Key points
- This quick guide outlines some of this year’s significant military anniversaries. It
will focus on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the
110th anniversary of the Gallipoli campaigns of the First World War.
- Other
significant commemorations in 2025 include the 80th anniversary of Sandakan Memorial
Day and the 75th anniversaries of Australia’s involvement in the Korean War
and the Malayan Emergency.
- This
year also marks 30 years since Australia’s involvement in the United Nations
Assistance Mission (UNAMIR) in Rwanda, known as Operation Tamar.
- This
guide does not include anniversaries such as Anzac Day and Remembrance Day, which
are commemorated every year.
Military anniversaries 2025
First World War (1914–18)
Gallipoli campaign
This year marks 110 years since the start of the Gallipoli
campaign of the First World War.
At Gallipoli, Allied forces attempted to overrun the
Ottoman-held peninsula (now present-day Türkiye) in
the Dardanelles. The campaign was ‘the first major amphibious operation in modern warfare’ but it failed to
achieve its objectives and had disastrous costs for all sides.
On 25
April 1915, some 16,000 men from the Australian and New Zealand Army
Corps (Anzacs) conducted an amphibious landing on Gaba Tepe (now
known as Anzac Cove), with plans to advance to Sari Bair and across the
peninsula. In the first landings alone, more than 2,000
Australians were killed or wounded.
Later attempts to break through the Turkish lines included Australian
offensives at Lone Pine,
which was fought from 6 to 9 August 1915, and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade’s
assault at the Nek on the
northern end of the Anzac front line on 7 August. Of the 600 Australians
involved in the battle of the Nek, 249 died and over 100 were wounded. At
Lone Pine, almost 2,300 Australians from 6 battalions were killed or
wounded and over 6,000 Turkish soldiers were killed or wounded. Seven
Australians received the Victoria Cross for their actions at Lone Pine – the
highest number awarded to an Australian division for one action and testimony
to the Anzac
spirit.
At least 44,000
Allied soldiers were killed during the Gallipoli campaign, including 8,141 Australians.
A further 26,111 Australian soldiers were wounded. For the Ottoman Empire, victory
came at a high price, with at least 85,000 soldiers killed during the campaign. Well-executed operations saw 36,000
Anzacs evacuate Gallipoli in December with few casualties.
HMAS AE2 and the Dardanelles campaign
This year, on 30 April, marks the 110th anniversary of the sinking
of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) submarine,
the AE2, which was the first Allied submarine to enter the Sea of
Marmara during the First World War.
On 25 April 1915, under Royal Navy Lieutenant
Commander Henry Stoker and a crew of 35 mostly Australian submariners,
the AE2 navigated the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara. The AE2 ran aground, navigated minefields and evaded pursuits by Turkish surface vessels
to pass through the 800 m-wide Narrows of Çanakkale. This naval feat was
significant given all previous
attempts by Allied submarines to pass through the strait had failed:
It was uncertain whether an 'E' class
vessel could pass through the Narrows and operate in the Sea of Marmara. This
question became even more significant after the failure of the Allied warships
to silence the Turkish coastal artillery during the great attack of 18 March
1915. If there was now to be a military landing on Gallipoli, with the aim of
seizing the peninsula and putting the Turkish guns out of action, it would be a
great help to have submarines operating against Turkish military transports in
the Sea of Marmara.
On 30
April 1915, a Turkish torpedo boat fatally hit the AE2 and the entire
crew became Turkish prisoners of war (POW). Four died in captivity and the
remaining crew spent over 3 years as POWs. After the war, Lieutenant Commander
Stoker received the
Distinguished Service Order (DSO) ‘in recognition of his gallantry in
making the passage of the Dardanelles in command of HM Australian
Submarine AE2 on 25 April 1915’ (London Gazette, 22
April 1919).
End of the Second World War (1939–45)
This year marks the 80th
anniversary of the end of the Second
World War (1939–45), which involved more than 50
nations resulting in an estimated 15
million combatant deaths, around 25 million wounded and more than 45 million
civilians killed.
Victory
in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May marks the end of the Second World War in
Europe, with Germany’s unconditional
surrender to the Allies. Victory
in the Pacific (VP) Day on 15 August marks the war’s end in the Pacific,
with the surrender of Japan. It followed the atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on 6 and 9 August, respectively,
which killed more than 110,000 people (although these
numbers remain contested).
