The Events of 15 April 1941

Australia’s War 80 Years ago today Caloundra Family History Group 15 April 2021

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 1 Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 2 Australian Forces 15 April 1941

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 3 RAAF - UK • No. 10 Squadron RAAF was formed on 1 July 1939 at RAAF Base Point Cook. • Later that month aircrew and ground staff departed for Britain to be trained on the Short Sunderland aircraft which had been acquired to equip the squadron. • It was planned that the aircrew would fly these aircraft to Australia after completing their training. • When the war broke out the Australian government offered to leave the squadron in Britain. As a result, No. 10 Squadron was the first RAAF squadron to see active service in the Second World War, on 10 October 1939. • The squadron's major tasks were escorting convoys, conducting anti-submarine patrols, and air-sea rescue. No. 10 Squadron Sunderland sets out on patrol in • It sank its first U-boat on 1 July 1940. 1941. • At the beginning of 1941 the squadron was operating mainly from RAF Mount Batten at Plymouth with a detachment of 4 aircraft at Oban in Scotland. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 4 20/22 March 1941 - Plymouth • No. 10 squadron became temporarily inoperative after two heavy enemy air raids on the nights of 20th and 22nd March when the station breakwater was cut in two, squadron offices, operations room and No. 2 hangar damaged, and the electric power house put out of action for forty- eight hours.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 5 Late March 1941 - Atlantic • Three Sunderlands received damage from bomb and anti- aircraft shell fragments in the air raids on 20 and 22nd March and were unserviceable for some days. • So when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau reached Brest late in the month it was necessary to recall one of the The battleship Scharnhorst. She and her sister ship Sunderlands from Oban to perform Gneisenau had 9 eleven inch guns a max speed of 31 the routine blockading patrol. knots and a 14 inch thick armor belt. • The detachment had continued its work with convoys and in addition to another inconclusive attack on an enemy submarine on 5th March the Sunderlands frustrated several air attacks on convoys.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 6 Early April 1941 - Britain • The detachment returned from Oban, and, after a few normal Pembroke Dock convoy patrols early in April, they were transferred to Pembroke Dock where it was hoped that enemy raids would Mountbatten not interfere with operations as they had recently done at Mount Batten.

Brest

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 7 Empire Air Training Scheme • On 25th December 1940 the first Australians trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme landed in England. • This party of thirty five pilots had left Australia in July and had completed their flying training at the Royal Canadian Air Force's No. 2 Service Flying Training School at Uplands near Ottawa. These airman pilots at R.A.F. Station Uxbridge (near London), were part of the first Australian draft from • Australians arriving in England the Empire Air Training schools in Canada to reach were sent to Uxbridge, a peace- the United Kingdom. time R.A.F. station on the outskirts of London. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 8 Empire Air Training Scheme • Other trainees had similarly graduated from advanced schools in Australia. • At monthly intervals from April 1940 more and more men passed from initial training schools to elementary and then service flying training schools or to bombing and gunnery or navigation schools either in Australia or Canada. • These courses took an average of eight months from enlistment until individuals were ready for Australian trainees at Uplands with their Harvard attachment to the Royal Air Force. training aircraft. Left to right LAC’s W. J. Kennedy, R. A. Knappet, R. H. C. Sly, W. J. Metherall. • By March 1941 there were 1,163 Australian trainees in Canada—520 pilots, 210 observers and 433 wireless air gunners. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 9 Empire Air Training Scheme • At Uxbridge, after completing documents and receiving kit, including such necessary evils in war-time Britain as steel helmet, respirator and identity card, Australians were sent on short leave preparatory to posting to operational training units. • Incoming RAAF aircrew were posted RAAF pilots arrived, posted and on strength at No. 3 individually to RAF units in response Personnel Reception Centre, RAF Uxbridge. to the RAF’s immediate needs, chiefly to No. 56 Operational Training Unit for fighter pilots, and Nos. 11 (Bassingbourn) and 30 (Lossiemouth) for bomber pilots. • By the end of 1941 400 Australian aircrew a month, including 160 pilots, were arriving in Britain.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 10 Bomber Offensive - Germany. • Many Australians and New Zealanders were regular officers in the RAF and the stream of aircrew from the EATS scheme was just beginning. • With the end of the Battle of Britain and the decline of the German Blitz the main campaign of the RAF was the bomber offensive. The vast majority of Australians and New Zealanders in the RAF would be committed to this campaign. • Night attacks had now become the rule in the assault on Germany. • Bitter experience during the early months of the war had taught that daylight bombing brought unsustainable casualties. • Unescorted bombers had proved no match for the German day fighters and the Royal Air Force had no aircraft capable of escort duties over Germany and senior RAF officers believed it was not possible to build aircraft with both the range and capabilities required. • This resort to night operations had brought problems of navigation and identification, and recognition of the hopelessness of precision bombing at night led to the introduction of ‘area bombing’, in which the force was given as its objective for the night an industrial town or district rather than a specific target. • In early 1941 many crews failed to find even these area targets at night and in bad weather. • ‘I have the greatest difficulty,’ wrote Air Marshal Peirse, Commander of Bomber Command, “not only in forecasting the weather in the target area—or rather in trying to find a suitable target in the only area offered by the weather—but also in being assured of reasonable conditions at base airfields in England for homing purposes.’ • One night early in February 1941, 17 out of almost a hundred bombers despatched crashed on return to England when fog developed over airfields earlier than had been expected.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 11 RAN - Mediterranean • The flotilla leader HMAS Stuart and the four V and W Class destroyers HMA Ships Vampire, Vendetta, Voyager and Waterhen had been deployed to the British Mediterranean fleet on the outbreak of war. • They were joined by the light cruiser HMAS Perth at the end of HMAS Stuart 1940.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 12 Early 1941 - Mediterranean • Stuart and the destroyers, commanded by captain Waller, spent their time escorting convoys, from Alexandria up to the army supply ports at Tobruk and Benghazi, to Malta and to Greece. At the end of March they had participated in the fleet battle of Cape Matapan during which three major ships of the Italian Navy were sunk. They were almost constantly at sea. • On the night of 29/30 September 1940 Stuart sank the Italian submarine Gondar and rescued all but two of the submarine’s crew. • Perth had also been involved in escorting convoys to Malta and other fleet actions against the Italian fleet including the Battle of Cape Matapan. • During these operations the ships had been regularly subject to air attacks and were at action stations much of the time. In January Perth had been damaged by a near miss while in port at Captain Hector (Hec) Waller DSO Malta. RAN, smoking a pipe on the bridge of HMAS Stuart.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 13 28 February 1941 - Mediterranean • On the 28th February Admiral Cunningham issued operation orders for "Lustre", the movement of troops from Egypt to Greece. • The operation entailed the transport of 58,364 troops; 8,588 items of motor transport, guns and tanks; and stores and equipment in a series of convoys. • To carry troops through the Dodecanese danger zone as quickly as possible it was decided to transport a proportion of them in cruisers.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 14 17 March 1941 - Mediterranean • On the 17th March Perth together with Orion and Ajax left Alexandria with troops for Greece. • This time Perth carried a total of 554 officers and men, mostly New Zealanders.

HMAS Perth

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 15 29 March 1941 - Mediterranean • After the Battle of Cape Matapan Waller remarked on the excellent behaviour of Stuart's company, whose guns' crews were mainly composed of sixty Reserve ordinary seamen who had been in the ship only five weeks. The majority of them had never previously seen a gun fired at night. • "B" gun's crew included five ordinary seamen who had joined Stuart, their first ship, in Alexandria two days before the action. • They were, Waller said, rather anxious to know if this was a normal Mediterranean night. Lieutenant Commander Rhoades CO of Vendetta • The large number of crew who were confers with Captain Waller at sea in the newly joined was due to the transfer Mediterranean of experienced crew to Britain to commission four new N class destroyers, Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 16 7 February 1941

