Axis covert raiding ships and submarines struck at shipping and shore targets around Australia, including a submarine attack on Sydney Harbour.Įvents Main article: Australian eventsĪustralian national focus tree. The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time in 1942, when Japanese aircraft launched a major bombing attack on Darwin in February, and attacked many other towns in northern Australia.
The most intensive and numerically largest part of Australia's war effort came after the outbreak of hostilities with Japan in late 1941. German submarines and raiding ships operated in Australian waters throughout the war. Later that year the Australian Army entered campaigns against Italy and Germany in North Africa and Greece. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) commenced operations against Italy after its entry into the war in June 1940. Although it was ill-prepared for war, the Australian government immediately assigned to the war effort units already in the UK (such as No 10 Squadron RAAF), and soon had dispatched other Royal Australian Air Force squadrons and personnel to serve with the Royal Air Force. More than one million Australian men served in the war out of a total population of around seven million. Prime Minister Robert Menzies considered that the British declaration legally bound Australia, and he announced that a state of war now existed between Australia and Germany as a direct consequence of the British declaration. However, Australia did not make a separate declaration of war.
Historical background Īustralia was among the first countries to announce it was at war with Germany, on 3 September 1939.
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