Australia and world war 2.

• The first seven months after war was declared there was little fighting in Europe and the lack of action led to this period being known as the ‘phoney war’
• The second AIF (Australian Imperial Force) was formed in 1933 but few Australians were interested in what was happening and the rate of enlistment was slow. The men who did join voluntarily were mainly-
• Unemployed people who wanted a job
• People who wanted to help Britain
• Sons of the men who fought at Gallipoli
• Men who had served in WW1

The Pacific War begins

• WW2 was extended to the Pacific and the US became involved when, on Sunday 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor- the US naval base in Hawaii. It was an attack without any  warning and without having declared war on the US
• On December 9th 1941, after Japan had declared war on Britain and the Commonwealth, the Australian Prime Minister Curtain announced Australia was at war with Japan and it wasn’t until this time that it was realised that Australia was now in danger.

Fighting, by Land, sea and air

 The second AIF (Australian Imperial Force) left Australia in January 1940 and joined the fighting in the Mediterranean, the middle East and North Africa.

Women in the Forces

• Women initially faced opposition from the government & military leaders who were reluctant to allow them into battle zones.
• Women were trained as nurses, drivers, signallers and  motor mechanics
• (VADS) Voluntary Aid Detachment, group of unpaid nursing assistants that had been formed in WW1- was reformed after the outbreak of war.
• Women wanted more significant role in the forces- so The Women’s Australian National Service was established
• It became clear that Australia’s involvement in the war was increasing and more troops would be needed overseas. In 1941 it was announced that women would be allowed to enroll in the armed forces, but only nurses would serve overseas and in the battle zones.
• The Women’s Royal Australian  Naval Service (WRANS) formed in 1941- faced a lot of opposition, weren’t allowed to go to sea during war, ad to be content with mainly communications work such as  operating telegraph
• The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force ( WAAF)- 43 600 joined by the end of the war. Allowed women to do such things as, radio communications and mechanical repairs.
• Nurses were sent to hospitals  in what ever are the men were fighting and served on hospital ships and transport vessels
• By the end of the war more than 6500 women had joined one of the forces. And thousand more Australian women were involved in supporting the war effort at home- factory working farm laboring, as ell as all roles, which were previously seen as the domain of men.

Sinking of the Centaur-

• Hospital ships bore the Red Cross sign to indicate they carried wounded soldiers and their carers.
•  These ships were not supposed to be attacked.
• May 1943- news came through that the hospital ship Centaur had been sunk by a Japanese submarine
• Took place without any warnings
• People were thrown into the ocean which was covered with hot oil- many burnt to death
• 332 ppl on board, 299 ppl died including 11 nurses and 18 doctors
• Sister Eleanor- helped all wounded  even though she was in her own pain
• It caused outrage in Australia  and made people even more determined to defeat Japan

Darwin Attacked

• Japanese bombing raid on Darwin
• Ships and airfield at  Darwin were the Japanese targets- they need to destroy theses so they could invade PNG and then Australia
• February 1942- in the 1st enemy attack on Australian soil- Darwin was bombed by 93 Japanese planes
• At midday on the same day- 54 bombers attacked Darwin’s RAAF base
• In both raids- 243 people were killed and hundreds were injured- most were civilians
• To avoid panic among the Australian people the government stated that only 15 people had been killed and 24 wounded
• Over the next two years, Darwin was attacked at least 58 times

Attack on Sydney

• Early on Saturday 30 May 1942- a Japanese seaplane flew down Sydney Harbour past the bridge and back out to its mother submarine
• No-one fired at it, it was able to note where the important warships were
• On Sunday night- 3 Japanese midget submarines had two crew members and a torpedo, they entered Sydney Harbor
• One of the sub’s was caught in to boom net
• The other two followed  a Manly ferry into the harbour
• People only realised that, they were under attack when the sub who was caught in the boom net, blew himself up to avoid capture
• One of the remaining sub sunk
• But the third fired at USS Chicago
• It missed and hit the Kuttabul- 19 soldiers were killed

