1916 — During patrols into no-man’s land near Armentieres, Australian troops captured a German soldier out in the open; it was their first prisoner taken on the Western Front.
1941 — With German forces rapidly overrunning Crete, allied warships begin evacuating personnel from the Island.
1945 — On Bougainville, the 57th/60th Battalion fought the Battle of Commando Road, driving on the main Japanese base at Buin.
1965 — A fighting patrol from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment conducted a large-scale ambush against Indonesian troops at Sungei Koemba.
1965 — HMAS Sydney (III) departs on its first trip to South Vietnam, known as the ‘Vung Tau Ferry’, transporting a battlegroup based on the 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. These soldiers would become the first Australian troops to conduct combat operations in Vietnam. Sydney was escorted by HMA Ships Melbourne, Duchess and Parramatta.
1968 — Three Australian soldiers are killed defending Fire Support Base Balmoral against a heavy Communist assault.
1986 — HMAS Flinders arrives in the Solomon Islands’ capital of Honiara to aid reconstruction after Cyclone Namu.
1965 — Leading elements of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment arrived at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. They were the first Australian troops deployed to conduct combat operations in the Vietnam War.
2006 — Amidst an incipient civil war and total breakdown in law and order, Australian troops launch Operation ASTUTE in East Timor. Special Forces secure Dili International Airport while RAAF transport aircraft of 33, 36, and 37 Squadrons begin ferrying peacekeeping troops to restore order.
1915 — Senior British Imperial and Ottoman commanders organise a large-scale ceasefire to collect and bury the dead at Anzac Cove.
1965 — Elements of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment conduct the first combat patrol into Indonesian territory on Borneo under Operation CLARET during the Konfrontasi.
1966 — Pvt Erol Noack was accidentally killed by friendly fire in South Vietnam. He was the first Australian National Serviceman to lose his life in that conflict.
1942 — Kanga Force, an ad hoc deep operations commando unit, are moved to Wau to commence operations behind Japanese lines in Papua New Guinea.
1940 — The Australian Government announces the formation of the 8th Division.
1971 — The 4th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment becomes the final Australian combat unit to arrive in South Vietnam for operational duties.
1945 — The ‘Kapooka Tragedy’ occurs when 26 soldiers are killed by the premature detonation of explosives they were handling in a bunker. It remains the deadliest training accident in Australian military history.
1993 — The 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, aboard HMAS Tobruk and HMAS Jervis Bay, depart Mogadishu at the end of Australia’s contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping in Somalia known as Operation SOLACE.
1915 — Following the previous day’s heavy fighting, British-born Colonel Robert Owen, a veteran of the New South Wales Contingent for Sudan in 1885 and temporary commander of the NSW-raised 1st Brigade, organises a short, informal truce with Ottoman forces to collect the wounded and dead on both sides.
1941 — The German Invasion of Crete begins with a massive airborne landing. The Australian 19th Brigade fought a heavy action at Rethymo (Retimo) while the New South Wales-raised 2/4th Battalion defended the airfield outside Heraklion.
1915 — Ottoman troops launch a huge attack to overrun Australian forces at Anzac Cove, failing with over 10 000 casualties. Victorian Albert Jacka was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.
1915 — John Simpson Kirkpatrick, a medic on Gallipoli known as the man with the donkey, is killed by an Ottoman sniper.