History

Date	Year	Title	Event
1 July	1916	First day of the battle of the Somme	This was the worst single day in the history of British arms with 60,000 men being killed or wounded. The battle of the Somme then continued for four months and resulted in more than 1,200,000 casualties on both sides.
1 July	1945	7th Division landed at Balikpapan, Borneo	The landing at Balikpapan was the largest and final Australian amphibious landing of the Second World War.
2 July	1950	No. 77 Squadron flies 1st combat mission in Korea	First combat mission flown by No. 77 Squadron in Korea. No. 77 Squadron was the first Australian unit committed to the war in Korea.
2 July	1952	Operation Blaze	A Coy. 1RAR, raids Chinese positions on Hill 227 during Operation Blaze, Korea. The objective of the operation was to capture a prisoner and destroy the Chinese position's garrison.
2 July	1993	Death of Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop	Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop gained fame for the medical services he rendered to his fellow prisoners of the Japanese on the Burma-Thailand railway during the Second World War.
3 July	1900	Leeuw Kop, South Africa	400 Imperial Bushmen in action at Leeuw Kop, South Africa.
3 July	1950	Pilots of No. 77 Squadron involved in friendly fire incident	Pilots of No. 77 Squadron accidentally destroy a train carrying American and Republic of Korea soldiers having been assured by the United States 5th Air Force Tactical Control Centre that the area under attack was in North Korean hands.
4 July	1918	Battle of Hamel, France	The Battle of Hamel was the first set-piece operation planned and conducted under Lieutenant General Sir John Monash. It came to be regarded as a model for later Western Front battles.
4 July	1918	Lance Corporal T.L. Axford, VC	Lance Corporal T.L. Axford, 16th Battalion, originally from Carrieton, South Australia, wins the Victoria Cross at Vaire and Hamel Woods, France.
4 July	1918	Private H. Dalziel, VC	Private H. Dalziel, 15th Battalion, originally from Irvinebank, Queensland, wins the Victoria Cross at Hamel Wood, France.
4 July	1941	Acting Wing Commander H. Edwards, VC.	Acting Wing Commander H. Edwards, No. 105 Squadron, Bomber Command, RAAF, originally from Fremantle, Western Australia, wins the Victoria Cross in a raid on Bremen.
5 July	1945	Death of Prime Minister Curtin	Prime Minister Curtin led Australia through the darkest period of the Second World War when the threat from Japan was at its greatest. He died in office in 1945..
6 July	1918	Corporal W.E. Brown, VC	Corporal W.E. Brown, 20th Battalion, originally from New Norfolk, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross at Villers-Bretonneux, France.
6 July	1941	Battle of Damour, Lebanon	This was the final battle in Lebanon against the Vichy French.
6 July	1943	Darwin bombed	Darwin was bombed 64 times during the Second World War.
7 July	1942	9th Division in action at El Alamein.	General Rommel's forces had pushed the allies back to El Alamein in June 1942, the July battles involved allied attempts to push German and Italian forces back, none of the three attempts were successful.
7 July	1942	Horn Island Bombed	Horn Island was bombed by Japanese aircraft 9 times during the Second World War.
7 July	1956	Last RAAF transports return from Korea.	The last Australian servicemen did not depart Korea until 1957.
8 July	1942	460 Squadron raids Wilhelmshaven	13 Wellingtons of no. 460 Squadron participated in a night time bombing raid on this major German port severely damaging an armour plate shop and the Deutsche Werke ship building yards.
9 July	1941	Damour taken.	Damour was the main military base and administrative centre for the Vichy French forces in Syria. The Australian victory at Damour opened the way to Beirut and led the Vichy French to seek an armistice.
9 July	1943	No. 3 and No. 450 Squadrons RAAF and 8 RAN corvettes involved in the allied invasion of Sicily.	Known as Operation Husky the invasion of Sicily was the second largest undertaken in Europe during the Second World War, Overlord being the largest. The operation involved 180,000 troops and 2,590 ships.
10 July	1911	Formation of Royal Australian Navy (RAN).	In its original form the Royal Australian Navy consisted of the battlecruiser Australia and several cruisers, destroyers and submarines. When the new fleet arrived in Australia on 4 October 1913 the day was declared a public holiday and was described in the press as the greatest day in Australia's history.
10 July	1940	Beginning of the Battle of Britain.	The Battle of Britain was an aerial battle between the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe for control of the skies over southern Britain, a necessary prerequisite for the planned German invasion of the island. After some three months of intensive aerial operations both sides had lost heavily but the Germans were forced to abandon their plans for a cross-channel invasion of England.