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 17 26 March 1941 - Libya

Derna

Tobruk El Adem

Mersa Matruh

Marsa El Brega

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 18 10 April 1941 - Tobruk • By the 10th April the 9th Division AIF with the 18th Brigade from the 7th Division and four British Artillery regiments (in place of the 9th Division’s own artillery) and a few British tanks were concentrated in Tobruk, where they were cut off by the German advance. • The Division was commanded by General Morshead (photo), Ming the Merciless to the troops. • The perimeter defences, some 28 miles in length and protected in great part by wire, anti-tank mines and ditches, had been constructed by the Italians, who had failed to defend them against the Australian 6th Division in January.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 19 13 April 1941 - Tobruk • At 11 p.m. about 30 infantrymen with two small field guns, a mortar and eight machine-guns broke through the wire, dug themselves in about 100 yards to the east of Post R33 and brought all their weapons into action against it. But Lieutenant Mackell, commander of the post set about dislodging them. • At first he returned their fire, but when that failed he took Corporal Edmondson and five other men to attack the enemy party at the point of the bayonet. • First they headed north, away from the post, intending to take the Germans in flank, while the men in the post kept the Germans under fire. Soon the enemy turned their weapons upon them, but by sprinting in bounds Mackell managed to get his men without harm into position for an assault. Mackell later said: • “We'd arranged with them that, as we got up for the final charge, we'd shout and they would stop firing and start shouting, too. The plan worked. We charged and yelled, but for a moment or two the Germans turned everything onto us. It's amazing that we weren't all hit.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 20 13 April 1941 - Tobruk • As we ran we threw our grenades and when they burst the German fire stopped. But already Jack Edmondson had been seriously wounded by a burst from a machine-gun that had got him in the stomach, and he'd also been hit in the neck. Still he ran on, and before the Germans could open up again we were into them. • They left their guns and scattered. In their panic some actually ran slap into the barbed wire behind them and another party that was coming through the gap turned and fled. We went for them with the bayonet. In spite of his wounds Edmondson was magnificent. As the Germans scattered, he chased them and killed at least two. • By this time I was in difficulties wrestling with one German on the ground while another was coming straight for me with a pistol. I called out—"Jack"—and from about fifteen yards away Edmondson ran to help me and bayoneted both Germans. He then went on and bayoneted at least one more.” • Edmondson continued fighting till he could no longer stand. The seven Australians accounted for at least twelve Germans and took one prisoner; the rest fled, leaving their weapons. The men helped Edmondson back to the post. He died there in the early morning. • Photo: Corporal John Hurst 'Jack' Edmondson

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 21 14 April 1941 - Tobruk • At 4.50 a.m. some 40 tanks were reported moving west from R41 along the perimeter just outside the wire. One light tank was stopped by fire from a 2/13th Battalion post. Enemy guns began to bombard the garrison defences largely with air- burst shells. • The tanks continued to skirt the perimeter and the British artillery engaged them. At 5.20 a.m. the first tanks turned and entered the perimeter through the gap near Mackell's post and made straight for Balfe's headquarters. • There were 15 in the first wave , some of them towing anti-aircraft and anti-tank guns. • Morshead’s instructions for the defence in a tank attack were to avoid attracting the tanks' attention but to engage the following infantry when the tanks had passed. The machine-gun crews who had been riding on the • The tanks passed by the front perimeter posts and assembled almost on top of Balfe 's headquarters tanks were mostly killed or wounded; the tanks in R32; 15 to 20 men followed each tank or rode moved on without them, while the accompanying on it, but dropped behind once they were within the perimeter. infantry scattered and moved back towards the wire • The British artillery defensive fire had been falling and, for the most part disorganised, were engaged in front of the wire; the range was now shortened from the posts. and fire was brought down right on Balfe's headquarters, with excellent effect. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 22 14 April 1941 - Tobruk • The tanks moved back eastwards on the Tobruk side of the wire until they were within a mile of the El Adem Road. Then they turned northeast, moved for a short time parallel to the road, and, facing northwards, halted to await the dawn about a mile and a half from "A/E" Battery of the 1st R.H.A. Tracers from their machine-guns told the R.H.A. where the tanks were. The gunners allowed them no peace. • On the perimeter the forward posts kept the perimeter gaps under steady fire, blocking the follow-up of unarmoured reinforcements, while the weapons in the second-line posts, covering the ground between, prevented the enemy from recovering the cohesion lost when the first artillery concentrations had fallen among them. • As dawn came, the fire fight increased in intensity. Near Balfe's headquarters, three German anti-tank guns and a small field-piece were brought into action, firing behind the post. Balfe's men engaged the crews with rifle fire; the enemy in reply turned their guns onto the post; but the Australians continued to snipe the gun crews until all were killed. • Next the Germans brought up to the gap a 75-mm field-piece and some huge, long- barrelled guns; but the infantry in the posts dealt with their crews in the same manner. As the light increased, the location of enemy machine-guns within the perimeter was revealed. They were engaged and one by one subdued. • As soon as the location of the intruding force was established, Morshead ordered the two cruiser tank squadrons of the 1st R.T.R. to engage the enemy tanks at first light.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 23 14 April 1941 - Tobruk • Engaged on all sides the German tanks turned and made for the gap by which they had come, harassed still by the British artillery. • Next the tanks came within range of some guns of the 9th Battery, 2/3rd Australian Anti-Tank Regiment. The British cruiser tanks were following behind the German tanks, and two infantry tanks, which had closed in on the gap, joined in the fray. • There was much confusion as the tanks made their exit—tanks and infantry pushing through the gap together. • Behind Goschen's house about 100 enemy had established themselves on a reverse slope; they continued to prove troublesome after the house had been cleared. Wilson led a platoon from his over-worked company against this enemy group. It achieved complete success: a few Germans were killed, 75 were captured, the rest fled. The battle was over by 8.30 a.m..

