Declaration of war on Japan In the view of
Paul Hasluck, Australia fought two wars between 1939 and 1945: one against Germany and Italy as part of the
British Commonwealth and Empire and the other against Japan in alliance with the United States and Britain. Due to the emphasis placed on cooperation with Britain, relatively few Australian military units were stationed in Australia and the
Asia-Pacific Region after 1940. Measures were taken to improve Australia's defences as
war with Japan loomed in 1941, but these proved inadequate. In December 1941, the Australian Army in the Pacific comprised the 8th Division, most of which was stationed in Malaya, and eight partially trained and equipped divisions in Australia, including the
1st Armoured Division. The RAAF was equipped with 373 aircraft, most of which were obsolete trainers, and the RAN had three cruisers and two destroyers in Australian waters. Following Japanese landings in Malaya and the
Attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States, the Australian Government declared war on Japan. The declaration of war was issued on 9 December 1941. Japan was the last major member of the
Axis powers to have a declaration of war placed upon it by the
Government of Australia after the government accepted the
United Kingdom's declaration of war on
Nazi Germany and after declaring war on the
Kingdom of Italy in June 1940.
Malaya and Singapore From the 1920s, Australia's defence planning was dominated by the so-called '
Singapore strategy'. This strategy involved the construction and defence of a major naval base at Singapore from which a large British fleet would respond to Japanese aggression in the region. To this end, a high proportion of Australian forces in Asia were concentrated in Malaya during 1940 and 1941, as the threat from Japan increased. At the outbreak of war the Australian forces in Malaya comprised the
8th Division (less the
23rd Brigade) under the command of Major General
Gordon Bennett, four RAAF squadrons and eight warships. The RAAF became the first service to see action in the Pacific when Australian aircraft shadowing the Japanese invasion convoy bound for Malaya were fired at on 6 December 1941. Australian units participated in the unsuccessful Commonwealth attempts to defeat the Japanese landings, with RAAF aircraft attacking the
beachheads and accompanying the British battleship and battlecruiser during their
failed attempt to attack the Japanese invasion fleet. between Singapore and Malaya in February 1942 The 8th Division and its attached
Indian Army units were assigned responsibility for the defence of
Johor in the south of Malaya and did not see action until mid-January 1942, when Japanese spearheads first reached the state. The division's first engagement was the
Battle of Muar, in which the
Japanese Twenty-Fifth Army was able to outflank the Commonwealth positions due to Bennett misdeploying the forces under his command so that the weak Indian
45th Brigade was assigned the crucial coastal sector and the stronger Australian brigades were deployed in less threatened areas. While the Commonwealth forces in Johore achieved a number of local victories, they were unable to do more than slow the Japanese advance and suffered heavy casualties. After being outmanoeuvred by the Japanese, the remaining Commonwealth units withdrew to Singapore on the night of 30–31 January. Following the withdrawal to Singapore the 8th Division was deployed to defend the island's north-west coast. Due to the casualties suffered in Johore most of the division's units were at half-strength. The commander of the Singapore fortress, Lieutenant General
Arthur Ernest Percival, believed that the Japanese would land on the north-east coast of the island and deployed the near full-strength
British 18th Division to defend this sector.
The Japanese landing on 8 February took part in the Australian sector, however, and the 8th Division was forced from its positions after just two days of heavy fighting. The division was also unable to turn back the
Japanese landing at Kranji and withdrew to the centre of the island. After further fighting in which the Commonwealth forces were pushed into a narrow perimeter around the urban area of Singapore, Percival surrendered his forces on 15 February. Following the surrender 14,972 Australians were taken prisoner, though some escaped on ships. These escapees included Major General Bennett, who was found by two post-war inquiries to have been unjustified in leaving his command. The loss of almost a quarter of Australia's overseas soldiers, and the failure of the Singapore Strategy that had permitted it to accept the sending of the AIF to aid Britain, stunned the country.
