Thursday, 01 May 2003

Last Friday was ANZAC day here, the Australian equivalent of Memorial Day (or Veterans' Day, I suppose). Australia's military history (as I know it, which frankly is at the tourist-brochure level) began when the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps stormed the beaches at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, in an attempt to relieve pressure on Russia and open another front in World War I. Unfortunately for the ANZACs, the commander of Turkish defenses on the peninsula (Mustafa Kemal, the George Washington of modern Turkey) threw his entire regiment at the invaders, stopping them cold; the Aussies and Kiwis dug in and fought several months of trench warfare, but ultimately they were ordered to withdraw. Over eight thousand Aussies were killed in a campaign that achieved none of its military objectives; they fought well, but in a lost cause.

Foreign countries remember foreign battles, compared to the history you learned in school. Australians commemorate the World War II battle of Singapore, a Japanese victory that happened after Pearl Harbor but before the Americans were in theater. After that, though, comes the big one—the reason why all the later Australian battles sound familiar to American ears: The Battle of Coral Sea. For students of American history (like me) it was one naval battle among many, but for Australia it was a turning point in the war; together with the Australian land victories in Papua-New Guinea, it marked the end of Japan's march to invade and occupy the continent. The U.S. Navy played a major, major role in preventing a land war on Australian soil, and the Aussies have not forgotten. Since Coral Sea the Australians have backed us in every single war we've fought: They sent troops to Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, were the first to pledge military support after 9/11, and their Special Forces and Navy are in the Gulf right now. They have literally been fighting alongside us for as long as they've had troops to fight with.

- Posted by Scott Forbes at 1:43 am. comments.