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 24 14 April 1941 - Libya • The Germans’ first major operation against the fortress had ended in complete defeat. • 150 enemy dead were counted on the battlefield and 250 prisoners were taken. The garrison's casualties were 26 killed and 64 wounded. • Seventeen enemy tanks were destroyed. Only two British cruiser tanks were knocked out. • General Lavarack issued an order of the day congratulating all ranks of the garrison on their stern and determined resistance.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 25 RAAF - Egypt • At the outbreak of War, No. 3 squadron was one of 12 permanent RAAF squadrons. • It was initially given an army co-operation role, and was deployed to the Middle East in mid-1940, to support the 6th Division of the AIF. • The squadron's personnel travelled by sea to Egypt, where it was to be provided with aircraft from RAF stocks. • Initially, it used an obsolete biplane type, the Gloster Gladiator, for close air support, along with the Westland Lysander, for reconnaissance, against Italian forces in Egypt and Libya. • In the course of these operations, the squadron clashed with aircraft from the Regia Aeronautica. Gladiator • At the beginning of 1941 the Squadron was based at Bir Malla, with two flights equipped with Gladiators and one equipped with Lysanders.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 26 31 March 1941 - Libya • The squadron had been re- equipped with Hurricanes in February. • At 11.40 a.m. on the 31st patrolling Hurricanes sighted two Me-110's about to bomb troops south of Agedabia and Campbell destroyed one while the other fled. • Only five minutes later two Italian formations each of five Fiat BR-20 bombers were dispersed before they could complete their attacks.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 27 4 April 1941 - Libya • The squadron had moved up behind the army during the advance and was then based at Benina near Benghazi. • Having followed the army during the advance the airforce now had to precede the army during the retreat. • No. 3 Squadron left Got es Sultan at 11 p.m. on 3rd April and losing two vehicles during the night in accidents on the choked roads, reached Maraua at 11 o'clock the following morning. • After the overnight move on 4th April fourteen Hurricanes patrolled between Msus and Sceleidima where 2nd Armoured Division was attempting to re-form. LIBYA. 1941. A SMALL CONVOY FROM NO. 3 SQUADRON, RAAF, ABOUT TO SET OFF ON A DESERT JOURNEY

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 28 13 April 1941 - Libya • After four days at LGE- 79, it was necessary, on 12th April, when Tobruk German troops had reached the Egyptian Bardia frontier, to retire still Sidi Barrani farther to Mersa Mersa Matruh