Netherlands East Indies and Rabaul While Australia's contribution to the pre-war plans to defend South East Asia from Japanese aggression was focused on the defence of Malaya and Singapore, small Australian forces were also deployed to defend several islands to the north of Australia. The role of these forces was to defend strategic airfields which could be used to launch attacks on the Australian mainland. Detachments of
coastwatchers were also stationed in the
Bismarck Archipelago and
Solomon Islands to report on any Japanese operations there. on 19 February 1942 At the start of the Pacific War the strategic port town of
Rabaul in
New Britain was defended by '
Lark Force', which comprised the 2/22nd Infantry Battalion reinforced with coastal artillery and a poorly equipped RAAF bomber squadron. While Lark Force was regarded as inadequate by the Australian military, it was not possible to reinforce it before the Japanese
South Seas Force landed at Rabaul on 23 January 1942. The outnumbered Australian force
was swiftly defeated and most of the survivors surrendered in the weeks after the battle. Few members of Lark Force survived the war, as at least 130 were murdered by the Japanese on 4 February, and 1,057 Australian soldiers and civilian prisoners from Rabaul were killed when the ship carrying them to Japan () was sunk by the US submarine on 1 July 1942. AIF troops were also dispatched from Darwin to the
Netherlands East Indies (NEI) in the first weeks of the Pacific War. Reinforced battalions from the 23rd Brigade were sent to
Koepang in
West Timor ('
Sparrow Force') and the island of
Ambon ('Gull Force') to defend these strategic locations from Japanese attack. The
2/2nd Independent Company was also sent to
Dili in
Portuguese Timor in violation of Portugal's neutrality. While the force at Koepang was defeated after the Japanese landed there on 20 February and also surrendered,
Australian commandos waged a
guerrilla campaign against the Japanese in Portuguese Timor until February 1943.
Voyager and were lost in September and December 1942, respectively, while operating in support of the commandos. In the lead-up to the
Japanese invasion of Java a force of 242 carrier and land-based aircraft
attacked Darwin on 19 February 1942. At the time Darwin was an important base for Allied warships and a staging point for shipping supplies and reinforcements into the NEI. The Japanese attack was successful, and resulted in the deaths of over 230 military personnel and civilians, many of whom were non-Australian Allied seamen, and heavy damage to
RAAF Base Darwin and the town's port facilities. Several Australian warships, a 3,000 strong Army unit and aircraft from several RAAF squadrons participated in the unsuccessful defence of Java when the Japanese invaded the island in March 1942.
Perth formed part of the main
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval force which was defeated in the
Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February, during an attempt to intercept one of the Japanese invasion convoys.
Perth was sunk on 1 March, when she and
encountered another Japanese invasion force while trying to escape to
Tjilatjap on the south coast of Java. The sloop was also sunk off the south coast of Java when she was attacked by three Japanese cruisers while escorting a convoy on 4 March. Other Australian warships, including the light cruiser and several corvettes successfully escaped from NEI waters. An army force made up of elements from the 7th Division also formed part of the ABDACOM land forces on Java but saw little action before it surrendered at
Bandung on 12 March, after the Dutch forces on the island began to capitulate. RAAF aircraft operating from bases in Java and Australia also participated in the fighting, and 160 ground crew from
No. 1 Squadron RAAF were taken prisoner. Following the conquest of the NEI, the Japanese Navy's
main aircraft carrier force raided the Indian Ocean. This force attacked
Ceylon in early April, and
Vampire was sunk off
Trincomalee on 12 April, while escorting , which was also lost. The Australian Army's
16th and 17th Brigades formed part of the island's garrison at the time of the raid but did not see action.
Buildup of forces in Australia After the fall of Singapore, the Australian government and people expected an invasion soon. The Battle of Britain occurred after
Dunkirk; "the fall of Singapore opens the
Battle for Australia", Curtin said, which threatened the Commonwealth, the United States, and the entire English-speaking world. The fear was greatest until June 1942. Curtin said on 16 February: Australia was ill-prepared to counter such an attack. The RAAF lacked modern aircraft and the RAN was too small and unbalanced to counter the Imperial Japanese Navy. Additionally, the Army, although large, contained many inexperienced units and lacked mobility. In response to this threat most of the AIF was brought back from the Middle East and the Government appealed to the United States for assistance. British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill attempted to divert the 6th and 7th Divisions to
Burma while they were en route to Australia, but Curtin refused to authorise this movement. As a compromise two brigades of the 6th Division disembarked at Ceylon and formed part of the island's garrison until they returned to Australia in August 1942. in October 1942 The perceived threat of invasion led to a major expansion of the Australian military. By mid-1942 the Army had a strength of ten infantry divisions,
