Gladiators of WW II (13/13) : The Anzacs
For educational purposes
The Australian and New Zealand forces built on the reputation they had earned during World War 1 for being among the finest fighting troops in the world.
Australian troops earned the nickname the Rats of Tobruk for their defence of the Libyan port during Rommel's long but ultimately abortive siege of it. New Zealanders fought the length of North Africa and Italy.
In the Far East, after suffering disaster in Malaya, Australians became the first Allied ground forces to drive back the Japanese during the grim battles on the Kokoda Trail in the mountainous jungle of New Guinea.
The Australian and New Zealand forces built on the reputation they had earned during World War 1 for being among the finest fighting troops in the world.
Australian troops earned the nickname the Rats of Tobruk for their defence of the Libyan port during Rommel's long but ultimately abortive siege of it. New Zealanders fought the length of North Africa and Italy.
In the Far East, after suffering disaster in Malaya, Australians became the first Allied ground forces to drive back the Japanese during the grim battles on the Kokoda Trail in the mountainous jungle of New Guinea.
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LearningTranscript
00:30When Britain went to war against Nazi Germany in September 1939,
00:59her whole empire loyally followed her.
01:06From countries all over the world, men and women were taken to fight many thousands of
01:11miles from their homes for a land which they had never visited against enemies about whom
01:16they knew little. But none of them ever queried the reasons for doing so, and none proved more
01:25steadfast and gallant than the troops from two of the most remote outposts of the empire,
01:29Australia and New Zealand.
01:36Few countries contributed more proportionately, their small populations providing a ready supply
01:42of men who swiftly gained a worldwide reputation, not only as superb fighting troops, but as rugged
01:49individualists. The story of the Anzacs, as these gladiators became known, is one of the least told,
01:59but most stirring, of World War II. A quarter of a century earlier, when Britain declared war on
02:09Germany and Austro-Hungary in 1914, Australia and New Zealand had only recently become self-governing
02:15nations. Australia in 1901, New Zealand six years later. Both immediately sent units to fight in
02:23Europe and against Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers. In Egypt, they were formed into
02:31an Australian and New Zealand army corps, from which came the nickname Anzacs. During the Gallipoli
02:40campaign in 1915, the Anzacs fought as national units for the first time in their history.
02:45This searing experience first gave Australia and New Zealand a sense of their own identity as
02:54independent countries. The Anzacs then fought on the Western Front in France and Flanders.
03:01There, they played a leading part in the final victories that ended the war in November 1918.
03:09Other Anzacs fought in Palestine, forming the main part of the Desert Mounted Corps.
03:21Their dramatic breakthroughs and advances helped to shatter the Turkish defences.
03:32The memory of what the Anzacs had endured at Gallipoli during 1915 became a fundamental
03:39part of the identity of both countries as proudly independent nations. Australia and New Zealand
03:50were just as ready to help Britain in 1939 as they had been in 1914. Each offered to send a
04:01division of troops to take part in the war in Europe. But it took time to build up and train
04:10their small peacetime forces for war. Many of the men recruited were well used to a hard and
04:19rigorous life in the outback or mountains and made natural soldiers, although their attitude
04:26to traditional military discipline often left much to be desired. The 6th Australian Division
04:36eventually sailed in January 1940. Its men landed in Egypt, as their fathers had done 25 years earlier.
04:45But this time the threat came not from Turkey, but from Mussolini's Italy with its colonies in
04:55neighbouring Libya and Abyssinia. When the Australians arrived, Italy had not yet declared
05:02war, so the division was able to continue its training and it was soon joined by the New Zealand Division.
05:08This was commanded by General Bernard Freyberg, who had won the Victoria Cross during World War One.
05:18Most of his troops stayed with the Australians in Egypt, but one brigade was sent on to strengthen
05:28the forces defending Britain against German invasion. The relaxed attitude of the Anzacs
05:38to military discipline quickly made them notorious, but the more hidebound British
05:43army high command could not fault their enthusiasm. They often referred to themselves as the Diggers,
05:49a term originating from the gold rushes in Australia of a hundred years earlier.
