Australia in World War I

Even before Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914, the nation pledged its support alongside other states of the British Empire and almost immediately began preparations to send forces overseas to engage in the conflict.

The AIF departed Australia in November 1914 and, after several delays due to the presence of German naval vessels in the Indian Ocean, arrived in Egypt, where they were initially used to defend the Suez Canal.

[3] Within days, plans for an Australian expeditionary force were completed by Brigadier General William Throsby Bridges and his staff officer, Major Cyril Brudenell Bingham White.

Sydney and the destroyer HMAS Warrego landed small parties of naval reservists at the settlements of Kabakaul and the German gubernatorial capital Herbertshöhe on Neu-Pommern, south-east of Rabaul.

[10] A small 25-man force of naval reservists was subsequently landed at Kabakaul Bay and continued inland to capture the radio station believed to be in operation at Bita Paka, 4 miles (7 km) to the south.

Upon their arrival in Egypt in November, the 1st Division moved to Camp Mena, near Cairo, where they were used to defend the Suez Canal against Turkey, which had declared war on 29 October; the Australians commenced a period of training to prepare them for combat on the Western Front as it was still expected that they would be sent to England for deployment in the European theatre.

[31] Overcrowding and shortages of equipment in England meant that it was decided to keep the Anzacs in Egypt during the European winter, during which time they would undertake further training to prepare them for their eventual use in the trenches in France.

The British Secretary of State for War, Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, appointed General Sir Ian Hamilton to command the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) that was to carry out the mission.

[53] Meanwhile, the landing at Suvla Bay was only lightly opposed but the British commander, Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stopford, had so diluted his early objectives that little more than the beach was seized.

[58] In March 1916, the infantry began to move to France while the cavalry units stayed in the area and fought Turkish troops and the Senussi Arab tribes that were threatening British control of Egypt.

Chauvel, with the agreement of Lieutenant General Philip Chetwode commanding the Desert Column who had arrived earlier that day, set out to attack the Turkish forces at Magdhaba with the Anzac Mounted Division.

[99] From 1 to 7 November, strong Turkish rearguards at Tel el Khuweilfe in the southern Judean Hills, at Hareira and Sheria on the maritime plain and at Sausage Ridge and Gaza close to the Mediterranean coast, held the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in heavy fighting.

Its 53rd (Welsh) Division and corps cavalry, together with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, were deployed in the front line near Tel el Khuweilfe, in the Judean Hills north of Beersheba.

[143] Two days after taking over the line, the 2nd Division was thrown into a hastily planned attack that resulted in further casualties when the Germans spotted the Australians forming up and once again subjected them to the weight of their artillery and machine guns.

During the Second Battle of the Somme the Australian Corps fought actions at Lihons, Etinehem, Proyart, Chuignes, and Mont St Quentin, before taking part in their final engagement of the war on 5 October 1918 at Montbrehain.

[169] Australian casualties during these battles were very high and coupled with the drying up of reinforcements from Australia, the rejection of the proposal to introduce conscription and the granting of home leave to men who been serving since 1914 meant that by the end of the war the AIF was stretched to the limit.

[173] The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was formed in March 1914 and was soon deployed to German New Guinea, with one BE2c aircraft and crew dispatched with the AN&MEF, although the colonies surrendered before the plane was even unpacked.

Flying underpowered and unreliable aircraft such as the Caudron, Maurice Farman Longhorn and Martinsyde, the Half-Flight suffered a high attrition rate, losing two killed and six captured out of its strength of just nine pilots.

[181] Notably during this time Lieutenant Frank McNamara was awarded the Victoria Cross for rescuing another Australian pilot who had been shot down by ground fire and forced to land close to Turkish positions on 20 March 1917.

[181] At the outbreak of war the Royal Australian Navy consisted of the battlecruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruisers Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (under construction), the destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego, and the submarines AE1 and AE2.

[193] Six destroyers—the Warrego, Parramatta, Yarra, Swan, Torrens and Huon—were sent in response to this request, and undertook anti-submarine operations in the Adriatic, working out of Brindisi, Italy as part of the Otranto Barrage.

[195] In the early stages of mobilisation several militia infantry battalions were called out to carry out guard duties upon infrastructure that was considered important to the war effort, such as munitions factories, communications facilities, ammunition dumps and transportation centres.

[201] In February 1916 a large-scale effort by militia artillerymen to enlist in the artillery units that were being raised for the 3rd Division was prevented when they were called out to man the coastal defences due to the threat posed by a German commerce raider that was believed to be in the Pacific.

[201] In April 1918 the militia artillery was again mobilised, although this time only for a month, when news that the German commerce raiders Wolf and Seeadler had entered Australian waters the previous year.

[158] In Australia, public opinion regarding the matter was divided; many Australians opposed to the issue on moral grounds, feeling that the situation was not desperate enough to require such a drastic measure, but others felt it necessary to achieve final victory.

[213] These initial concerns were short lived, at least in the beginning as the British government provided assurances that it would underwrite a large amount of the war risk insurance for shipping to allow trade among the Commonwealth to continue.

This understanding proved particularly beneficial for the wool and wheat industries; the British government undertook to buy Australian products even though the shortage of shipping meant that there was no chance that they would ever receive them.

[223] Due to the size of the forces deployed overseas—roughly 167,000 personnel in France, Britain and Egypt—and the logistical requirements of bringing them home the process was a lengthy one and as such it became important to occupy the troops while they waited.

Although previously Australian foreign interests had been largely handled by Britain, as a combatant Australia sent its own delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and it also began to take a more assertive role in regional affairs in the Pacific.

At the peace conference Prime Minister Hughes pushed aggressively for reparations and an Australian mandate over German New Guinea; a stance which conflicted with the liberal internationalist inspired Fourteen Points put forward by American President Woodrow Wilson.

