SEMINAR - Australia has got to play her part: Australia's late Pacific campaigns 1944-45

In 2007 the bestselling historian Sir Max Hastings alleged that Australian forces spent 1944 and 1945 bludging in mopping­up campaigns in the Pacific, the Australian army having effectively disappeared from the war. He could not have been further from the truth. In addition to the thousands of Australians (mainly airmen) fighting in the European war, Australian forces actively participated in the liberation of the Philippines and the Netherlands East Indies, as well as Australias own territory of New Guinea. Australian forces were more heavily engaged in the final year of the war than at any other time.