05:53New Zealand's small population of barely two million meant that the mobilisation of a complete
06:03division stretched her resources to the limit. Whereas during the summer of 1940, the Australians
06:12were able to form another two divisions for home defence and send sufficient troops to the Middle
06:19East to form a second division there. The Ninth Australian Division came into being in Palestine
06:29at the end of the year. In June 1940, Mussolini finally brought Italy into the war and the Middle
06:39East became an active theatre. The Anzacs did not take part in the early battles as the Italians
06:54advanced cautiously into Egypt and were then pushed back in early December 1940 by a British
07:04counter-attack led by the Desert Rats of the 7th Armoured Division and the 4th Indian Division.
07:10But during a lull in the battle in mid-December, the 6th Australian Division moved forward to
07:17relieve the Indians who were being redeployed to East Africa. The Anzacs were about to have
07:26their first taste of combat. The troops of the 6th Australian Division moved forward to begin
07:38the next stage of the British assault on the Italians at the beginning of January 1941.
07:43Their first task was to capture the Italian-held port of Badi, just inside Libya.
07:55After a two-day battle in which 38,000 Italians surrendered, they entered it on the 5th of January.
08:14Their next objective was Tobruk, a further 90 miles along the coast. This fell on the 22nd
08:25and the Australians then pushed a further 300 miles towards Benghazi, while the 7th Armoured
08:30Division thrust inland across the Saranac and Bulge to cut off the retreating Italians.
08:35Within a fortnight, a further 20,000 men, 200 guns and 120 tanks fell into British and Australian
08:49hands. It was the first Allied grand victory of World War II, and the Anzacs had played a key
08:56role, but the euphoria did not last long. Within a week of this victory, Erwin Rommel and his
09:04German Afrika Korps began to land at the Libyan port of Tripoli. While Rommel prepared to attack,
09:136th Australian Division was relieved by 9th Australia. But the 6ths had little time to rest.
09:21For British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to send troops from the Middle East
09:26to support the Greeks, who had been fighting an Italian invasion from Albania since the
09:30previous November. 6th Australian Division and the New Zealand Division, now rejoined by the
09:41brigade which had gone to Britain in 1940, formed part of the force. Hitler, keen to secure his
09:53southern Balkan flank for his projected invasion of the Soviet Union, invaded both Greece and
09:59Yugoslavia on the 6th of April. The Anzacs fought bravely, but could not hold back the German
10:13blitzkrieg. Yet they were by no means demoralized, as New Zealander Lieutenant Charles Upham,
10:20in peacetime a sheep farmer, told a BBC interviewer. The division over here is going from
10:25thing to thing, and the morale of our own troops is unsurpassed. You will hear more from us again.
10:31The Royal Navy evacuated the British force, and part of the Anzacs went back to Egypt.
10:38They would soon have the opportunity to gain revenge.
10:48The remainder of the Anzacs were sent to the eastern Mediterranean island of Crete,
10:52which was the obvious next target for the Germans. Bernard Freyberg, the commander of
11:00the New Zealand Division, was put in charge of the island's defences, and was convinced that
11:05the main attack would be from the sea. In reality, the Germans were planning a revolutionary airborne
11:14assault, which completely wrong-footed the British and Dominion forces.
11:24They were dispersed along the northern coastline of the island, and unable to
11:29concentrate quickly enough when the German tactics became apparent.
11:32German air supremacy proved crucial, and once the paratroops had secured an airfield and
11:44could land reinforcements, the issue was no longer in doubt, despite gallant resistance by the defenders.
