1942— Battle of Koepang. Japanese troops land in Timor and face a spirited resistance from the Australian troops but the battle cost 84 Australian lives.

1915— Allied warships attempted to force a passage through the Dardanelles against Ottoman defences. The failure of this attempt led to the disastrous Gallipoli campaign. 

1942—Japanese aircraft attack Darwin, the first of 64 attacks on Darwin and its surrounds over the next twenty months. At least 243 people were killed in the attack, including Wing Commander Archibald Tindal who became the first RAAF member to die on active service on Australian soil.

1917— HMAT Berrima is torpedoed in the English Channel by German submarine U-84. She was badly damaged, and four lives were lost.

1941— Australian troops arrived in Singapore.  Recognising that Singapore was vital to the defence of Australia, the 8th Australian Division was sent to bolster the island’s defence if the Japanese entered the war.

1900— Troops of the New South Wales Mounted Rifles take part in the attack of Paardeberg, South Africa.  This attack led to the surrender of Boer General Piet Cronje and 4000 of his troops. 

1970— 8 RAR and 1st Armoured Regiment were engaged in the Battle of Long Hai, Vietnam. 8 RAR was awarded a Meritorious Unit Citation including the Cross of Valour with Palm Unit Citation by the South Vietnamese Government for this action.

1942— Banka Island Massacre – Following the sinking of the SS Vyner Brook, many survivors reached the shore of Banka Island, where they sought to surrender. Instead, Japanese soldiers machine-gunned all able-bodied men and forced 22 Australian nurses and a British civilian woman to wade into the sea, where they were also gunned down. The remaining immobile survivors were bayoneted, but Australian nurse Sister Vivian Bullwinkel pretended to be dead and became the sole surviving nurse.

1942— Singapore is surrendered to the Japanese Army by Lieutenant General Arthur Percival. Over 100,000 Allied troops, including more than 15,000 Australians, were taken prisoner.

1900— The relief of Kimberley, Orange Free State, South Africa. A major operation undertaken to break the Boer siege of the town. Five hundred Australians of the Queensland Mounted Infantry, New South Wales Mounted Rifles and New South Wales Lancers were involved in the breaking of the siege.

1942— The SS Vyner Brook, with the last refugees to escape from Singapore after the Japanese invasion, was bombed and sank off Banka Island.  Sixty-five nurses and many wounded were among the passengers.

1945— Australian Lancaster squadrons take part in a devastating raid on Dresden.

1946— Troops of the 34th Australian Infantry Brigade disembarked at Kure, Japan, as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, or BCOF. Approximately 16,000 Australians served with BCOF, tasked with enforcing the conditions of Japan’s surrender.

1972— The RAAF ceased flying in Vietnam. The last flight was by No 35 Squadron, flying Caribou transport planes.

1900— Pink Hill, South Africa, defended by a force of 95 Australians and 100 British troops, was attacked by about 1,800 Boer troops. The resultant fighting led to seven Australian deaths and the wounding of 22.

1940— The first convoy of Second Australian Imperial Force soldiers arrived in the Middle East, where they began preparations for Australia’s first land campaign of the Second World War.

1891— The clipper ship Sobraon was purchased by the NSW Government as a replacement for the boy’s training ship Vernon.  Sobraon was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS Tingira in 1912.

1944— HMAS Launceston, HMAS Ipswich, and HMIS Jumna sink the Japanese submarine RO-110 in the Indian Ocean.

1970— RAN Clearance Diving Team 3 completed a 9-day search and destroy mission in the Phu Cuong area of Vietnam. Three enemy bunkers and a large quantity of ordnance was destroyed.