Breaking the Rules

• International rules for treatment and  protection of prisoners in wartime were laid down by the Geneva Convention
• The Japanese particularly, mistreated Allied military and civilian prisoners including many Australians
• The Japanese believed that soldiers should die for their country and their emperor rather than surrender
• People who did surrender were thought to be cowards
• Prisoners in POW camps were treated badly because of this attitude
• They were made to work very long hours without proper food or medical supplies and many Australians died in the camps
• Of 22000 Australians captured around 8000 died either in prisons or in POW camps
• During the attack- nurses were raped and killed
• Ships attempting to evacuate civilian women and children were torpedoed and sunk
• As the war was near to ending the Japanese had little food to feed themselves so they took their prisoners-men, women, and children- on long marches of thousands of kilometers
• Prisoners who couldn’t keep up were killed along the way
• 1800 Australians began a death march, only six survived
• Many Australian prisoners who had survived the camps were murdered and buried in mass graves so they wold not to able to identify their captors.

Controls at home- conscription and censorship

• WW2 was the first truly total war-not just those involved in the actual fighting- was contributing in some way to the war effort
• The government took control of ordinary people’s lives

Conscription

• Soon after the war broke out the government decided to introduce conscription for the defence of Australia and her territories.
• Australia had militia already of about 80 000 men who were immediately called up.
• Compulsory military training of 20-ear-old single men was introduced
• Australia’s two armies- The second AIF which was made up of volunteers for overseas service
• The AMF which was made up of conscript. These conscript were trained to defend Australia and could not e sent out Australia or its territories
• Australian government made all men , when they turned 18, register for possible service, they were given from one to three month training then sent to Papua, which was an Australian Territory- to stop the Japanese advance
• the upper limit was increase to 38
• in 1943 the Defence Act was altered to allow women to be conscripted into the auxiliary forces because not enough men were volunteering

Censorship

• Within days of the declaration of war the Australian government introduced censorship to the news on the radio, in press
• These restrictions applied for the rest of the war
• Overseas communications by telegraph, telephone and post could also be censored
• And the radio telephone services to Britain and NZ were  stopped
• A department of information was set up and for six years Australians were only told what they government wanted them to know
• In 1940 the power was extended the government could have the final say about the ‘position, space, or time allotted item published, broadcast or exhibited’ in any news paper or magazine or on radio and at the cinema.
• The government believed that this would prevent misleading and untruthful stories, which could weaken Australian moral.
• The people were warned not to gossip or spread information. Personal letters from servicemen and women were heavily censored
• Servicemen and women were not allowed to keep personal diaries in case enemies obtained it and used them for information

Supporting and defending the nation at home

• Life changed in many ways for the people at home and there were many hardships.
• Food shortages, worried about loved  ones
• Australia was an important base in the pacific area, for defence installation’s such as airfields, training camps, repair facilities, weapon storage sites and hospitals.

Rationing and Austerity

• Most goods were in short supply during the war and substantial supplies of food an clothing were  needed for troops so they could continue fighting
• A system of rationing of introuduced by the government and this restricted the quantity and types of goods that peple could buy
• Every household was given a ration book and goods such as clothing, tea, meat and butter could be bought if the correct coupons were presented.
• Prime minister curtain called for a season of austerity and asked Australians to “deprive themselves of every selfish, comfortable habit”
• People would often swap coupons with neighbors for good which they wanted
• Meat was in short supply- in 1944 meat ration 1 or 2 kg per person per week
• Petrol also rationed

Precautions

• Beaches were spread with barbed wire, apart from a path to the water that was locked at night, guard patrolled beaches
• Windows in town n cities had to be blacked
• Streets light were reduced in Sydney only every second light bulb was lit
• Street signs, railway signs were taken to confuse the enemy
• Every building with more than 130 people working in it had to have an air- raid shelter

Milne bay

• While the Australians were trying to stop the Japanese crossing the Owen Stanley range. Japanese decided to capture the newly built allied air fields at Milne Bay in PNG
• IF the Japanese was able to capture Milne Bay they would be able to use it as a base for their ships and air craft and attack Port Moresby from two sides  on August 25th 1942
• Australians soliders were untrained and many had never fought before
• They were however helped by RAAF planes which destroyed several Japanese landing barges
• After many days of fighting in the mud an rain, Australia finally defeated the Japanese airfields and forced the Japanese to retreat- September 1942
• 1st defeat for Japanese on land
• Gr8 morale boost for troops and people back at home