11:50By the end of May, the Germans had secured the island, and the Royal Navy was forced
11:59to carry out yet another evacuation. During the fighting on Crete, Charles Upham, weakened by
12:09dysentery, destroyed a number of machine-gun posts, almost single-handedly extricated a
12:14company that had been cut off, and repulsed numerous German attacks. He was awarded a
12:19well-deserved Victoria Cross. The disaster on Crete, following that in Greece, might have
12:31made lesser troops believe that the Germans were unstoppable, but not the Anzacs.
12:37You see this? Good old Bertie. I dragged her 150 miles back to the coast. But did you use her?
12:46I'll say I did. I gave old Jerry hell with her. Yes, we're looking forward to our next date with
12:52him too. Just let me have another crack at them. That's all I'm waiting for. The sooner we get at
12:59them again, the sooner we'll be home. We'll give them all the work next time. And we certainly
13:03made a mess of them this time. They would soon have their opportunity, for while Greece was
13:10collapsing, Rommel had attacked in Libya, and driven the British pell-mell back into Egypt.
13:15During the retreat, General Leslie Morshead, commander of the 9th Australian Division,
13:28was ordered to hold the port of Tobruk at all costs. Morshead had some 31,000 troops,
13:37including his own division, a brigade from 7th Australian Division, and a British armoured
13:43brigade. By the 11th of April, Tobruk was totally cut off. It was subjected to sustained
13:59air attack, which threatened to cut off all supplies. Then, on the 14th of April,
14:10Rommel launched a major assault against the port. Axis forces succeeded in getting inside
14:25the Australian positions. A series of desperate battles followed, and the Germans were eventually
14:39driven out. During the fighting, Corporal John Edmondson, of the Australian 2nd 17th Battalion,
14:57won a Victoria Cross for holding his position, despite being severely wounded. Edmondson died
15:07of his wounds, and his posthumous award, the first of 20 to be won by Australians during the war,
15:13was received by his parents. The siege of Tobruk continued throughout the summer of 1941. The
15:35beleaguered garrison even produced its own newspaper, which did much to maintain morale.
15:39Despite the constant Axis air attacks, the Royal Navy did manage to keep the
15:49garrison supplied and evacuate sick and wounded back to Egypt. The Australians
15:58proudly nicknamed themselves the Rats of Tobruk. Many lived in caves, conveniently situated close
16:04to the front line. They kept the Axis forces at bay by dominating no-man's-land through
16:22aggressive patrolling. For the Allies, the Rats of Tobruk provided a beacon of hope at
16:29a desperate period in the war. The scope of the fighting in the Middle East widened during
16:38summer 1941, and the Anzacs became involved in another campaign. Fears that the Luftwaffe was
16:45about to begin operating from Vichy French airfields in Syria caused the British to invade
16:49the territory in June 1941. Among the troops taking part was 7th Australian Division and
16:56elements of the 6th Division. Australian General John Lavarack was in overall command. He led the
17:08Australians, together with three French troops and units from the British 1st Cavalry Division,
17:13in an advance up the coastal plain. The Vichy French put up more resistance than expected,
17:21and there was some hard fighting. Nevertheless, the overstretched Allied force pushed forward.
17:51The Australians took Damascus and then advanced towards Beirut.
18:08They occupied the Lebanese capital just as hostilities ended.
18:13Among the heroes of the campaign was Australian artilleryman Lieutenant Arthur Roden-Cutler,
18:23who lost a leg during heavy fighting. For several individual acts of bravery, he won a VC.
18:29Despite the eventual Allied success in Syria, the siege of Tobruk remained the main focus of
18:38attention. Even though the rats of Tobruk showed no sign of cracking under the strain,
18:47the Australian government was becoming concerned that its troops were bearing too great a burden
18:52of the fighting. General Sir Claude Auchinleck, the commander-in-chief Middle East, was obliged
19:00to begin replacing the garrison. In August 1941, the Australian 18th Brigade was relieved by the
19:10Free Polish Carpathian Brigade. The relief continued into the autumn, but one Australian
19:21battalion would remain in Tobruk until the very end. Auchinleck was also preparing an offensive
19:29designed to drive Rommel back and relieve Tobruk. He launched Operation Crusader on the 18th of
19:38November. The New Zealand division, supported by a British tank brigade, was given the crucial
19:46role of linking up with the Tobruk garrison, which had been given orders to break out.