Matruh. Sidi Haneish • On the 13th No. 3 moved to Sidi Haneish leaving a small refuelling party at Sidi Barrani which was to act as an advanced base.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 29 15 April 1941 - Libya • On the 15th April Jeffrey* took off at noon to attack two Italian bombers reported over Sidi Azeiz, but failing to find them, turned on to the Bardia-Capuzzo road to strafe enemy vehicles. • Suddenly he saw four Ju-52 aircraft flying south. A search having revealed no escort he turned quickly to attack but found the transport aircraft had meanwhile landed in considerable confusion, one alighting down-wind being rammed by a second approaching cross - wind. • Only one was still airborne and this Jeffrey shot down and then strafed and set on fire the three on the ground. • Photo: Sergeant A. C. Cameron, left, and Wing Commander Jeffrey*, of 3 Squadron RAAF. On 30 September 1941 Sgt Cameron was forced to land in the desert during an operational flight. WgCdr Jeffrey landed his Tomahawk aircraft in the desert at Sgt Cameron's location, discarded his parachute, and the two men flew back to base in the single seated cockpit. Sgt Cameron was the largest man in the squadron, affectionately known as 'Tiny'.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 30 18/19 March 1941 - Greece • The 2/3rd Battalion embarked on 18th March, on the cruiser Gloucester, and Brigadier Allen's headquarters and the 2/1st and 2/2nd Battalions and attached troops in merchantmen. • Waterhen sailed on 18 March as one of the escort of convoy "AN.21", which included thirteen "Lustre" ships. • The Gloucester arrived at Piraeus on the 19th, having left the merchant ships and their escort far behind. • As their ships steamed into the gulf towards Piraeus the shores seemed to the New South Welshmen strangely like home. • “What a contrast! Instead of waking with eyes, ears and noses full of sand we breathed pure crisp air with the scent of flowers. Flowers!—we hadn't seen them since leaving Australia.” • The troops who were given leave in Athens acquired an increasing respect and sympathy for the Greeks. "Greeks gloriously happy to see us . . . worth fighting for and Australian troops on leave in Athens with," wrote one young officer in his diary.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 31 5 April 1941 - Greece • The British Commonwealth force (Force W) was to hold the Vermion-Olympus line. • The Allied staff estimated that the Germans had twenty-three to twenty-five divisions in Bulgaria • of which six or seven could be concentrated against the Vermion-Olympus line at short notice. • Only one and a half Infantry divisions and an armoured brigade of Force W had so far

arrived. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 32 6 April 1941 – The Balkans • Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece at 5.15 on the 6th April. • Both invasions were accompanied by fierce air onslaughts, in Yugoslavia on Belgrade, in Greece on Piraeus.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 33 9 April 1941 - Greece • At 1 p.m. on 9th April the Greek Commander in eastern Macedonia capitulated. • Although, from the Struma eastward, his troops had yielded little territory, despite three days of vigorous attack by far stronger German forces, his army was now isolated. • On the morning of the 9th General Wilson issued orders for withdrawal to the Aliakmon line.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 34 15 April 1941 - Greece • On the 15th April German squadrons made a dawn attack on the airfields in the Larisa area destroying ten Blenheims on the ground at Niamata. • Air Vice-Marshal D'Albiac, who was present when this calamity occurred, ordered that what remained of the squadrons should withdraw to Athens forthwith. • German aircraft then bombed Larisa intermittently throughout the day and heavily bombed Elasson, where Blamey's headquarters were. • Henceforward few British aircraft were to be seen, and German air attacks became daily more intense.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 35 15 April 1941 - Greece • The Armoured brigade had been reduced almost to impotence. Nineteenth Australian Brigade had also lost heavily. Yugoslavia had collapsed and the German armoured divisions were rushing south. • At 6 p.m. on the 15th General Blamey issued orders for the withdrawal from the Aliakmon line to Thermopylae, about 100 miles to the south. There were to be two phases. • The first would begin on the 15th