More than a million Australian military personnel served
in the Second World War – 926,900
men and 66,100 women. Australians fought in campaigns against Germany and
its allies in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, and against Japan in
Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In 1942–43, Japanese
air raids across the north and north
west of Australia killed as many as 320 people and the midget
submarine attack on HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney Harbour in 1942
killed 19 Australian and 2 British sailors. The names of 39,657 Australian
service personnel are included on the Second World War Roll of Honour. Over 30,000
Australian service personnel became prisoners of war. Of the 8,000
Australians taken prisoner by the Germans and Italians, 265 died. In
Southeast Asia, the Japanese held 22,376
Australians, including army nurses and civilians. Of those, 8,031
Australians died while in captivity.
While estimates vary, some sources estimate that between 60 to 80 million
people were killed worldwide during the war, including 6 million Jewish
people during the
Holocaust. Civilians made up an estimated 50–55 million deaths and the military
comprised
21–25 million of those killed, with millions more injured.
Borneo campaign
Near the end of the Second World War, Australia played a
critical role in Allied operations in and around Borneo, including the landings
at Tarakan, Labuan, Brunei Bay, and Balikpapan. The Borneo
campaign was part of concerted efforts to recapture the island, which had
been under Japanese control since 1942.
Australian Army Research Centre contributor Gregory
Strahan describes the campaign as 3 discrete operations:
The three amphibious operations -
Oboe 1 (Tarakan), Oboe 2 (Balikpapan) and Oboe 6 (Brunei Bay and Labuan) - were
conducted by the 7th and 9th Australian Infantry Divisions in the closing
stages of the Second World War. They were supported by the US Army Corps of
Engineers and powerful Allied and Australian naval and air forces operating
from various locations that span present-day Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines.
On 1 May 1945, the 26th Brigade (of the 9th
Division) led the first assault and secured an airfield to support subsequent
Oboe landings. This operation saw the heaviest fighting of the campaign to
clear overlooking hills in the area. Relative to the number of troops
involved, Tarakan was the costliest of all the Oboe operations. Around 900
Australians were injured and 225
were killed, including Victoria Cross recipients Lieutenant Thomas Currie
Derrick of the 2/48th Battalion and Corporal John Mackey of
the 2/3rd Pioneer Battalion.
At Brunei and Labuan – the sites of the second part of the
campaign – the remaining brigades of the 9th Australian Division conducted amphibious
assaults to secure Brunei
Bay for use as a base by the British Pacific Fleet. Australian forces
captured Labuan and its airfield early on, but faced strong resistance from
Japanese forces as they moved inland. The final operation in July against the
Japanese at Balikpapan,
south-east Borneo, involved
33,000 army, air force and navy personnel in ‘the largest ever amphibious assault
by Australian forces’. Aircraft of the 1st Tactical Air Force, including 3
squadrons of RAAF Liberator
heavy bombers, supported ground operations from the air. The Japanese abandoned
their positions within 3 weeks.
Over 2,000
Japanese soldiers were killed in the Borneo campaign. More
than 500 Australians also died there and a further 1,400 were wounded.
Sandakan Memorial Day
The 80th anniversary of Sandakan
Memorial Day on 15 August 2025 honours the Australian and British soldiers
who were held at Sandakan, North Borneo, as POWs between 1942 and 1945. It also
honours the sacrifice of the local
Sabahans who risked their lives to help the prisoners.
From 1942 to 1943, the Japanese interned some 2,700
Allied servicemen at Sandakan. The prisoners were used as forced labour to
build a military airstrip. Some were transferred, but by 1945, more than 1,000
had perished. Between January and August 1945, more than 2,400
Australian and British POWs died while prisoners at the Sandakan POW camp. Some 1,787
Australians and 641 British soldiers died during the forced marches and at
Ranau. Of the total 2,434 prisoners at Sandakan, only
6 – all Australians – survived
after they escaped and were cared for by local Sabahans. Two escaped in
June 1945 during the second death march (Gunner
Owen Campbell and Bombadier
Richard Braithwaite) and 4 others escaped in July 1945 from Ranau (Private Nelson Short, Warrant Officer William Hector
Sticpewich, Private
Keith Botterill and Lance
Bombadier William Moxham). In 2010, the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, acknowledged
the horrors of Sandakan and paid tribute to local Sabahans who helped the
escaped men:
Something extraordinary had sustained
them, and something else extraordinary took over.
With the nourishment, shelter and
safety given by local Sabahans – (some of you here with us now) – these men
were nursed back to life and health.