19:50The New Zealanders faced stubborn Axis resistance. But after eight days fighting,
20:05they linked up with some of the troops from Tobruk at El Duda, 20 miles southeast of the port.
20:11The New Zealanders now had to withstand a series of furious attacks designed to drive
20:23them away from Tobruk. Eventually, the division was cut in two by 15th Panzer Division and forced
20:29to withdraw, but not before it had made a significant contribution to wearing down the Axis forces.
20:35Within a week, Rommel had withdrawn from Tobruk, and by early January, the British
20:45were once more in control of Cyrenaica, having inflicted heavy casualties on the Axis forces.
20:50But by this time, there had been developments elsewhere, which were to have a dramatic effect
21:03on the future of the Australian and New Zealand forces in the Middle East.
21:07On the 7th of December, 1941, the war came closer to the Anzac's homelands,
21:20as Japanese carrier-borne aircraft made a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet base at Pearl
21:26Harbor, Hawaii. This finally brought the United States into the war, much to the relief of the
21:42British. But the conflict now took a grim turn for the Allies, for the Japanese launched
22:06immediate invasions of Malaya and the Philippines, as well as US Pacific islands.
22:12Now that the war had suddenly reached their doorsteps, the Australian and New Zealand
22:21governments requested the return of their troops from the Middle East.
22:24It was the Japanese invasion of Malaya which especially worried Australia.
22:36This concern grew rapidly as the Japanese advanced swiftly down the peninsula.
22:46A complete Australian division, the 8th, had been deployed to Malaya earlier in the year,
22:58clearly showing how important the territory was reckoned to be for the defence of the Australian
23:03homeland. Two Indian divisions covered northern Malaya, while the Australians,
23:16under General Henry Gordon Bennett, were responsible for the south.
23:20The Japanese were soon driving the Indian troops back. The British high command had
23:28no answer to their use about flanking moves through the jungle.
23:32By mid-January, Gordon Bennett's men were in action, but could not stop the Japanese onrush.
23:49At the end of the month, the British forces withdrew to Singapore island.
23:58Two weeks later, it was all over. The British and Dominion troops were forced into an ignominious
24:12surrender. The vast majority of the Australians, together with their fellow British and Indian
24:24soldiers, went into captivity. They now faced over three and a half years of Japanese brutality.
24:37But one man who did escape was General Gordon Bennett, who believed that his experience in
24:48fighting the Japanese would be of value in the future. His fellow countrymen thought differently,
24:56believing that he should have gone into captivity with his men. Gordon Bennett never held another
25:01active command. The fall of Singapore presented a direct Japanese threat to Australia, and this was
25:10reinforced by an air attack on Darwin on the 19th of February, 1942, four days after the surrender
25:17of Singapore. The fear that Australia was about to be invaded grew rapidly, and the government
25:27renewed its request for the troops in the Middle East to be sent back. The 6th and 7th Australian
25:36Divisions returned in March. Their families were overjoyed to see them again, but it would
25:49not be long before they were parted once more. The 9th Australian and the New Zealand Divisions
26:06remained in the Middle East, but only because the Americans had agreed to send troops to Australia.
26:10These began to arrive in April, 1942. A detachment of 7th Australian Division was immediately sent
26:24to Java in the Dutch East Indies, but the Japanese onrush overwhelmed it and other allied forces in
26:31the region. Many Australians refused to surrender, and with the help of the local people began to
26:39wage a guerrilla campaign against the Japanese occupiers. The focus of the Japanese assault now
26:58switched to New Guinea, with landings being made at Ley and Salamawa in early March, 1942. These
27:06were accompanied by air attacks on Port Moresby on the southwest coast, and further bombing raids
27:11against Darwin. At the end of March, the Australian government began a total denial policy in the
27:19northern part of the country. Nothing of value was to be allowed to fall into Japanese hands,
27:27should they invade, and a vast migration of sheep and cattle was got underway.
