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.

1915 — Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges, who was born in Scotland and settled in Moss Vale, died of a wound sustained three days earlier at Anzac Cove. Bridges commanded the Australian 1st Division for the beginning of the campaign and is the only identified Australian fatality of the Great War buried on Australian soil.

1885 — The New South Wales Contingent to the Sudan departed after two months’ service.

1900 — The town of Mafeking, under siege by Boer forces for seven months, was relieved by a British force including the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. 

1901 — During fighting at Brakpan during the Second Boer War, Lt Frederick Bell of the Western Australian Mounted Infantry rescued a wounded man under heavy fire, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

1943 — 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force conducts Operation CHASTISE, attacking several dams with ‘bouncing bombs’ to flood German industrial areas. Thirteen Australian personnel took part, including F.O. Harold ‘Micky’ Martin of Edgecliff, Fl Lt Jack Leggo of Lake Macquarie, and Fl Sgt Bob Kellow of Newcastle.

1942 — Australian prisoners of war in Japanese captivity began to be transported from Singapore to work on the Thai-Burma Railway.

1945 — After four days of fighting, troops from the Australian 6th Division seize the town of Wewak, which by then was the last Japanese stronghold in Papua New Guinea. Victorian Pvt Edward Kenna of the New South Wales raised 2/4th Battalion was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the battle.

2001 — HMAS Darwin arrived in the Solomon Islands to assist with peacekeeping operations.

1943 — The AHS Centaur, a hospital ship, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in waters off Brisbane. Of 332 souls aboard, only 64 survived the sinking.

1968 — When his unit was ambushed during a patrol around Fire Support Base Coral, Gundagai-born Pvt Richard Norden, serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment, charged enemy positions three times to rescue wounded comrades and regain the initiative. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for this action in 2024.