(only six hours of which remained).Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 36 15 April 1941 - Greece • The battalions of the 16th Australian Brigade had only just completed their march from the Servia Pass previous line and reached their new positions at about 9 a.m. on the 15th. They were about 5,500 feet above sea level and two feet deep in snow. They had been climbing with little rest since the night of the 12th, and had only a greatcoat and one blanket each in which to sleep. • It was difficult to convey the withdrawal orders to the 16th Brigade. There was not enough telephone wire to link them with Allen's headquarters and they could be reached only along tracks winding across the slopes of Olympus. Lieutenant Swinton of Allen's staff rode a pony to the 2/2nd, which was to come out first, with an order to hand over to the 2/3rd and march out to the southern end of the pass. He reached Chilton at 8 p.m. on the 15th. By 2 a.m. on the 16th the battalion had concentrated and was marching out. • The 2/1st Battalion was in country so difficult and snow-bound that the brigade liaison officer could not even find it. Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 37 15 April 1941 - Greece • The 2/4th and 2/8th Battalions of the 19th Brigade had been moving, digging in and fighting since they arrived in Greece. Moving at night to avoid air attacks. • On the 9th April after leaving their vehicles the weary men, fully laden, made long marches to positions allotted to companies and platoons where they spent the nights of the 9/10th, 10/11th and 11/12th in the snow without shelter. • They had been under fire all day on the 11th and under infantry attack in the afternoon and night. • They were attacked by tanks and infantry th all day on the 12 . Their position was (11 April) broken and they retreated in disorder all night on 12/13th suffering heavy casualties. • They spent the 14th marching into and digging new positions.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 38 15 April 1941 - Greece • Early in the afternoon of the 15th Blamey had instructed Mackay that he must move the 19th Brigade back across the Aliakmon River that day. Only a few hours of daylight remained, the river was not yet bridged and wireless communication with Vasey was unreliable. • Lieutenant Chester and a section of the 2/1st Field Company had been sent forward to build a timber trestle bridge. The men carried picks, shovels, and other hand tools, spikes and rope. These teams reached the river after dark on the 14th and began work at dawn next day. They laboured all day, helped in the afternoon by New Zealanders of the 26th Battalion and two sections of a company of British engineers, but were still cutting timber for the bridge when at 2 p.m. an order arrived that it must be ready for the 19th Brigade to cross at 9 p.m.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 39 15 April 1941 - Greece • At 10 p.m. the bridge was finished and decked with slats six inches apart—a notable achievement by a small body of sappers equipped only with such tools as they could carry to the river along rough tracks. • By the time the final gap of 45 feet was being spanned the leading companies of the 19th Brigade were assembling in the darkness on the opposite bank .

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 40 15 April 1941 - Greece • On the 15th, the three Commanders in Chief, Wavell, Longmore, and Cunningham, at a conference in Warspite in Alexandria, decided that withdrawal from Greece was the only possible course.

The battleship HMS Warspite, flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 41 February 1941 – The Threat from Japan • In February the Australian War Cabinet, advised by the chiefs of staff and Brooke Popham, the British CinC Far East, decided: • that the 8th Division, instead of joining the Australian Corps in the Middle East as had been intended, be retained for use in the Australian area and East Asia to guard against the danger from Japan. • to send one A.I.F. battalion to Rabaul. • and to hold two other such groups ready to go to Timor and Ambon when war became an immediate threat. • to move one A.I.F. infantry brigade group, to the Darwin-Alice Springs area. These, with units already at Darwin, could provide the battalions for Timor and Ambon and one brigade group for the Darwin area. • to distribute one militia battalion between Port Moresby and Thursday Island.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 42 18 February 1941 - Singapore • On 2nd February the 22nd Brigade AIF boarded the 81,000 ton Queen Mary in Sydney. • She sailed with Convoy US9, which left Fremantle 12 Feb 1941 escorted by HMAS Canberra. • Queen Mary detached for RMS QUEEN MARY in Sydney Harbour, 1941. ANMM Singapore on 16 February Collection 00045046. escorted by H.M.S. Durban. • They landed at Singapore on 18 February.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 43 March 1941 – Indochina • The Japanese-mediated peace between French lndochina and Thailand led to a Franco-Japanese pact. • Japanese military garrisons would be established on the border between Indochina and China proper. • A Japanese naval base was to be established at Cam Ranh Bay, and the Japanese would also acquire a defense concession at Saigon. • Indochina was to allow Japan the free use of all its present air bases, while new bases were to be established wherever Japan thought necessary. • This enabled Japan to dominate the whole of Indo-China and brought her within bombing distance of Singapore.

Australia's War 15 April 41 ©Jerry McBrien 44 13 April 1941 - Moscow • After a visit of the Japanese Foreign Minister, Matsuoka, to Berlin he moved on to Moscow where he negotiated a Non Aggression Pact between the Soviet Union and Japan. • The treaty was signed in Moscow on April 13, 1941, by Foreign Minister Matsuoka for Japan and People’s Commisar for Foreign Affairs Molotov for the Soviet Union.

Killed

4.4% 2.7% 5.3%

Soldiers don’t decide where to go. They are sent. Some were sent to theatres of active fighting. Hundreds of thousands of both volunteers and conscripts spent four years in varying degrees of boredom and discomfort guarding against threats that never eventuated or labouring at the administration and maintenance of the forces.