Key Dates in Australia's Military History: World War Two – 1943
<< previous | content | next >>
Australian airman of No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, (RAAF) returns from a raid over Germany, 18 August 1943.
(AWM UK000402)
November 1942 – January 1943
Battle of the Beachheads: Buna, Gona and Sanananda. With the fall of Sanananda on 22 January, organised Japanese resistance in Papua ceases.
January–September
Battle of Wau (29 January – 9 February) followed by Wau–Salamaua campaign in New Guinea (April–September)
January–October
Australian prisoners of war involved in the construction of the Burma–Thailand Railway—the ‘railway of death’.
19 February
Parliament approves Defence (Citizen Military Forces) Bill, authorising the use of conscripts outside of Australian territory in the South-West Pacific war zone.
2–4 March
RAAF takes part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
16 March
Flight Lieutenant WE Newton is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming the only member of the RAAF awarded the Victoria Cross in the Pacific War.
14 May
Australian Hospital Ship Centaur, crewed by members of the Australian Merchant Seaman, is sunk by a Japanese submarine off the South Queensland Coast. Only 64 of the 333 people on board survive.Sister Ellen Sawage is awarded the George Medal for her THIS TEXT NEEDS TO BE REVIEWED.
August–March 1944
RAAF aircrew in RAF Bomber Command takes part in the Battle of Berlin.
4 September
Australians land near Lae, New Guinea. Lae is captured on 16 September.
September–November
Australians defeat Japanese forces on Huon Peninsula, New Guinea.
26 September
Operation Jaywick—a Special Operations Australia (SOA) unit operating from the fishing vessel Krait mines Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour. More than 37,000 tons of enemy shipping are sunk.