three armoured divisions and hundreds of other units. The RAAF and RAN were also greatly expanded, though it took years for these services to build up to their peak strengths. Due to the increased need for manpower, the restrictions which prohibited non-Europeans from joining the military ceased to be enforced from late 1941, and about 3,000
Indigenous Australians eventually enlisted. Most of these personnel were integrated into existing formations, but a small number of racially segregated units such as the
Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion were formed. A number of small units made up of Indigenous Australians were also established to patrol northern Australia and harass any Japanese forces which landed there; the members of these units did not receive pay or awards for their service until 1992. Thousands of Australians who were ineligible for service in the military responded to the threat of attack by joining
auxiliary organisations such as the
Volunteer Defence Corps and
Volunteer Air Observers Corps, which were modelled on the
British Home Guard and
Royal Observer Corps respectively. Australia's population and industrial base were not sufficient to maintain the expanded military after the threat of invasion had passed, and the Army was progressively reduced in size from 1943 while only 53 of the 73 RAAF squadrons approved by the government were ever raised. Despite Australian fears, the Japanese
never intended to invade the Australian mainland. While an invasion was considered by the Japanese
Imperial General Headquarters in February 1942, it was judged to be beyond the Japanese military's capabilities and no planning or other preparations were undertaken. Instead, in March 1942, the Japanese military adopted a strategy of isolating Australia from the United States by capturing
Port Moresby in New Guinea and the
Solomon Islands,
Fiji,
Samoa and
New Caledonia. This plan was frustrated by the Japanese defeat in the
Battle of the Coral Sea and was postponed indefinitely after the
Battle of Midway. While these battles ended the threat to Australia, the Australian government continued to warn that an invasion was possible until mid-1943. In February 1942 the US and British Governments agreed that Australia would become a strategic responsibility of the United States and the Allied
ANZAC Force was created specifically to defend the Australian continent. In March, General
Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia after escaping from the Philippines and assumed command of the
South West Pacific Area (SWPA). All of the Australian military's combat units in this area were placed under MacArthur's command, and MacArthur replaced the Australian Chiefs of Staff as the Australian Government's main source of military advice until the end of the war. Australian General Thomas Blamey was appointed the Allied land force commander, but MacArthur did not permit him to command American forces. MacArthur also rejected
US Army Chief of Staff General
George Marshall's request that he appoint Australians to senior posts in his General Headquarters. Nevertheless, the partnership between Curtin and MacArthur proved beneficial for Australia between 1942 and 1944, as MacArthur was able to communicate Australian requests for assistance to the US Government. Large numbers of United States military personnel were based in Australia during the first years of the Pacific War. The first US units arrived in Australia in early 1942 and almost 1 million US personnel passed through Australia during the war. Many US military bases were constructed in northern Australia during 1942 and 1943, and Australia remained an important source of supplies to US forces in the Pacific until the end of the war. Though relations between Australians and Americans were generally good, there was some conflict between US and Australian soldiers, such as the
Battle of Brisbane, and the Australian Government only reluctantly accepted the presence of
African American troops.
Papuan campaign Japanese forces first landed on the mainland of New Guinea on 8 March 1942, when they
invaded Lae and Salamaua to secure bases for the defence of the important base they were developing at Rabaul. Australian
guerrillas from the
New Guinea Volunteer Rifles established observation posts around the Japanese beachheads and the
2/5th Independent Company successfully raided
Salamaua on 29 June. After the Battle of the Coral Sea frustrated the Japanese plan to capture Port Morseby via an amphibious landing, the Japanese attempted to capture the town by landing the South Seas Force at Buna on the north coast of
Papua and advancing overland using the
Kokoda Track to cross the rugged
Owen Stanley Range. The
Kokoda Track campaign began on 22 July, when the Japanese began their advance, opposed by an ill-prepared CMF brigade designated '
Maroubra Force'. This force was successful in delaying the South Seas Force but was unable to halt it. Two AIF battalions from the 7th Division reinforced the remnants of Maroubra Force on 26 August, but the Japanese continued to make ground and reached the village of Ioribaiwa near Port Moresby on 16 September. The South Seas Force was forced to withdraw back along the track on this day, however, as supply problems made any further advance impossible and an Allied counter-landing at Buna was feared. Australian forces pursued the Japanese along the Kokoda Track and forced them into a small
bridgehead on the north coast of Papua in early November. The Allied operations on the Kokoda Track were made possible by native Papuans who were recruited by the
Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit, often forcibly, to carry supplies and evacuate wounded personnel. The RAAF and USAAF also played an important role throughout the campaign by attacking the Japanese force's supply lines and
airdropping supplies to Australian Army units. Australian forces also defeated an attempt to capture the strategic
Milne Bay area in August 1942. During the
Battle of Milne Bay two brigades of Australian troops, designated Milne Force, supported by two RAAF fighter squadrons and US Army engineers defeated a smaller Japanese invasion force made up of
Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces units. This was the first notable Japanese land defeat and raised Allied morale across the Pacific Theatre. Australian and US forces
attacked the Japanese bridgehead in Papua in late November 1942, but did not capture it until January 1943. The Allied force comprised the exhausted 7th Division and the inexperienced and ill-trained
US 32nd Infantry Division and was short of artillery and supplies. Due to a lack of supporting weapons and MacArthur and Blamey's insistence on a rapid advance the Allied tactics during the battle were centred around infantry assaults on the Japanese fortifications. These resulted in heavy casualties and the area was not secured until 22 January 1943. Throughout the fighting in Papua, most of the Australian personnel captured by Japanese troops were murdered. In response, Australian soldiers aggressively sought to kill their Japanese opponents for the remainder of the war. The Australians generally did not attempt to capture Japanese personnel, and some prisoners of war were murdered. Following the defeats in Papua and
Guadalcanal the Japanese withdrew to a defensive perimeter in the
Territory of New Guinea. In order to secure their important bases at
Lae and Salamaua they
attempted to capture Wau in January 1943. Reinforcements were flown into the town and defeated the Japanese force in its outskirts following heavy fighting. The Japanese force began to withdraw towards the coast on 4 February. Following their defeat at Wau the Japanese attempted to reinforce Lae in preparation for an expected Allied offensive in the area. This ended in disaster when, during the
Battle of the Bismarck Sea, a troop convoy was destroyed by USAAF and RAAF aircraft from the
US Fifth Air Force and
No. 9 Operational Group RAAF with the loss of about 3,000 troops. The Papuan campaign led to a significant reform in the composition of the Australian Army. During the campaign, the restriction banning CMF personnel from serving outside of Australian territory hampered military planning and caused tensions between the AIF and CMF. In late 1942 and early 1943, Curtin overcame opposition within the Labor Party to extending the geographic boundaries in which conscripts could serve to include most of the
South West Pacific and the
necessary legislation was passed in January 1943. The
11th Brigade was the only CMF formation to serve outside of Australian territory, however, when it formed part of
Merauke Force in the NEI during 1943 and 1944.
Attacks on Australian shipping sinking after being attacked by near
Port Macquarie in February 1943 The Japanese efforts to secure New Guinea included a prolonged submarine offensive against the Allied lines of communication between the United States and Australia and Australia and New Guinea. These were not the first Axis naval attacks on Australia; during 1940 and 1941, five German
surface raiders operated in Australian waters at various times. The German attacks were not successful in disrupting Australian merchant shipping, though
Sydney was sunk with the loss her entire crew of over 640 men in November 1941, in a
battle with the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, off the coast of Western Australia. Following the defeat of the Japanese surface fleet the IJN deployed submarines to disrupt Allied supply lines by attacking shipping off the Australian east coast. This campaign began with an unsuccessful
midget submarine raid on Sydney Harbour on the night of 31 May 1942. Following this attack, Japanese submarines operated along the Australian east coast until August 1942,
sinking eight merchant ships. The submarine offensive resumed in January 1943 and continued until June during which time a further 15 ships were sunk off the east coast. The 1943 sinkings included the hospital ship , which was torpedoed off Queensland on 14 May with the loss of 268 lives. The Japanese did not conduct further submarine attacks against Australia after June 1943, as their submarines were needed to counter Allied offensives elsewhere in the Pacific. A single German submarine, , operated in the Pacific Ocean during the war, cruising off the Australian coast and New Zealand in December 1944 and January 1945. It sank two ships in Australian waters before returning to
Batavia. Considerable Australian and other Allied military resources were devoted to protecting shipping and ports from Axis submarines and warships. For instance, the RAN escorted over 1,100 coastal convoys the Army established
coastal defences to protect important ports and a high proportion of the RAAF's operational squadrons were used to protect shipping at various times. Nevertheless, the use of these units for defensive tasks and the shipping casualties in Australian waters did not seriously affect the Australian economy or Allied war effort.