27:31American General Douglas MacArthur, who had been ordered by President Roosevelt to leave
27:42the beleaguered Philippines, arrived in Australia and became the supreme allied commander southwest
27:48Pacific. Australian General Thomas Blamey was appointed the land force commander.
28:05The ultimate Japanese objective in Papua New Guinea was the capital Port Moresby,
28:11which they planned to seize by an amphibious assault. But this meant that they must bring
28:16back their carriers, which had been sent to the Indian Ocean to harry the British.
28:20While these were returning, the Japanese continued to occupy the western part of the island, while
28:29their Port Moresby invasion force sailed from Rabaul in New Britain on the 4th of May, 1942.
28:35Forewarned of this by their codebreakers, the United States sent a carrier force to intercept
28:43the Japanese in the Coral Sea. In the ensuing battle, the Americans had a carrier disabled,
28:48while the Japanese lost one carrier sunk and another crippled. It was enough to force the
28:55Japanese to cancel the amphibious attack on Port Moresby. But still determined to capture it,
29:03they decided on an overland advance along the Kokoda Trail, which cuts through the precipitous
29:08Owen Stanley Mountains from Buna on the north coast. The only forces facing them were a partially
29:18trained Australian militia battalion and some local Papuan troops. Fighting desperately in
29:28the harshest conditions, the Australians were steadily driven back. As General Blamey later
29:34explained, both sides had underestimated the terrain. He thought it was easier going over the
29:43mountains than he'd realised. I don't think anybody could realise what these Owen Stanleys were like
29:49unless they'd walked them. You stand up there and you look right down what the troops called the
29:55golden stairs. The tips cut in the hillside and you see them going up on the other side,
30:01and then you have a succession of steep hillsides to go down and up. It's terribly hard going.
30:09Many men were driven off the trail by Japanese ambushes and outflanking moves,
30:21and died lonely deaths in the jungle. The remainder continued to fight on.
30:27Heroically, the militia battalion never lost its cohesion, even though its men were racked with
30:36disease, wounds and exhaustion. The lives of many were saved solely through the dedication of their
30:53Papuan porters. Even though the militia were reinforced by two further battalions,
31:14the Australians continued to be pushed back. On the 10th of September, the Japanese captured
31:22the Yorubiwa Ridge, just 40 miles from Port Moresby. But here the resolute Australian
31:28defence prevented them from advancing any further. Meanwhile, intelligence sources
31:41warned MacArthur of an impending Japanese landing at Milne Bay. The Australian 18th
31:51Brigade was sent there, and quickly forced the Japanese to withdraw. By now, the Japanese on
32:00the Kokoda Trail were suffering from disease and overstretched supply lines, and began falling back.
32:06Some had been reduced to such a state that they even surrendered, something which the
32:14Japanese military code viewed as a disgraceful act. The Australians followed up, and found
32:23themselves engaged in another exhausting campaign, clashing frequently with determined Japanese rear
32:29guards. Despite the terrain being against them, they steadily pushed their fanatical enemy back.
32:44Meanwhile, US troops had been landed near Buna, and drove the Japanese away from their base at
32:59the northern end of the Kokoda Trail. It was not until the second half of January 1943 that the
33:09Japanese were finally cleared from Papua New Guinea. Over 2,000 Australians were killed or
33:22wounded during this toughest of campaigns, and some 9,300 went down with malaria and other diseases.
33:28While the Australians were fighting back in New Guinea, US Marines had landed on Japanese-held
33:38Guadalcanal in the Solomons in August 1942. It took six months of desperate fighting on
33:47Guadalcanal before the Americans were securely established in the Solomon Islands. And their
33:55success made the Japanese even more determined to hold on to New Guinea and the rest of the Solomons.
