Sapper R.A.R. Stevenson and Lance-Corporal R.C. Mace, members of 2/13 Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, exhausted after the initial attempt to get ashore at Lingkas to blow wire defences, rest in a landing craft vehicle-personnel before a later successful attempt at full tide.

On 3 September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station in Australia.

Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time, as Japanese aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney harbour.

On 7 May 1945 the German High Command authorised the signing of an unconditional surrender on all fronts: the war in Europe was over. The surrender was to take effect at midnight on 8–9 May 1945. On 14 August 1945 Japan accepted of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender. For Australian it meant that the Second World War was finally over.

More about the Second World War

Essays, articles, and talks

• Second World War, 1939–45
• Fighting in Timor, 1942: history and photo essay
• Crete: the battles of May, 1941
• Australian military unit profiles: Second World War, 1939–45
• "Was there a battle for Australia?" - Australian War Memorial Anniversary Oration by Dr Peter Stanley, 10 November 2006
• Australia–Japan Research Project
• Anniversary talks marking significant events of 1942
• Conference papers: Air war Europe
• Conference papers:- Remembering 1942
• Conference papers: Remembering 1941
• Encyclopedia: answers frequently asked questions about the Second World War
• Articles from Wartime, the Memorial's official magazine:
  • Mark Johnston, "The Blockhouse, El Alamein" (0.65Mb PDF file) Wartime 8 (1999)
  • Peter Stanley, "Getting our knees brown: exploring the El Alamein battlefield" (0.21Mb PDF file) Wartime 8 (1999)
  • Mark Johnston and David Pearson, "Magnificent Menace: 88 mm guns and Australians at El Alamein" (0.17Mb PDF file) Wartime 8 (1999)
  • David Pearson, "Diana" (0.06Mb PDF file) Wartime 8 (1999)
  • Vanessa Seekee, "One ilan man" Wartime 12 (2000)
  • Julie Padanyi-Ryan, "Loyalty and courage at Bardia" Wartime 13 (2001)
  • Mike Cecil, "A crucial edge" Wartime 15 (2001)
  • Peter Burness, "In the event of my death …" Wartime 19 (2002)
  • Peter Stanley, "New Guinea offensives" Wartime 23 (2003)
  • Daniel Oakman, "The battle of Berlin" Wartime 25 (2004)
  • Robert Nichols, "The first kamikaze attack?" Wartime 28 (2004)
  • Eric Carpenter, "Accepting the Japanese surrender" Wartime 31 (2005)
  • Garth Pratten, "Professional men of war" Wartime 37 (2007)
• Articles from the Journal of the Australian War Memorial
  • Betty Peters, "The life experience of partners of ex-POWs of the Japanese" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 28 (1996)
  • Mark Johnston, "The civilians who joined up, 1939–45" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 29 (1996)
  • Herman Bussemaker, "Australian–Dutch defence cooperation, 1940–1941" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 29 (1996)
  • Hara Takeshi, "Historical materials on the Japanese Army that relate to Australia in the Second World War" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 30 (1997)
  • David Sissons, "Sources on Australian investigations into Japanese war crimes in the Pacific" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 30 (1997)
  • Tanaka Hiromi, "The Japanese Navy's operations against Australia in the Second World War, with a commentary on Japanese sources" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 30 (1997)
  • Hank Nelson, "A map to Paradise Road: a guide for historians" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 32 (1999)
  • Hiroyuki Shindo, "Japanese air operations over New Guinea during the Second World War" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 34 (2001)
  • David Stevens, "The naval campaigns for New Guinea" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 34 (2001)
  • Jozef Straczek, "The empire is listening: naval signals intelligence in the Far East to 1942" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 35 (2001)
  • Lorna Froude, "Petrol rationing in Australia during the Second World War" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 36 (2002)
  • Ooi Keat Gin, "Prelude to invasion: covert operations before the re-occupation of Northwest Borneo, 1944–45" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 37 (2002)
  • Peter Stanley, "'Great in adversity': Indian prisoners of war in New Guinea" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 37 (2002)
  • Ann Elias, "The organization of camouflage in Australia in the Second World War" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 38 (2003)
  • Ian Willis, "Camden’s salvage campaign, 1939–45" Journal of the Australian War Memorial 38 (2003)

From the collection

• Australian Army war diaries: Second World War
• Official Histories: Second World War

Find a person

• Roll of Honour: details of members of the Australian armed forces who died while on active service
• Australian Military Forces' (AMF) prisoners of war and missing in the Far East and South West Pacific Islands: details of approximately 23,000 personnel, as at 30 June 1944

Research guides

• Information sheet: researching Australian military service, Second World War
• Information sheet: Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Second World War
• Information sheet: Australian Women's Land Army (AWLA)
• Information sheet: Australian prisoners of war, Second World War – Europe
• Information sheet: Australian prisoners of war, Second World War – Prisoners of the Japanese
• Chronological guide to Official Records: Second World War, 1939–45

Exhibitions

• Second World War, 1939–1945: perrmanent gallery
• Allies in adversity: Australia and the Dutch in the Pacific War : online exhibition
• Shared experience: art and war – Australia, Britain and Canada in the Second World War: online exhibition
• Looking back: Australians on Crete – works of art by Michael Winters: online exhibition
• Australia under attack: 1942–1943: online exhibition
• Stella Bowen: art, love and war: online exhibition

External links

• World War 2 Nominal Roll: Department of Veterans' Affairs
• Online Exhibition - Australia's Northern Territory WWII: Northern Territory Library
• “The track”: a historical desktop study of the Kokoda Track: By Dr Karl James, Military History Section, Australian War Memorial, commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2009