Encyclopedia

Statistics - military

Numbers of British honours and decorations awarded to officers, nurses and other ranks of the Australian Imperial Force - First World War
Honour or decoration Number awarded
Victoria Cross (VC) 64
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) 620
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) - 1st bar 41
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) - 2nd bar 1
Royal Red Cross (RRC) 43
Royal Red Cross (RRC) - 1st bar 1
Royal Red Cross (ARRC) 143
Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) 2
Military Cross (MC) 2,366
Military Cross (MC) - 1st bar 170
Military Cross (MC) - 2nd bar 4
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) 59
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) - 1st bar 5
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) - 2nd bar 2
Air Force Cross (AFC) 16
Distinguished Conduct in the field (DCM) 1,767
Distinguished Conduct in the field (DCM) - 1st bar 28
Military Medal 9,926
Military Medal - 1st bar 472
Military Medal - 2nd bar 15
Military Medal - 3rd bar 1
Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) 17
Air Force Medal 2
Air Force Medal - bar 2
Meritorious Service Medal (MSM) 1,237
Mentioned in Despatches emblem 5,798

Source: R.D. Williams, Medals to Australia from 1858 - 1999, 4th Ed., (Melbourne: Downies, 2000)

Victoria Crosses awarded to Australians at Gallipoli (in chronological order)
Name Unit Location Date
L Cpl Albert JACKA 14th Battalion Courtney's Post 19-20 May 1915
L Cpl Leonard KEYSOR 1st Battalion Lone Pine 7-8 August 1915
Lt John William SYMONS 7th Battalion Lone Pine 8-9 August 1915
Cpl Alexander Stewart BURTON 7th Battalion Lone Pine 9 August 1915
Cpl William DUNSTAN 7th Battalion Lone Pine 9 August 1915
Pte John HAMILTON 3rd Battalion Lone Pine 9 August 1915
Lt Frederick Harold TUBB 7th Battalion Lone Pine 9 August 1915
Capt Alfred John SHOUT 1st Battalion Lone Pine 9 August 1915
2nd Lt Hugo Vivian Hope THROSSELL 10th Light Horse Regiment Hill 60 29-30 August 1915

Lionel Wigmore (et al), They dared mightily, (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1986)

Campaign casualty statistics - First World War (Australia)
Location Dates Casualties Number
Gallipoli 1 25 April 1915 - 20 December 1915 total fatalities
(This figure includes:
5,582 killed in action
2,012 died of wounds
665 died of disease)		 8, 709
    wound casualties
(NB not the number of individuals wounded)		 17,924
Sinai-Palestine 2 March 1916 - October 1918 total battle casualties
(This figure includes: 636 killed in action
337 died of wounds
3,351 wounded
126 taken POW
454 died of disease
136 died of other causes)		 4,450
Western Front 3 March 1916 - November 1918 total battle casualties
(This figure includes:
33,407 killed in action
11,034 died of wounds
112,729 wounded
3,842 taken POW
1,039 died of disease
363 died of other causes)		 179,455
German New Guinea 4 September 1914 - military government ended 1921 total battle casualties
(This figure includes:
6 killed in action
4 wounded)		 10

1 Source: Statistics of the military effort of the British Empire during the Great War, 1914-1920 (London: HMSO, 1922)

2 Source: A. G. Butler, Special problems and services, The official history of the Australian Army Medical Services 1914-1918, vol. 3 (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1943)

3 Source: A. G. Butler, The Western Front, The official history of the Australian Army Medical Services 1914-1918, vol. 2 (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1940)

4 Source: S. S. Mackenzie, The Australians at Rabaul, The official history of Australia in the war of 1914-1918, vol. 10 (Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1938)

Prisoner-of-war numbers and places where Australians were captured by the Japanese - Second World War

Numbers:

Twenty-two thousand Australians were captured defending Malaya, Singapore, and the Netherlands East Indies. Over 21,000 were from the Second AIF (particularly the 8th Division); 354 RAN; 373 RAAF officers; and 71 women from the Australian Army Nursing Service. Of these, 14,792 were captured at Singapore; 2,736 on Java; 1,137 on Timor; 1,075 on Ambon; and 1,049 at Rabaul.

Nearly 36% of Australian prisoners (8,031) died in captivity.

Massacres of Australians occurred at Tol Plantation on New Britain (160 Australians); Parit Sulong in Malaya (110); and at Laha on Ambon (over 200). Twenty-one Australian nurses were executed on Banka Island, and an unknown number of Australians elsewhere in Malaya and in Singapore, especially at the Alexandra Hospital.

Nearly 2650 Australians died on the Burma-Thailand Railway.

"[In September 1945] the largest numbers of Australians were congregated on Singapore Island and Johore (5,549); 4,830 were distributed in several camps and on a number of working parties in Thailand and remote areas of Burma; 265 were in French Indo-China; about 750 were distributed throughout the islands of the Netherlands East Indies, with the largest group (385) in Java, and in Sumatra (243); about 100 were on Ambon; two were at Macassar, seven on Bali; another 150 were at Kuching in British North Borneo. About 2,700 were distributed between Japan, Korea and Manchuria. About 200 remained on Hainan". [Wigmore, p. 633]

Sources

Peter Dennis (et al), The Oxford companion to Australian military history, (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997)

Lionel Wigmore, The Japanese thrust, Australia in the war of 1939-1945, vol. IV (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1968)

Surrenders:

3 February 1942 - Australian forces on Ambon surrender to the Japanese

15 February 1942 - Commonwealth forces (including 8th Australian Division) on Singapore surrender to Japanese

11 March 1942 - Australian forces on Java surrender.

Types and numbers of British and foreign awards to Australians - Korean War

Award Number
Summary of British awards to Australians during the Korean War
GC 1
CBE 3
DSO 11
OBE 23
MBE 45
(3 Civil Awards)
DSC 14
(includes 1 second bar and 2 first bars)
MC 27
(includes 1 bar)
DFC 53
(includes 6 bars)
AFC 14
(includes 1 bar)
DCM 5
(includes 1 bar)
GM 1
DSM 3
MM 45
(includes 1 bar)
DFM 18
AFM 1
BEM 27
ARRC 4
Commendation for Meritorious Service in the Air 16
MID 304
(includes 2 twice mentioned)

 

Summary of Foreign Awards to Australians during the Korean War
Country Award Number
Republic of Korea Order of Military Merit Taiguk 1
United States of America Silver star 5
  Legion of Merit - Chief Commander 1
  Legion of Merit - Commander 2
  Legion of Merit - Officer 10
  Legion of Merit - Legionnaire 4
  Bronze Star for Valour 2
  Bronze Star 6
  Distinguished Flying Cross 21
  Air Medal 120

Source: Robert O'Neill, Combat operations, Australia in the Korean War 1950-53, vol. 2 (Canberra: Australian War Memorial and the Australian Government Publishing Service, 1985)