A group of soldiers walk across wooden duckboards that have been constructed over a waterlogged and muddy field. Shattered trees dot the landscape, with a low-lying haze in the background.
Soldiers from the 4th Division near Chateau Wood, Ypres, in 1917
Men in suits and hats file past other men sitting at a long table, handing over paperwork.
Men in Melbourne collecting recruitment papers
Australian government recruiting poster 1915 (using Edith Cavell 's "martyrdom")
A line of soldiers in tropical uniforms stand in front of a hut in a jungle clearing. In front of them stand a group of five men facing towards the camera.
The raising of the Australian flag on 16 December 1914 in Angorum, New Guinea
A submarine moves across the surface of the ocean, and two warships can be seen in the background.
The submarine AE1 with other Australian ships off Rossel Island on 9 September 1914. On 14 September it inexplicably disappeared during a patrol off Rabaul.
A large group of men in military uniform sit on the side of a large stone edifice.
Soldiers of 11th Battalion, AIF, posing on the Great Pyramid of Giza on 10 January 1915, before the landing at Gallipoli
A four-funnelled warship lies at anchor in a harbour.
The light cruiser HMAS Sydney (1912) in 1915. In November 1914, it engaged and defeated the German cruiser Emden off the Cocos Islands .
A soldier plays with a kangaroo, while in the middle distance other soldiers are formed up in ranks in front of tents. Two large pyramids are partially obscured by a large hill in the background.
Australian troops at Mena Camp, Egypt, December 1914, looking towards the Pyramids. Many Australian units brought kangaroos and other Australian animals with them to Egypt, and some were given to the Cairo Zoological Gardens when the units went to Gallipoli.
In the Front Line, Anzac Cove 1915 H84.356/33 State Library Victoria
A reproduction image of a painting in which a battle scene is depicted. The terrain is rocky and undulating and men in shorts and shirts carrying rifles are falling to the ground as they are shot down from defenders standing in another trench.
The Charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915 by George Lambert, 1924
Soldiers mounted on horses with rifles slung
Australian light horsemen on Walers
A soldier lies among the grass in the prone position behind a machine gun which he is holding in the shoulder.
An Australian soldier firing a Lewis Gun during the Battle of Magdhaba
A line of men on horses charge across an open field towards the camera.
Photograph claimed to be of the charge of the 4th Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba, although it may be a re-enactment taken in February 1918 [ 92 ]
The Be'er Sheva Anzac Memorial Centre, Israel
Australian camel company , January 1918
A line of soldiers in battle equipment face another soldier who is addressing them on a gentle slope. Behind them smoke or fog obscures the rest of the terrain.
A platoon from the 29th Battalion, AIF, is addressed by their commanding officer in August 1918. The third man from left appears to be carrying a Lewis Gun.
Bare-chested men in slouch hats and breeches stand by a large artillery piece, ready to load a shell.
Australian gunners about to load a shell into a 9.2-inch howitzer
Heavily laden soldiers trudge through mud past the shattered remains of a concrete structure. Around them broken trees, steel beams and other pieces of debris have been strewn.
The "Gibraltar" pillbox, Pozières, in late August. A fatigue party laden with sandbags heads for the fighting at Mouquet Farm.
Two soldiers operate a field gun from a dug-in position in an open field and reinforced with sandbags. Entrenching tools, spoil and broken vegetation lie around the emplacement, while some defoliated trees stand in the middle distance.
An Australian 18-pounder gun during the Battle of Bullecourt
A large stubby object resembling a tree trunk stands in a grassy field, devoid of leaves and branches. At the base is a door-like opening and some wooden form-work.
A dummy tree used as an observation post on Hill 63 by Australian troops during the battle of Messines in June 1917
Colour painting of a large illuminated sandstone arch under a darkened night sky. In the foreground the ghost-like figures of hundreds of soldiers stand in an empty field.
Menin Gate at Midnight by Will Longstaff (1927)
Heavy laden soldiers move through a communication trench during the daytime.
Men of the 6th Brigade during the Battle of Mont St Quentin
A group of men gather around a biplane. The Union Jack has been painted on to the tail of the aircraft.
Members of the Half Flight gather around a Short 827 seaplane.
Men standing in files behind biplanes. They are wearing slouch hats, service jackets and breeches.
No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps next to their Bristol fighters , at Mejdel in February 1918. The officer in the foreground (with stick) is Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams , DSO, commanding.
Different models of biplane fighters with their crews standing by
Members of the 7th Squadron in Tetbury England
A badly damaged ship sits in the water, while in the foreground sailors in another vessel watch on.
A broadside view of the wrecked German raider Emden
A large four-stacked warship billowing thick black smoke and moving through moderate seas
HMAS Melbourne operating with the Grand Fleet in 1918. She is carrying a Sopwith Camel on her forward six-inch gun turret.
A large gun encased in an open backed metal turret atop a fort
A six-inch gun at Fort Nepean in August 1914. This gun fired Australia's first shot of the war when the German merchant ship SS Pfalz attempted to escape from Port Philip Bay on 5 August 1914. [ 198 ] [ 199 ] [ 200 ]
A poster titled "The Blood Vote" depicts a woman pondering how she should vote on the issue of conscription, while the Australian prime minister, William Hughes, depicted as a vampire stands behind her. There is a poem included also.
An anti-conscription handbill poem issued before the 1917 plebiscite
The Australian Honour Flag , awarded to subscribers of the Australian Government's 7th War Loan in 1918
Soldiers walk down a station platform, while on either side of the platform are two trains. The men are wearing slouch hats and are carrying bags over their shoulders.
AIF troops just landed at Weymouth in England from France entraining for repatriation depots in April 1919