34:01In June 1943, Supreme Allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur set in motion Operation Cartwheel.
34:12Its ultimate aim was to isolate the main Japanese base in the southwest Pacific,
34:21Rabaul. A major strand of the plan was landings along the coast of Papua New Guinea. First,
34:30US and Australian aircraft had to gain air supremacy over the region. Then,
34:39Ninth Australian Division, fresh from being refitted and meeting the jungle for the first
34:44time after its long campaign in the Middle East, landed east of Leh. Simultaneously,
34:56American paratroops secured the airstrip at Nadza. Seventh Australian Division was airlifted in.
35:18It then advanced north, and with Ninth Australian Division moving southwards,
35:23caught the Japanese in a pincer movement, forcing them to evacuate both Leh and Salamawa.
35:29One of the first diggers into Leh described the devastation for the BBC.
35:36But so complete was the rout of the vaunted Japanese that all the damage was inflicted by
35:43the Allies. There was no scorched earth policy, if we accept scorched rice and fish,
35:49which the demoralized Rabaul left in huge cooking pots over burning fires. American bombing and
35:57Australian shells caused the damage. From Heath's plantation, seven and a half miles west of Leh,
36:02right to the waterfront, the terrible havoc of heavy bombardment was everywhere.
36:07After this success, the Australians, together with US forces, carried out further amphibious
36:17landings along the New Guinea coast, constantly cutting off Japanese forces.
36:21New Zealand had now formed a second division, confusingly numbered the third,
36:32and this began operating in the southwest Pacific. During the latter half of 1943,
36:39it took part in seizing a number of islands from the Japanese, including Vela Lavella,
36:44the Treasuries, and Green Island. As the war in the Pacific swung decisively in favour of
36:51the Allies, and the Anzacs played a major role in the southwestern theatre of war,
36:56the forces that had remained in the Middle East had been through equally dramatic times.
37:01During the first half of 1942, just as the Allied forces were suffering catastrophic defeats in the
37:12Pacific, the Anzacs fighting in the desert also seemed about to be involved in another disaster.
37:17For Rommel had once more surged forward and driven the British back into Egypt. For a time,
37:24it looked as if nothing could stop the Axis forces from reaching the Suez Canal.
37:28The British had constructed a defence line at El Alamein, from the Mediterranean coast in the
37:42north to the virtually impassable Qatara Depression in the south. The New Zealand
37:51division was in the thick of the desperate battles that raged here for most of July 1942.
37:55Charles Upham, who had won a Victoria Cross on Crete in May 1941,
38:04was now commanding an infantry company on the Ruweisat Ridge. During bitter fighting there,
38:12he was wounded no less than four times, but continued to lead his men with great determination.
38:17In the end, his position was overrun by superior German forces, and Upham was captured. While he
38:27was in prison camp, he learnt that he had won a second VC, to become only the third man who
38:32has done so in the history of one of the world's most prestigious decorations for bravery.
38:36In August 1942, the British Eighth Army received a new commander, General Bernard Montgomery.
38:47In October, he went on to the offensive against Rommel at El Alamein.
39:03Both the remaining Australian division in the Middle East, the Ninth, and the New Zealand
39:09division fought with great tenacity during the bruising ten-day battle,
39:13which finally forced the Axis forces to retreat. But after this, their ways parted. The Australians
39:24were withdrawn to refit, and in February 1943, returned home to boost their country's forces
39:29in the southwest Pacific. The New Zealand division fought on in the desert, as one of
39:38the leading formations in the pursuit of Rommel across Libya. When they reached the capital,
39:50Tripoli, Prime Minister Winston Churchill came to congratulate them.
39:59He addressed the division, and paid them a very special tribute.
40:03As we of the British Isles, our hearts go out in gratitude to the people of New Zealand,
40:12who have sent this splendid division to win glory across the ocean.
