When Britain declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, the Australian Prime Minister R.G. Menzies considered it the duty of the Australian people to join the British in their fight against German expansion. Menzies committed Australian forces to the conflict on the same day that war was announced, and declared on radio: 'It is my melancholy duty to inform you officially, that in consequences of a persistence by Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her and that, as a result, Australia is also at war'.
Australia was quick to mobilise. Two days after war was declared the second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was formed, like the first AIF, from volunteers. The second AIF comprised four infantry divisions, the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. In addition, approximately 26 000 Australian air crew were sent to serve with the British Royal Air Force, most of whom flew with Bomber Command, which conducted bombing raids over Europe.
At the beginning of the war, the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions were deployed in the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, and first saw action in 1941. Australians played an important role in the capture and siege of the port town of Tobruk, Libya, in January 1941 and later in the war contributed to the Allied victory in El Alamein, Egypt, in October 1942. The 8th Division was sent to fight against the Japanese, who entered the war in December 1941 after they bombed American ships in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In February 1942 the 8th Division suffered heavy loses in Singapore when Japan invaded the region, including Malaya, Burma and the Dutch East Indies. Soldiers from this division made up a large proportion of the 8200 Australians taken prisoner by the Japanese during the war.
Japan began bombing Darwin in the same month but Britain, Australia's traditional ally, was unable to offer any real assistance to the Australian Government. Australia approached the United States of America (USA), who had suffered significant loses as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, for assistance. The USA was given control of the Allied forces in the South-West Pacific Region under the command of Douglas MacArthur and brought in reinforcements. Initially the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) had been sent to serve with the British, but was recalled after Japan entered the war. In May 1942 the RAN was involved in the Battle of the Coral Sea that successfully stopped Japan invading Port Moresby and the island of New Guinea. The 6th and 7th Divisions of the AIF were also recalled to the Pacific to join American soldiers in defending Australia and the Pacific region.
In1943 and 1944 AIF divisions served on the north coast of Papua and New Guinea before being sent to Borneo, New Britain and then back to New Guinea. The Allied forces began to halt the advance of the Japanese during 1945 and on 6 and 9 August brought an end to the war when they dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On 15 August 1945 the Japanese surrendered and the war ended - Germany had already surrendered to the Allied forces in Europe on 8 May.
Over 1 million Australians served during World War II, 39 000 people losing their lives at a time when Australia's population was over 7 million.
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