You had lost 28 of your leaders and
16% of your community to senseless execution.
Your land, buildings and
infrastructure had been decimated.
You nevertheless risked your lives
and your livelihoods for our men – for those who lived and those who died.
Thank you. Thank you.
Operation Semut
This year, on 25 March, Australia and Malaysia commemorated
the 80th anniversary of Operation
Semut at a ceremony in Bario, Sarawak.
Operation
Semut, ‘a Z Special Unit secret operation in Borneo in 1945’ stands as one
of Australia’s ‘first independent special forces operations’. Led
by Special Operations Australia, Semut involved parachuting several parties
of Allied forces operatives into British Borneo behind enemy lines to oppose
Japanese forces at the end of the Second World War.
The operation was a tactical success in helping to drive the
Japanese from Borneo. Its special unit
members collected and reported intelligence and organised, trained and armed
the local indigenous Dayaks to wage guerrilla warfare against the Japanese.
Korean War (1950–53)
On 25 June 2025, Australia marks the 75th
anniversary of its involvement in the Korean War. To commemorate the
occasion, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs will hold a National
Commemorative Service at the Australian National Korean War Memorial in
Canberra.
The Korean War was a defining ‘Cold War’ moment that saw the
world’s countries split between support for a democratic south and a communist north.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea crossed the 38th
parallel and captured Seoul in June 1950. At the request of the Republic of
Korea (ROK), the United Nations Command (UNC) was established under UN Security Council
resolutions 83 and 84. During the war, 22 UN member states, including
Australia, deployed military forces in support of the ROK.
Australia
was the second nation (after the US) to commit military forces to defend
the ROK and would eventually become the fifth-largest contributor to UNC. Around 18,000
Australian soldiers, sailors, airmen and nurses served in Korea during the
war and also during the initial post-armistice period of 1953–57. Between 27
June 1950 and 27 July 1953, a total of 340 Australian
service personnel were killed and more than 1,200 were wounded. Another 30
Australians were taken prisoner and 43 service
personnel are still listed as missing in action in North Korea.
An Armistice
Agreement has been in place since July 1953, which is still enforced by
United Nations Command. Australia still contributes personnel, including the
first Australian to hold the position of UNC Deputy Commander, Vice
Admiral Stuart Mayer (July 2019–December 2021). He was only the second
non-American to do so in the history of the UNC. An Australian RAAF officer
also fills the position of Commander
UNC-Rear at Yokota Air Base, Japan, on certain rotations.
Malayan Emergency (1948–60)
This year marks 75 years since Australia’s involvement in
the Malayan Emergency.
Foreign policy analyst and author, Mark Curtis, has described
the 12-year-long counter-insurgency campaign as follows:
Between 1948 and 1960 the United
Kingdom (UK) fought a counter-insurgency campaign in Malaya, conventionally
called the Emergency. A guerrilla war waged by the Malayan National
Liberation Army (MNLA) sought to win independence from the British Empire and
protect the interests of the Chinese community in the territory. The MNLA was
largely the creation of the Malayan Communist Party, most of whose members were
Chinese, but also included small minorities of Indians and Malays.
Triggered initially by widespread attacks on
major resources and sites across the British colony of Malaya (now Malaysia), the
MNLA insurgency represented a ‘national liberation war’, resulting in a state
of emergency being declared. The reason it
was described as an ‘emergency’, rather than a conflict or war, is because it
was believed insurers would not compensate plantation and mine owners if it had
been labelled as a war.
According to the Australian War
Memorial:
Australia’s involvement began in 1950
with the arrival of RAAF aircraft and personnel in Singapore. Dakotas from 38
Squadron were deployed on cargo runs, troop movements, and paratroop and
leaflet drops in Malaya, while 6 Lincoln bombers of 1 Squadron provided the
backbone of aerial operations.
From 1954, there were 24 infantry battalions in Malaya from
a wide variety of Commonwealth countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
Australia also provided artillery
and engineering support, and an airfield construction squadron built the
main runway for the air force base at Butterworth. RAN ships also served in
Malayan waters. From October
1955, the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, conducted extensive patrols
and other operations, mainly in Perak, an area of communist activity.
The insurgency lost momentum in the wake of the Federation
of Malaya’s independence, which was granted in August 1957 and, on 31 July 1960 the Emergency
was declared to be over. More than 500 soldiers and 1,300
police had been killed and communist losses were estimated at over 6,000
killed and 1,200 captured.
