1918 — Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux begins. Australian and British troops fought to regain the town that had been captured just three weeks earlier. There were 1469 Australian casualties, many due to mustard gas.
1918 — For his inspirational gallantry during the battle at Villers-Bretonneux, Lieutenant Clifford Sadlier earned a Victoria Cross.
1918 — Eleven volunteers from HMAS Australia took part in a raid on Ostend and Zeebrugge, Belgium, aimed at preventing the Germans from using these ports as bases for their submarines.
1916 — HMAS Australia and HMS New Zealand collided in the North Sea. As a result of the damage sustained in the collision, Australia could not participate in the Battle of Jutland.
1941 — The evacuation of Greece began, marking the end of an ill-conceived campaign which lasted only three weeks.
1944 — HMA Ships Australia, Shropshire, Arunta, and Warramunga provided covering fire for the landing of troops from HMA Ships Westralia, Kanimbla and Manoora at Humboldt Bay, Dutch New Guinea.
1917 — The Imperial War Graves Commission, now known as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, responsible for the erection and maintenance of war memorials and cemeteries, was founded.
1918 — Baron Manfred von Richthofen, ‘The Red Baron’, was shot down near Amiens, France. His body was recovered and buried by members of 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.
1969 — HMAS Hobart was awarded a United States Navy Unit Citation for her service in Vietnam.
1915 — A ‘Half Flight’ of the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) embarked for service in Mesopotamia. Following a request from the British Government in India for air support for the Indian troops fighting the Ottomans in Mesopotamia, the AFC, still in its infancy, could provide enough air and ground crews for only half of a flight.
1941 — ANZAC troops, faced with the advance of the numerically stronger and better organised German troops, withdrew to the Thermopylae Line, Greece.
1944 — HMA Ships Quiberon, Napier, Nepal, and Nizam were part of a large force attacking the Japanese at Sabang, Sumatra. The success of this action, which included the destruction of oil installations, radar stations, shipping, and port facilities, contributed to the cessation of Japanese hostilities in Burma.
1941 — Battle of Tempe (Pinior) Gorge, Greece. The Australian 2/2nd and 2/3rd Battalions and the 21st New Zealand Battalion stemmed a German advance, enabling the Allies to establish a defensive line across the Thermopylae Peninsula.
1942 — Prime Minister Curtin handed operational control of all combat sections of the Australian Navy, Army, and Air Force to Lieutenant General MacArthur.
1966 — The first National Service troops departed for service in Vietnam.
1917 — A second attack on the Ottoman stronghold at Gaza was repulsed by its defenders, inflicting over 6000 Allied casualties.
1918 — Battle of Kemmel, Belgium. Kemmel Ridge was a key feature on the France/Belgium border. Troops of the 9th and 10th Battalions, and the 4th Light Horse withstood several assaults by German forces between 17-19 April.
1945 — Halifax bomber MZ467 of 462 Squadron RAAF, was shot down by a German night-fighter. This was the last Halifax to be shot down by a night-fighter in the Second World War.
1895 — The Royal Navy depot at Circular Quay was transferred to Garden Island.
1941 — During a single patrol in a period of aggressive night raids and patrols around the perimeter of the besieged port of Tobruk, 2/48th Battalion troops captured 803 prisoners. There were two Australian casualties.
1967 — HMAS Hobart began her involvement in Operation SEA DRAGON during the Vietnam War.
1915 — Lieutenant Charles Pope was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at Louverval, France. Having been ordered ‘to hold this post at all costs’, Pope and his men, depleted of ammunition, charged a large German force. Later, his body, and those of his men, was found close to 80 dead Germans.
1942 — HMAS Vendetta, which had been stranded in dry-dock in Singapore when the Japanese invaded, arrived in Melbourne after being towed over 8000Km in 72 days.