10 July	1941	Private J.H. Gordon, VC.	Private James Gordon, 2/31st Battalion, originally from Rockingham, Western Australia, wins the Victoria Cross near Jezzine, Lebanon.
10 July	1951	Negotiations between the United Nations Command and the Communists begin at Kaesong.	Negotiations between the opposing sides in the Korean War continued for two years before an armistice was finally declared.
11 July	1941	Vichy French surrender in Syria.	The five-week long Syrian campaign represented the first occasion that the Australian 7th Division was committed to action. The campaign was based on the premise that the Vichy French forces would offer only token resistance, though this turned out not to be the case. Of the 34,000 Allied troops (Australian, British, Indian and Free French) committed to the campaign 3,900 became casualties.
12 July	1965	Last 3RAR ambush of Malayan Emergency	The last ambush conducted by the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment was mounted from Malaysia against targets at Babang in Kalimantan.
13 July	1953	HMAS Tobruk begins a two-week patrol of the northern part of Korea's east coast.	This was the Tobruk's last patrol before the war in Korea ended in late July 1953.
14 July	1918	Fighting at Abu Tellul, Palestine.,	A heavy attack by about 1,000 men of the German Asia Corps on Australian Light Horse positions at Abu Tellul, a prominent hill on the west bank of the Jordan River, Palestine, is defeated. This was the only occasion on which the German Asia Corps was known to have carried the primary role in an attack in the Middle East during the First World War.
15 July	1940	Volunteer Defence Force (VDC) formed.	The Volunteer Defence Force (VDC), composed mainly of World War One veterans, was formed for home defence by the RSL
16 July	1940	HMA Ships Stuart and Waterhen at Bardia.	HMA Ships Stuart and Waterhen were on screen at the bombardment of Bardia.
17 - 18 July	1918	Lieutenant A.C. Borella, VC.	Lieutenant A.C. Borella, 26th Battalion, originally from Borung, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Villers-Bretonneux, France. AT 36 Borella was the oldest member of the 1st AIF to receive this award.
19 July	1916	Battle of Fromelles.	5,533 Australians were killed or wounded in this battle, most on the night of 19-20 July. Fromelles was the first battle for the Australians on the Western Front.
19 July	1940	HMAS Sydney sinks the Bartolomeo Colleoni	HMAS Sydney sinks the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni in the battle of Cape Spada off Crete.
20 July	1943	HMAS Hobart torpedoed.	HMAS Hobart torpedoed off San Cristobal, Solomon Islands. Seven officers and six ratings were killed in the attack. Though badly damaged the Hobart was able to reach Espirtu Santo the next day.
21 July	1942	Japanese forces land at Buna and Gona.	Buna, Gona and Sanananda were to become the scenes of heavy fighting over the period November 1942 - January 1943 when the Japanese withdrawal from the Kokoda trail enabled the allies to plan the encirclement of these important Japanese positions. Gona was the first to fall to the Allies and Buna was the second after weeks of heavy fighting.
22 July	1917	Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service win the Military Medal.	Four members of the Australian Army Nursing Service, Sisters Cawood, Deacon and Ross-King and Staff Nurse Derrer, won Military Medals for rescuing patients trapped in a burning Casualty Clearing Station at Trois Arbes, France. These were the first bravery awards won by Australian nurses in action.
22 July	1938	Australian National War Memorial opened at Villers-Bretonneux, France.	Opening of the Australian National War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France. This Memorial lists the names of 11,000 Australian missing from the fighting around Villers-Bretonneux.
22 July	1942	Beginning of the battle of the Kokoda Track, New Guinea.	Having been stopped in their attempt to reach Port Moresby by sea at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were forced to try and take the town by land. The only route open to them was over the Owen Stanley Ranges via the Kokoda Track which became the scene of heavy fighting.
22 July	1942	Private A.S. Gurney, VC.	Private A.S. Gurney, 2/48th Battalion, originally from Dayawn, Western Australia, wins the Victoria Cross at Tel el Eisa, Egypt.
23 July	1916	Battle of Pozieres begins.	Pozieres was the first protracted battle for the Australians on the Western Front. Part of the Somme battlefield Pozieres was the scene of several major attacks by the Australians between 23 July and 5 August 1916. More than 12,000 Australians became casualties in the fighting at Pozieres.