New Guinea offensives After halting the Japanese advance, Allied forces went on the offensive across the SWPA from mid 1943. Australian forces played a key role throughout this offensive, which was designated
Operation Cartwheel. In particular, General Blamey oversaw a highly successful series of operations around the north-east tip of New Guinea which "was the high point of Australia's experience of operational level command" during the war. aircraft at Kaiapit After the successful defence of Wau the
3rd Division began advancing towards Salamaua in April 1943. This advance was mounted to divert attention from Lae, which was one of the main objectives of Operation Cartwheel, and proceeded slowly. In late June, the 3rd Division was reinforced by the US 162nd Regimental Combat Team which staged an amphibious landing to the
south of Salamaua. The town was eventually captured on 11 September 1943. In early September 1943, Australian-led forces mounted a
pincer movement to capture Lae. On 4 September, 9th Division made an amphibious landing to the
east of the town and began advancing to the west. The following day, the
US 503rd Parachute Regiment made an
unopposed parachute drop at Nadzab, just west of Lae. Once the airborne forces secured Nadzab Airfield the 7th Division was flown in and began advancing to the east in a race with the 9th Division to capture Lae. This race was won by the 7th Division, which captured the town on 15 September. The Japanese forces at Salamaua and Lae suffered heavy losses during this campaign, but were able to escape to the north. in New Guinea and western New Britain After the fall of Lae, the 9th Division was given the task of
capturing the Huon Peninsula. The
20th Brigade landed near the strategic harbour of
Finschhafen on 22 September 1943, and secured the area. The Japanese responded by dispatching the
20th Division overland to the area and the remainder of the 9th Division was gradually brought in to reinforce the 20th Brigade against the expected counter-attack. The Japanese mounted a strong attack in mid-October which was defeated by the 9th Division after heavy fighting. During the second half of November the 9th Division
captured the hills inland of Finschhafen from well dug in Japanese forces. Following its defeat the 20th Division retreated along the coast with the 9th Division and
4th Brigade in pursuit. The Allies scored a major intelligence victory towards the end of this campaign when Australian engineers found the 20th Division's entire
cipher library, which had been buried by the retreating Japanese. These documents led to a
code breaking breakthrough which enabled MacArthur to accelerate the Allied advance by bypassing Japanese defences. While the 9th Division secured the coastal region of the Huon Peninsula the 7th Division drove the Japanese from the inland
Finisterre Range. The
Finisterre Range campaign began on 17 September, when the 2/6th Independent Company was air-landed in the Markham Valley. The company
defeated a larger Japanese force at Kaiapit and secured an airstrip which was used to fly the Division's
21st and
25th Brigades in. Through aggressive patrolling the Australians forced the Japanese out of positions in extremely rugged terrain and in January 1944, the division began its attack on the key
Shaggy Ridge position. The ridge was taken by the end of January, with the RAAF playing a key supporting role. Following this success the Japanese withdrew from the Finisterre Range and Australian troops linked up with American patrols from
Saidor on 21 April, and secured
Madang on 24 April. In addition to supporting the Army's operations on the New Guinea mainland, the RAN and RAAF took part in offensive operations in the Solomon Islands. This involvement had begun in August 1942, when both of the RAN's heavy cruisers, and , supported the US Marine
landing at Guadalcanal. On the night after the landing,
Canberra was sunk during the
Battle of Savo Island and the RAN played no further role in the
Guadalcanal Campaign. RAAF aircraft supported several US Army and Marine landings during 1943 and 1944 and an RAAF radar unit participated in the
capture of Arawe. The Australian cruisers
Australia and and destroyers and provided fire support for the
US 1st Marine Division during the
Battle of Cape Gloucester and the
US 1st Cavalry Division during the
Admiralty Islands campaign in late 1943 and early 1944. The landing at Cape Gloucester was also the first operation for the RAN amphibious transport .
North Western Area Campaign bombers from
No. 18 (NEI) Squadron near Darwin in 1943. This was one of three joint Australian-Dutch squadrons formed during the war. The attack on Darwin in February 1942 marked the start of a prolonged aerial campaign over northern Australia and the Japanese-occupied Netherlands East Indies. Following the first attack on Darwin the Allies rapidly deployed fighter squadrons and reinforced the Army's
Northern Territory Force to protect the town from a feared invasion. These air units also attacked Japanese positions in the NEI and the Japanese responded by staging dozens of
air raids on Darwin and nearby airfields during 1942 and 1943, few of which caused significant damage. These raids were opposed by US, Australian and British fighters and suffered increasingly heavy casualties as Darwin's defences were improved. The Japanese also conducted a number of small and ineffective raids on towns and airfields in northern Queensland and Western Australia during 1942 and 1943. While the Japanese raids on northern Australia ceased in late 1943, the Allied air offensive continued until the end of the war. During late 1942, Allied aircraft conducted attacks on Timor in support of the Australian guerrillas operating there. From early 1943, US
heavy bomber squadrons operated against Japanese targets in the eastern NEI from bases near Darwin. The Allied air offensive against the NEI intensified from June 1943, to divert Japanese forces away from New Guinea and the Solomons and involved Australian, Dutch and US bomber units. These attacks continued until the end of the war, with the US heavy bombers being replaced by Australian
B-24 Liberator-equipped squadrons in late 1944. From 1944, several RAAF
PBY Catalina squadrons were also based at Darwin and conducted highly effective mine-laying sorties across South East Asia.