The campaign was one of the few effective counter-insurgency
operations undertaken by the Western powers. Over the course of those
operations, 39 Australian
servicemen were killed, with 15 deaths occurring as a
result of operations. Another 27 Australians were wounded.
Operation Tamar, Rwanda (1994–95)
This year marks 30 years since the completion of Australia’s
involvement in Operation
Tamar; Australia’s contribution to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in
Rwanda from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 1995.
In
October 1993 the UN Security Council established an international force
under Resolution 872 (1993) to support the parties to the recently signed peace
accord (Hutu Government of Rwanda and Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF))
in implementing the agreement. The authorised strength of the United
Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR)
was expected to be around 2,548 personnel, which the UN struggled to achieve.
On
6 April 1994, the plane carrying the presidents of Burundi and Rwanda crashed
after it was hit by a rocket, killing the occupants. This event precipitated a
rapid escalation in civil violence that resulted in genocide against the Tutsi
population.
On
21 April 1994, the UN Security Council reduced the strength of peacekeepers
to 270 personnel (Resolution 912 (1994)). By May 1994, the UN Security council authorised
(Resolution 918 (1994)) increasing the mission’s strength (now UNAMIR II) to
5,500 personnel, but this took more than 6 months to achieve. On 22 June 1994, the
UN Security Council authorised a Chapter VII multinational humanitarian
operation (Resolution 929) that would establish a humanitarian protection zone
in the south-west of the country.
In an
account of the Rwandan genocide 25 years on, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
recounted the devastating impacts of the war, stating:
In October 1990, civil war broke out
between the Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF) (representing the Hutu-led government of
President Juvénal Habyarimana) and the Tutsi-backed armed Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) forces comprised of Tutsis born in exile and based in Uganda. The
RPF entered Rwanda from the north seeking to overthrow President Juvénal
Habyarimana’s government, but they were halted by the RAF.
The Rwandan government, backed by France and Zaire, narrowly avoided being
defeated. Peace talks on power sharing and returning exiled Rwandans to their
country were initiated and, in 1993, the Rwandan government and RPF
representatives signed the Arusha Accords. However, the Accords never came into
effect; a ceasefire ended abruptly on 6 April 1994, when the plane transporting
President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down during its descent to Kigali.
When the subsequent massacres began, MSF teams were working in almost all of
Rwanda’s prefectures. An estimated 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsis, and numerous
Hutus opposing the slaughter, were executed in just 100 days.
According to the report of the
independent inquiry into the actions of the UN during the 1994 Rwanda
genocide (15 December 1999):
Approximately 800,000 people were
killed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The systematic slaughter of men,
women and children which took place over the course of about 100 days between
April and July of 1994 will forever be remembered as one of the most abhorrent
events of the twentieth century (p. 3).
The report was damning of the international community’s lack
of response to stop the genocide and particularly critical of what it described
as the UN’s systemic failure (p. 3). It found that UNAMIR’s resources
and mandate were insufficient and inadequate for peacekeepers to deal with
the situation on the ground (pp. 31–32).
As part of Operation Tamar, Australians served in 2
rotations (ASC1 & ASC2) in Rwanda for a period of 6 months each. In
total, 652 personnel served
with the Medical Support Force, which later became the Australian Medical Support
Force (AUSMED) – a unit that comprised ADF Medical and Surgical Personnel,
Infantry Rifle Company, APC Section, Engineers, Signals, RAEME and supporting
elements. AUSMED provided medical care to UN troops, UN Assistance Mission
employees and Rwandans, treating serious wounds, mine injuries and road trauma
cases.
On 22 April 1995, over 30 Australians serving with the UN mission
witnessed the Kibeho
massacre, in which an estimated 4,000 people were killed. Kibeho had become
one of the largest internally
displaced persons camps in Rwanda. The Australians who witnessed the
massacre (medical and evacuation sections, infantry sections and a command
post) had been at Kibeho since 19 April. The UN Mandate and rules of
engagement restricted the actions they could take to intervene. They did
what they could and provided casualty evacuation support, and conducted triage
and treatment for the wounded.
Described as ‘one of the most difficult peacekeeping
missions ever undertaken by the Australian Defence Force (ADF)’, the Department
of Veterans’ Affairs also states:
Australia’s medical personnel
performed extraordinary work in Rwanda under very challenging conditions.
All of the Australian
personnel who served in Rwanda were presented with the Meritorious Unit
Citation in 2020 and 4 Australians present at the Kibeho Massacre were awarded
the Medal for Gallantry.