23 July	1916	Lieutenant A.S. Blackburn, VC.	Lieutenant A.S. Blackburn, 10th Battalion, originally from Woodville, South Australia, wins the Victoria Cross at Pozieres, France.
23 July	1916	Private J. Leak, VC.	Private J. Leak, 9th Battalion, originally from Portsmouth, United Kingdom, wins the Victoria Cross at Pozieres, France.
24 July	1900	Captain N.R. Howse, VC.	Captain N.R. Howse, New South Wales Army Medical Corps, originally from Somerset, United Kingdom, wins the Victoria Cross at Vredefort, Orange Free State. Howse's was the first Victoria Cross awarded to an Australian and remains the only Australian medical officer to win this award.
24 July	1945	Private F. J. Partridge, VC.	Private F. J. Partridge, 8th Battalion, originally from Grafton, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross on the Bonis Peninsula, Bougainville.
24 - 25 July	1916	Private T. Cooke, VC.	Private T. Cooke, 8th Battalion, originally from Kaikora, New Zealand, wins the Victoria Cross at Pozieres, France.
26 July	1940	Formation of the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service (RAAFNS)	The RAAFNS was established in response to the need for a greater number of nursing personnel as the RAAF underwent a rapid expansion early in the war. Membership of the RAAFNS expanded from 45 in December 1940 to 616 in December 1945. The service was disbanded at the end of the war, but in 1948 a peace-time service was formed.
26 July	1942	Darwin bombed by Japanese aircraft.	Darwin was bombed 64 times during the war.
26 July	1945	Japan issued with ultimatum to surrender.	Towards the end of the Second World War the Japanese Government was divided between those who wanted their country to fight to the finish and those who advocated surrender on the terms set out in the Allied ultimatum that was put forward at the Potsdam conference. With the Government unable to resolve the deadlock the matter was left in the hands of the Emperor who surrendered on 15 August 1945.
26 July	1950	Australian troops committed to Korea.	Acting Prime Minister Fadden announces the commitment of Australian ground forces for service in Korea.
27 July	1942	Formation of the Australian Women's Land Army.	With many male agricultural workers leaving their farms to enlist Australia required rural labour to produce food and other raw materials for the war effort. Women's organisations responded by setting up 'land armies' in each state and many of these women were later absorbed into the Australian Women's Land Army. It was open to all women who were British subjects or 'friendly aliens' between the ages of 18 and 50 not already engaged in rural work.
27 July	1942	Japanese capture Kokoda.	Having been stopped in their attempt to reach Port Moresby by sea at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were forced to try and take the town by land. The only route open to them was over the Owen Stanley Ranges via the Kokoda Track which became the scene of heavy fighting.
27 July	1942	Fighting at Ruin Ridge.	2/28th Battalion in disastrous action against German troops at Ruin Ridge, western Egypt.
27 July	1953	Fighting in Korea ends.	Cease Fire signed in Panmunjon, Korea, bringing hostilities to an end.
28 July	1916	Sergeant C. Castleton, VC.	Sergeant C. Castleton, 5th Machine Gun Company, originally from Suffolk, United Kingdom, wins the Victoria Cross at Pozieres, France.
28 - 19 July	1942	Australians involved in heavy fighting at Kokoda.	Having been stopped in their attempt to reach Port Moresby by sea at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were forced to try and take the town by land. The only route open to them was over the Owen Stanley Ranges via the Kokoda Track which became the scene of heavy fighting.
28 July	1942	Townsville bombed by Japanese aircraft.	Townsville was bombed 4 times during the war..
29 July	1942	Townsville bombed by Japanese aircraft.	Townsville was bombed 4 times during the war..
30 July	1942	Port Headland, Darwin and Horn Island bombed by Japanese aircraft.	Many towns and airfields in northern Australia came under Japanese aerial attack during 1942-1943. Darwin was the most heavily bombed Australian city in the war.
31 July	1900	Victorian naval contingent departs Melbourne on SS Salamis for China.	With many Australian soldiers fighting in South Africa, Australia's commitment to the Boxer Rebellion in China was a naval one.
31 July	1914	Labor leader Andrew Fisher declares Australians will defend Britain 'to our last man and our last shilling'.	The extent Australia's sacrifice in the First World War could not have been imagined when Fisher made his famous commitment.
July	1962	Team leader of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam arrives in South Vietnam.	The arrival of the Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam, in South Vietnam signalled the beginning of a decade long Australian involvement in the Vietnam War.