Content on World War II 1939-1945

This page lists content tagged with "World War II 1939-1945"

SLS PRG 1710/8/3 (Image)

SLV H98.100/4218, an000276 (Image)

SLV an000277 (Image)

SLV an009890 (Image)

SLV an011330 (Image)

SLV H98.100/4217, an000275 (Image)

SLV H99.205/804, an015703 (Image)

Smokey Dawson, veteran, served in the Army (Audio file)

The 3-nine-39 radio and video series tells the untold stories of veterans, widows and family members from the Second World War.

Snapshots: Australians in War and Conflict (Book), (Educational)

This book introduces readers to 24 interesting and perhaps lesser-known experiences of those who served in wars and conflicts and their families on the home front. The stories are gathered from World…

Snow Davis - World War II veteran (Oral history)

Snow Davis - World War II veteran (Video)

Snow Davis enlisted in Sydney on 15 August 1941. He remembered listening to a radio broadcast in which it was stated 'If you can ride a horse, you can fly an aeroplane'.

Soldiers issued with broom sticks instead of guns

When World War II broke out on 3 September 1939, Jack Brinkworth was living in Gresford. On his first day off work, 7 September, he rode his bike the 28 miles to Maitland to the Drill Hall and put…

Son's of Australia, steady and strong', The Australian Women's Weekly (Image)

Songkurai camp

[Songkurai] was merely a clearing in the dense jungle, in which there were several long bamboo-framed huts, some with a semblance of an attap roof and o

Special delivery: An Anzac Letter from Syria (Video)

An excerpt from a Fox movietone newsreel showing the Australians in the Syrian Campaign, 1941.

Specialist mechanical unit paved the way for troops

Early in World War II the authorities realised there would be a need to have earth moving machines and equipment with experienced operators to be used in various war zones including the Middle East…

Sport and Australian military life (Educational), (Book)

For Australians, the connection between sport and military service dates to the colonial era. Through more than a century of war, conflict and peacekeeping operations, military personnel have found…

SS Macdhui

The Burns Philp liner MV Macdhui carried an Australian crew and traded between Sydney, Papua and New Guinea during the 1930's.

Stan Arneil (Audio file)

Stan Arneil was a sergeant in the 2/30th Battalion and a member of F Force when he became a prisoner of the Japanese at Singapore. In this audio interview he recollects an experience where an officer forced an unconscious, almost dead prisoner to be carri

Starving

There is nothing to eat.

Staying sane

In order to cope … most men surrounded themselves in their own personal and protective armour.

Stepping Stones cartoon (Image)

Stick to your post

Because of the increasing threat of war with Japan, the Australian Trade Commissioner in Shanghai, China, Mr Vivian Bowden, was instructed to close the Shanghai post and to establish an Australian

Stolen years: Australian prisoners of war (Book)

This commemorative publication looks at what captivity was like during wartime. This book draws on documents, photographs and artefacts. It covers Australian prisoners of war in the hands of six…

Stories of Indigenous Service (Book), (Educational)

An engaging look at Australia's involvement in wars and conflicts through the experiences of First Australians who served in the armed forces. This book can be used as a standalone resource to help…

Sunset (Audio file)

The Ceremonial Sunset reflects the worldwide naval tradition of saluting the lowering of the ensign at sunset each day both in ships in harbour and shore establishments. At sunset the bugle sounds the Alert, the guard presents arms and the band commences

Supply drops

Supply drops were the most common type of engineering task along the Thai-Burma railway, ranging from small earthworks to massive artificial hills rising out of the jungle.

Surrender

In late August 1945, Royal Australian Navy warships waited around the Pacific near Japanese surrender points in Borneo, Hong Kong, Timor, New Guinea and Nauru.

Surrender leaflets on Amboina (Video)

The Far East Liaison Office (FELO) printed English and Japanese language leaflets to inform the Japanese troops on Ambon of the surrender terms and the procedures for the liberation of the Allied…

Surrender on HMS Glory (Video)

On 6 September 1945, Japanese General Imamura and Vice Admiral Kusaka embarked on the aircraft carrier HMS Glory, riding in St George's Channel between New Britain and New Ireland. Later that day a…

Surviving

Illness and death were constants on the Thai–Burma railway. Approximately 12 800 of more than 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, and up to 90,000 r?musha, died between 1942 and 1945.

Sydney and the Midget Submarines 1942: Australia Under Attack (Book)

This publication is the second of a two-volume series, it focuses on the submarine attacks on Sydney and Newcastle.

Sydney Harbour

In May and June 1942 the war was brought home to Australians on the east coast when the Japanese attacked Sydney Harbour from the sea.

Sydney Harbour - The Sinking of the Kattabul (Video)

The sinking of the Kuttabul

Sydney Kinsman - World War II veteran (Oral history)

Sydney Kinsman - World War II veteran (Video)

In July 1940, Sydney Kinsman enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force while in West Thebarton, South Australia.

Sydney shelled (Video)

Sydney welcomes Sydney (February 1941) (Video)

Syria and Lebanon June 1941

After the surrender of France in June 1940, the French colonies of Lebanon and Syria passed into the control of the pro-German Vichy French government.

Tactics of jungle war

The fighting on the Kokoda track was an infantryman's war in close jungle where the enemy was often not seen until he was a few metres away...

TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENT OF JAPAN (1945) newsclip (Image)

This article tells us about an Allied naval attack on the Japan home islands.

Tha Khanun and Thanbaya campsites

In the mornings mist wreathes and smokes along the hillside above us, green with its feathery bamboos and tall trees.

Thailand

Our emaciated, cadaverous bodies were covered in rags, we were all barefooted with bandages covering our ulcers and we were almost all rotten with malaria and beri beri.

Thank God for the Salvos

I know the nicest thing I ever had on the Kokoda Trail was a cup of tea given to me by the Salvation Army.

The 'maimed and bloodstained' group: Parit Sulong

The first large massacre of Australian troops by Japanese forces occurred at Parit Sulong on the west coast of Malaya on 22 January 1942.

The 'Moresby Microbes'

Padre Sands, the first RAAF chaplain in wartime Papua, worked hard to organise and furnish a Rec(reation) hut for the troops in Port Moresby.

The 'Navy' Hymn (Audio file)

The 'Navy' Hymn Played by the Australian Navy Band conducted by Lieutenant Commander Phillip Anderson.

The advance to the sea

After the Japanese defeat at Oivi-Gorari the next Allied objective was to take the Japanese base on the north coast between Gona and Buna...

The Americans

No Americans fought on the Kokoda track but 24,000 participated in the Battle of Buna-Gona, at Milne Bay, or were involved in air and coastal operations...

The angry sky (Audio file)

A reading of the poem written by Paul H. Scott. The poem relates to an airman of 78 Squadron, RAF, who lost his life on 14 February 1945

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