1941 — Japanese forces landed at Penang, Malaya, in their drive down the Malay peninsula.
1944— HMAS Napier provided support for Allied troop attacks around St Martins Island, Burma, with close-range gunfire.
1944 — In the largest operation of its type, twenty-four RAAF PBY Catalina aircraft took off from Leyte to mine Manila Bay. One failed to return resulting in the loss of nine personnel.
1914— Lieutenant Norman Holbrook RN was awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery as the Commanding Officer of Royal Navy submarine HMS B11, in penetrating the Dardanelles and sinking a Turkish warship. The NSW town of Germanton was renamed Holbrook in his honour.
1915— Australian Light Horse troops were deployed against pro-Turkish Arab forces, known as the Senussi, at Um Rakham, Egypt.
1942— HMA Ships Colac, Ballarat, Broome, and Whyalla landed troops at Buna.
1941 — In response to the increasing threat from Japan, the War Cabinet of the Australian Government decided that women and children should be evacuated from Darwin.
1918— HMAS Brisbane arrived in Sevastopol, Russia, in support of White Russian forces fighting against revolutionary Bolshevik forces.
1941—The corvette HMAS Goulburn captured the Japanese fish carrier, Kofuku Maru off Singapore. The vessel was taken to Colombo and later renamed Krait.
1941— British warships HMS Prince Of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by Japanese planes off Malaya. Midshipman Robert Davies RAN commanded of one of Repulse’s guns and brought down several enemy aircraft after the order to abandon ship had been given.
1942— Operation FAUNA began in Korea. It was 1 RAR’s last action of the Korean War.
1917 — The Desert Mounted Corps occupied Jerusalem. The capture of this city was one of the triumphs for British Empire’s forces in the Middle East.
1942 — Australian troops occupied Gona, Papua New Guinea.
1917 — An aircraft was successfully launched for the first time from a platform on a gun turret in HMAS Sydney. This was the first successful aircraft take-off from an Australian ship.
1941 — In the first air action of the war in the Pacific, aircraft from No 1 Squadron RAAF attacked a Japanese naval convoy off Kota Bharu, Malaya.
1941 — Australia announces that it was at war with Japan. Some 17,000 Australians would die during the war in the Pacific.
1915 — The Evacuation of ANZAC Forces from Gallipoli commences. The Evacuation took place without loss of life.
1941 — The Japanese attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. It marked the beginning of the war in the Pacific against the forces of the Japanese Empire.
1940 — The Corvette HMAS Bathurst is launched. She is the first of 60 ships in her class to be built, of which 56 would serve with the RAN.
1951 — HMAS Sydney began its second patrol off the Korea Peninsular. Sydney’s aircraft were used to protect South Korean held islands of the north-west coast.