Advance to the Philippines The Australian military's role in the South-West Pacific decreased during 1944. In the latter half of 1943, the Australian Government decided, with MacArthur's agreement, that the size of the military would be reduced to release manpower for war-related industries which were important to supplying Britain and the US forces in the Pacific. Australia's main role in the Allied war effort from this point forward was supplying the other Allied countries with food, materials and manufactured goods needed for the defeat of Japan. As a result of this policy, the Army units available for offensive operations were set at six infantry divisions (the three AIF divisions and three CMF divisions) and two armoured brigades. The size of the RAAF was set at 53 squadrons and the RAN was limited to the ships which were in service or planned to be built at the time. In early 1944, all but two of the Army's divisions were withdrawn to the
Atherton Tableland in north Queensland for training and rehabilitation. Several new battalions of Australian-led Papuan and New Guinea troops were formed during 1944, and organised into the
Pacific Islands Regiment, however, and largely replaced the Australian Army battalions disbanded during the year. These troops had seen action alongside Australian units throughout the New Guinea campaign. aircraft at Noemfoor in November 1944 After the liberation of most of Australian New Guinea the RAAF and RAN participated in the US-led
Western New Guinea campaign, which had the goal of securing bases to be used to mount the
liberation of the Philippines. Australian warships and the fighter, bomber and airfield construction squadrons of
No. 10 Operational Group RAAF participated in the capture of
Hollandia,
Biak,
Noemfoor and
Morotai. After western New Guinea was secured No. 10 Operation Group was renamed the First Tactical Air Force (1TAF) and was used to protect the flank of the Allied advance by attacking Japanese positions in the NEI and performing other garrison tasks. The losses incurred whilst performing these relatively unimportant roles led to a decline in morale, and contributed to the '
Morotai Mutiny' in April 1945. Elements of the RAN and RAAF also took part in the liberation of the Philippines. Four Australian warships and the assault transports , and
Westralia—along with a number of smaller warships and support ships—took part in the
US landing at Leyte on 20 October 1944. Australian sources state that
Australia became the first Allied ship to be struck by a
kamikaze when she was attacked during this operation on 21 October, though this claim was disputed by US historian
Samuel Eliot Morison. Australian ships also participated in the
Battle of Leyte Gulf, with
Shropshire and
Arunta engaging Japanese ships during the Battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October. The Australian naval force took part in the
Invasion of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945; during this operation,
Australia was struck by a further five Kamikazes which killed 44 of her crew and forced her to withdraw for major repairs. RAN ships also escorted US supply convoys bound for the Philippines. The RAAF's
No. 3 Airfield Construction Squadron and
No. 1 Wireless Unit also landed in the Philippines and supported US operations there, and 1TAF raided targets in the southern Philippines from bases in the NEI and New Guinea. While the Australian Government offered MacArthur I Corps for service in Leyte and Luzon, nothing came of several proposals to utilise it in the liberation of these islands. The Army's prolonged period of relative inactivity during 1944 led to public concern, and many Australians believed that the AIF should be demobilised if it could not be used for offensive operations. This was politically embarrassing for the government, and helped motivate it to look for new areas where the military could be employed.