40:20The New Zealanders went on to fight gallantly during the campaign in Tunisia,
40:32and the 28th Maori Battalion performed outstandingly during the Battle of Marath in March 1943.
40:42Montgomery tried and failed to break through the main Axis defence line in a series of night
40:51assaults. So he then sent the New Zealanders on a wide, outflanking move through the Tabaga Gap.
41:04The Germans were quick to react, and the Maoris fought a desperate battle to keep
41:12the gap open against furious counter-attacks.
41:25Twenty-five-year-old Lieutenant Mau Nui-a-Kiwi Ngarimu and his platoon held a key position for
41:3124 hours. He won a posthumous VC for single-handedly breaking up an enemy attack by
41:40charging at the advancing Germans. The New Zealanders took part in the final defeat of
41:49the Axis forces in Tunisia in May 1943, and were then withdrawn to refit.
41:54Now called 2nd New Zealand Division, and still under the command of Bernard Freyberg,
42:04they remained in the Mediterranean and went on with the Eighth Army to Italy.
42:09There, the division took part in the grim battles for Monte Cassino in early 1944,
42:25as the Allies tried to penetrate the formidable German defences of the Gustav Line in the
42:30mountains south of Rome. Once more, the tenacity of the Kiwis was tested to the limit,
42:46but their fighting spirit remained as high as ever. The New Zealanders then took part in the
43:01advance up the eastern side of Italy, and were involved in the breaking of the final main German
43:10defensive position, the Gothic Line, in April 1945. The division liberated the historic Italian
43:20city of Padua and finished the war in Trieste at the head of the Adriatic. Since autumn 1942,
43:27they had advanced over 2,000 miles across North Africa and up through Italy,
43:32with Bernard Freyberg still at their head. While the 2nd New Zealand Division was playing a major
43:43role in the Mediterranean theatre, many thousands of miles away, other Anzac troops were also
43:49marching towards victory. During 1944, Australian forces relieved the US troops on New Britain and
43:59Bougainville in the northern Solomons, so that the latter could take part in the campaign in the
44:05Philippines. And in the summer of 1945, Australian forces were committed to the liberation of Borneo
44:12in the Dutch East Indies. The 7th Australian Division landed on Tarakan Island off the
44:18Borneo coast on the 1st of May. Japanese resistance remained bitter, and not until June was the island
44:24secured. Further Australian forces liberated Brunei. Then, in July 1945, came the final major
44:38Anzac operation of the war, the landings at Balikpapan on Borneo's east coast by 7th Australian
44:45Division. They quickly closed on the port and secured it after a final fierce battle with the
44:55Japanese. The Anzac's long war was virtually at an end, but there was still work to do, for after
45:07the Japanese surrender, both Australian and New Zealand contingents took part in the Allied
45:12occupation of Japan. It was a fitting recognition of the courage the Anzacs had shown during almost
45:18six years of combat. But amid the triumph, it should never be forgotten that for more than
45:29three years, other Australians had had to show courage of a different kind. These were the men
45:34who had been captured by the Japanese during the dark days of early 1942. They had endured
45:41unspeakable horrors, but those who survived never allowed their spirit to be broken.
45:46Their homecoming, after all they had been through, had a special poignancy.
45:55The contribution made by the Anzacs to ultimate victory in World War Two had been out of all
46:11proportion to the size of the populations of Australia and New Zealand. The cost had been
46:20equally high. Australian troops suffered over 40,000 casualties, with nearly 23,000 killed.
46:33New Zealand had 22,000 killed and wounded.
46:39In some of the most demanding campaigns of World War Two, the Anzacs had demonstrated
46:51the qualities that make them amongst the foremost gladiators in the history of warfare.
47:09The Anzacs had shown courage of a different kind. They had endured unspeakable horrors,
47:16but those who survived never allowed their spirit to be broken. Their contribution made
47:24by the Anzacs to ultimate victory in World War Two had been out of all proportion to
47:33the size of the populations of Australia and New Zealand.