down the northern face of the Owen Stanley Range. Several hours drive to the west along the Popondetta-Kokoda road is the battlefield of Oivi-Gorari. This, the largest battle of the […]
Battle of Cocos
9 NOV 1914: World War I and HMAS Sydney [I] destroys SMS Emden at the Battle of Cocos, a single-ship action that occurred after the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney (under the command of John Glossop) responded to an attack on a communications station at Direction Island by the German light cruiser SMS Emden (commanded […]