Mopping up in New Guinea and the Solomons In late 1944, the Australian Government committed twelve Australian Army brigades to replace six US Army divisions which were conducting defensive roles in
Bougainville,
New Britain and the Aitape-Wewak area in New Guinea. While the US units had largely conducted a static defence of their positions, their Australian replacements mounted offensive operations designed to destroy the remaining Japanese forces in these areas. The value of these campaigns was controversial at the time and remains so to this day. The Australian Government authorised these operations for primarily political reasons. It was believed that keeping the Army involved in the war would give Australia greater influence in any post-war peace conferences and that liberating Australian territories would enhance Australia's influence in its region. Critics of these campaigns argue that they were unnecessary and wasteful of the lives of the Australian soldiers involved as the Japanese forces were already isolated and ineffective. The division conducted amphibious landings at Open Bay and Wide Bay at the base of the
Gazelle Peninsula in early 1945, and defeated the small Japanese garrisons in these areas. By April the Japanese had been confined to their fortified positions in the Gazelle Peninsula by the Australian force's aggressive patrolling. The 5th Division suffered 53 fatalities and 140 wounded during this campaign. After the war it was found that the Japanese force was 93,000 strong, which was much higher than the 38,000 which Allied intelligence had estimated remained on New Britain. While the XIV Corps had maintained a defensive posture, the Australians conducted offensive operations aimed at destroying the Japanese force on Bougainville. As the Japanese were split into several enclaves the II Corps fought geographically separated campaigns in the north, centre and southern portions of the island. The main focus was against the Japanese base at Buin in the south, and the offensives in the north and centre of the island were largely suspended from May 1945. While Australian operations on Bougainville continued until the end of the war, large Japanese forces remained at Buin and in the north of the island. The 6th Division was assigned responsibility for
completing the destruction of the
Japanese Eighteenth Army, which was the last large Japanese force remaining in the Australian portion of New Guinea. The division was reinforced by CMF and armoured units and began arriving at
Aitape in October 1944. The 6th Division was also supported by several RAAF squadrons and RAN warships. In late 1944, the Australians launched a two-pronged offensive to the east towards
Wewak. The 17th Brigade advanced through the inland
Torricelli Mountains while the remainder of the division moved along the coast. Although the Eighteenth Army had suffered heavy casualties from previous fighting and disease, it mounted a strong resistance and inflicted significant casualties. The 6th Division's advance was also hampered by supply difficulties and bad weather. The Australians secured the coastal area by early May, with Wewak being captured on 10 May, after a small force was landed to the east of the town. By the end of the war, the Eighteenth Army had been forced into what it had designated its 'last stand' area which was under attack from the 6th Division. The Aitape-Wewak campaign cost Australia 442 lives while about 9,000 Japanese died and another 269 were taken prisoner.
Borneo campaign The
Borneo campaign of 1945 was the last major Allied campaign in the SWPA. In a series of amphibious assaults between 1 May and 21 July, the Australian I Corps, under Lieutenant General
Leslie Morshead, attacked Japanese forces occupying the island. Allied naval and air forces, centred on the
US 7th Fleet under Admiral
Thomas Kinkaid, 1TAF and the US
Thirteenth Air Force also played important roles in the campaign. The goals of this campaign were to capture Borneo's oilfields and
Brunei Bay to support the US-led invasion of Japan and British-led
liberation of Malaya which were planned to take place later in 1945. The Australian Government did not agree to MacArthur's proposal to extend the offensive to include the liberation of Java in July 1945, however, and its decision to not release the 6th Division for this operation contributed to it not going ahead. The campaign opened on 1 May 1945, when the
26th Brigade Group landed on the small island of
Tarakan off the east coast of Borneo. The goal of this operation was to secure the island's airstrip as a base to support the planned landings at
Brunei and
Balikpapan. While it had been expected that it would take only a few weeks to secure Tarakan and re-open the airstrip,
intensive fighting on the island lasted until 19 June, and the airstrip was not opened until 28 June. As a result, the operation is generally considered to have not been worthwhile. . The second phase of the Borneo campaign began on 10 June when the 9th Division
conducted simultaneous assaults on the north-west on the island of
Labuan and the coast of Brunei. While Brunei was quickly secured, the Japanese garrison on Labuan
held out for over a week. After the
Brunei Bay region was secured the
24th Brigade was
landed in North Borneo and the 20th Brigade advanced along the western coast of Borneo south from Brunei. Both brigades rapidly advanced against weak Japanese resistance, and most of north-west Borneo was liberated by the end of the war. During the campaign the 9th Division was assisted by indigenous fighters who were waging a guerrilla war against Japanese forces with the support of Australian special forces. The third and final stage of the Borneo campaign was the capture of Balikpapan on the central east coast of the island. This operation had been opposed by General Blamey, who believed that it was unnecessary, but went ahead on the orders of Macarthur. After a preliminary air and naval bombardment the 7th Division landed near the town on 1 July. Balikpapan and its surrounds
were secured after some heavy fighting on 21 July, but mopping up continued until the end of the war. The capture of Balikpapan was the last large-scale land operation conducted by the Western Allies during World War II. Although the Borneo campaign was criticised in Australia at the time, and in subsequent years, as pointless or a waste of the lives of soldiers, it did achieve a number of objectives, such as increasing the isolation of significant Japanese forces occupying the main part of the
Dutch East Indies, capturing major oil supplies and freeing Allied prisoners of war, who were being held in deteriorating conditions. Australia's leadership changed again during the Borneo campaign. Prime Minister Curtin suffered a heart attack in November 1944, and Deputy Prime Minister
Frank Forde acted in his place until 22 January 1945. Curtin was hospitalised with another bout of illness in April 1945, and Treasurer
Ben Chifley became acting prime minister as Forde was attending the
San Francisco Conference. Curtin died on 5 July 1945, and Forde was sworn in as prime minister. Forde did not have the support of his party, however, and was replaced by Chifley after a
leadership ballot on 13 July.
