Media backgrounders

The German Spring Offensive comprised three major attacks launched on the Western Front in March, April and May 1918.

On 6 June 1944, D-Day, thousands of British, Canadian, French and United States paratroopers began landing behind the invasion beaches to secure the allied flanks, destroy artillery positions and seize and hold vital junctions and causeways until infantry and armour could make their way inland.

The Japanese ceasefire took effect on 15 August 1945, following the threat of invasion and Allied bombings. The official surrender ceremony, however, took place on 2 September 1945 on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

On 7 May 1945 Germany signed an unconditional surrender on all fronts. The surrender took effect from midnight 8–9 May, with 8 May declared Victory in Europe (VE) Day. This brought an end to the war against Germany and her European allies that had spread across Europe, the Middle East and the Atlantic Ocean, lasting for five years and eight months. However, the war in the Pacific continued until Japan surrendered in August that year.

Australia's involvement in East Timor (later Timor-Leste) from the Second World War to the International Stablisation Force established in 2006.

The Battle of Milne Bay was the Allies’ first defeat of Japanese forces on land during the Second World War.

To meet a possible threat from Japan, Australian personnel, in the form of three RAAF squadrons had been based in Malaya and Singapore since 1940. They were followed in 1941 by an additional RAAF Squadron and the Australian 8th Division and supporting units. On 8 December 1941 the Japanese invaded the Malayan peninsula, marking the beginning of the Malayan Campaign.

The fall of Singapore occurred on 15 February 1942 when all Allied troops were ordered to lay down their arms at 8.30pm. Some 15,000 Australians became Prisoners of War (POW) on Singapore. Besides Singapore, other Australians were captured in Java, Timor, Ambon and New Britain. Some 8,000 Australians lost their lives while in Japanese captivity. This figure represents nearly a quarter of Australian deaths in the Second World War.

Before December 1941 the Second World War was fought mainly by the great European powers and soldiers from their respective empires. Japan’s entry into the war changed the situation dramatically. The Malayan Campaign, including the fall of Singapore, led to the capture of more Australians than in any campaign before or since.

In December 1941, the Pacific War began with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, and the invasion of Malaya. By mid-1942, having conquered most of South-East Asia, Japanese forces were fighting the British in Burma, their aim being an offensive against India. To maintain their armies in Burma, the Japanese needed a more secure supply route than the sea-lanes used between Singapore and Rangoon. They decided to construct a railway, 420km long, through jungles and mountains from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma.