1942— Battle of Templeton’s Crossing, New Guinea.  This battle continued the effort by Australian troops to clear the Kokoda Trail as the Japanese were pushed northwards.

1971— HMAS Brisbane returns to Australia from Vietnam, marking the end of the RAN’s combat role in the Vietnam War.

1917— HMAShips PARRAMATTA, SWAN, HUON, WARREGO, YARRA, and TORRENS began operations in the Mediterranean Sea  to assist in the containment of Austro-Hungarian ships in the Adriatic Sea. This operation was known as the OTRANTO BARRAGE

1944— Gen Erwin ROMMEL, the Desert Fox, facing trial for treason for his alleged role in a plot to kill Hitler, committed suicide

1944— Athens and Piraeus liberated by Allied troops

1950— 3 RAR suffered its first casualties in the KOREAN WAR

1942— HMAS Launceston rescued 61 crew members of the merchant ship Martaban which had been torpedoed south of Sri Lanka.

1943— Italy declares war on Germany (Second World War).

1969— HMAS Brisbane returned to Sydney after its first deployment to Vietnam.

1899— The Boer War commences in South Africa.

1917— First Battle of Passchendaele, part of the Ypres offensive, began in Belgium. All five of the Australian divisions were involved and sustained 38,000 casualties, one of the costliest engagements of the First World War.

1917— Captain Clarence Jeffries, 34th Battalion, won a Victoria Cross for his bravery during the Battle of Passchendaele.

1914— Komet, yacht of the German Governor of Deutsch-Neuguinea (in today’s Papua New Guinea), was captured by Australian sailors. Komet was refitted and returned to the war as HMAS Una.

1944— Australians landed at Jacquinot Bay, New Britain. This force opened a campaign in which a small militia force successfully contained a large Japanese garrison at Rabaul.

1942— HMAS Nizam and HMS Foxhound attacked German submarine U159 200Km south-east of Cape Town, South Africa. The submarine dived and escaped.

1899— President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic orders the British Government to withdraw reinforcements sent to South Africa.

1917— Battle of Poelcappelle, part of the Ypres offensive. Rain, mud, and lack of support doomed the effort, with the Australians suffering 1,250 casualties.

1917— Trawlers operating as minesweepers destroyed 13 mines off Gabo Island on the south coast of New South Wales.

1942— The Australian 25th Brigade engaged in the Battle of Templeton’s Crossing, New Guinea when they encountered Japanese troops retreating along the Kokoda Trail.