Intelligence and special forces in Brisbane Australia developed large
intelligence services during the war. Prior the outbreak of war the Australian military possessed almost no intelligence gathering facilities and was reliant on information passed on by the British intelligence services. Several small
signals intelligence units were established in 1939 and 1940, which had some success intercepting and deciphering Japanese transmissions before the outbreak of the Pacific War. MacArthur began organising large scale intelligence services shortly after his arrival in Australia. On 15 April 1942, the joint Australian-US
Central Bureau signals intelligence organisation was established at Melbourne. Central Bureau's headquarters moved to Brisbane in July 1942, and
Manila in May 1945. Australians made up half the strength of Central Bureau, which was expanded to over 4,000 personnel by 1945. The Australian Army and RAAF also provided most of the Allied radio interception capability in the SWPA, and the number of Australian radio interception units was greatly expanded between 1942 and 1945. Central Bureau broke a number of Japanese codes and the intelligence gained from these decryptions and radio
direction finding greatly assisted Allied forces in the SWPA. in New Guinea during July 1943 Australian
special forces played a significant role in the Pacific War. Following the outbreak of war
commando companies were deployed to Timor, the Solomon and Bismarck islands and New Caledonia. Although the
1st Independent Company was swiftly overwhelmed when the Japanese invaded the Solomon Islands in early 1942, the
2/2nd and
2/4th Independent Companies waged a successful guerrilla campaign on Timor which lasted from February 1942 to February 1943, when the Australian force was evacuated. Other commando units also played an important role in the New Guinea, New Britain, Bougainville and Borneo campaigns throughout the war where they were used to collect intelligence, spearhead offensives and secure the flanks of operations conducted by conventional infantry. Australia also formed small-scale raiding and reconnaissance forces, most of which were grouped together as the
Allied Intelligence Bureau.
Z Special Unit conducted raids far behind the front line, including a successful
raid on Singapore in September 1943.
M Special Unit, coastwatchers and smaller AIB units also operated behind Japanese lines to collect intelligence. AIB parties were often used to support Australian Army units and were assigned to inappropriate tasks such as tactical reconnaissance and liaison. AIB missions in Timor and Dutch New Guinea were also hampered by being placed under the command of unpopular Dutch colonial administrators. The RAAF formed a specially equipped unit (
No. 200 Flight) in 1945 to support these operations by transporting and supplying AIB parties in areas held by the Japanese.
Operations against the Japanese home islands Australia played a minor role in the
Japan campaign in the last months of the war and was preparing to participate in the
invasion of Japan at the time the war ended. Several Australian warships operated with the
British Pacific Fleet (BPF) during the
Battle of Okinawa and Australian destroyers later escorted British aircraft carriers and battleships during attacks on targets in the
Japanese home islands. Despite its distance from Japan, Australia was the BPF's main base and a large number of facilities were built to support the fleet. Australia's participation in the planned invasion of Japan would have involved elements of all three services fighting as part of Commonwealth forces. It was planned to form a new
10th Division from existing AIF personnel which would form part of the
Commonwealth Corps with British, Canadian and New Zealand units. The corps' organisation was to be identical to that of a US Army corps, and it would have participated in the invasion of the Japanese home island of
Honshū which was scheduled for March 1946. Australian ships would have operated with the BPF and US Pacific Fleet and two RAAF heavy bomber squadrons and a transport squadron were scheduled to be redeployed from Britain to Okinawa to join the
strategic bombardment of Japan as part of
Tiger Force. Planning for operations against Japan ceased in August 1945, when
Japan surrendered following the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. General Blamey signed the
Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of Australia during the ceremony held on board on 2 September 1945. Several RAN warships were
among the Allied ships anchored in
Tokyo Bay during the proceedings. Following the main ceremony on board
Missouri, Japanese field commanders surrendered to Allied forces across the Pacific Theatre. Australian forces accepted the surrender of their Japanese opponents at ceremonies conducted at Morotai, several locations in Borneo, Timor, Wewak, Rabaul, Bougainville and Nauru. ==Australians in other theatres==