RangerGress wrote:
Re. Aussies and Kiwis played a significant role in the Pacific. Can you elaborate on that pls? My recollection is that almost all Aussie and Kiwi forces were helping the Brits in the various theaters that the Brit Army was oriented on. There were some early fights were the entirely unprepared Aussie and Kiwis got quickly pushed off some Islands, of course none of the Allies were prepared for the fight so that is not a unique criticism, and then there was the small group of Coast Watchers which contributed more than their #'s ywould suggest. What am I missing?
During the first five months after Pearl Harbor, while US troops were being defeated on Wake Island, Guam, the Philippines, and Java, the Australian 8th Infantry Division was fighting losing battles in Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, and New Britain. Almost all of them were killed or captured, and one-third of the POW's died in Japanese prison camps.
From roughly mid-1942 fhroigh the end of 1943 the Australian Army had a major role in the defense and subsequent retaking of Papua, New Guinea.
From 1944 on, the Australian Army was employed in less glamorous campaigns mopping up in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and the recapture of Borneo.
Including naval and Air Force casualties, the Australians suffered 17,500 killed along with almost 14,000 POW's in the Pacific Theater.
Of course before and after the US entered WWII the Australians were also engaged against the Germans and Italians, especially in N Africa.
If you calculate total deaths due to the war as a percent of the prewar population, the US escaped WWII relatively lightly compared to our allies, much less compared to the Axis powers.
United States - 0.32
Canada - 0.38
Australia - 0.58
UK - 0.94
France - 1.44
USSR - 13.70
Germany - 8.24
Japan - 3.50-4.34
Italy - 1.06
"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.