April

Date	Year	Title	Event
1 April	1921	First AIF disbanded	During the four years of the First World War the First AIF gained a reputation for military prowess remains very much in the consciousness of Australians to the present day.
2 April	1917	Private J.C. Jensen, VC.	Jensen, 50th Battalion, originally from Loegstoer, Denmark, wins the Victoria Cross at Noreuil, France
3 April	1885	Tamai	Tamai was the largest and most significant engagement in which the 770 man New South Wales contingent to the Sudan were involved. In comparison with the British units involved in the battle, Australian involvement was minimal.
4 April	1918	First action at Villers-Bretonneux	Villers Bretonneux, overlooking the Somme and within artillery range of Amiens, was a principal objective when the Germans renewed their March offensive in early April. They were repulsed by British units of the 5th Australian Division
5 April	1951	3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, involved in Operation Rugged, Korea.	Operation Rugged involved United Nations' forces crossing the 38th Parallel and occupying strong defensive positions formed by a line of hills codenamed the Kansas Line and including Hills Salmon, Cod and Sardine, 45 kilometres north of Seoul.
6 April	1942	US 42nd Division arrives in Australia	Between December 1941 and August 1945 some one million Americans were stationed in Australia.
6 April	1952	1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, arrives in Korea.	The Battalion remained in Korea until September 1953.
7 April	1916	Australians reach the Western Front	Australians were introduced to fighting on the Western Front in what was called the 'nursery sector' in the relatively quiet area around Armentieres, France.
7 April	1918	Lieutenant P.V. Storkey, VC	Lieutenant Storkey, 19th Battalion, originally from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, wins the Victoria Cross at Bois de Hangard
7 April	1967	Major P.J. Badcoe, VC	Badcoe, Australian Army Training Team, Vietnam, originally from Adelaide, South Australia, was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for a series of actions in South Vietnam between February and April 1967.
8 April	1917	Captain J.E. Newland, VC. (8 April & 15 April 1917)	Newland, 12th Battalion, originally from Geelong, Victoria, wins the Victoria Cross at Lagnicourt
8 April	1917	Sergeant J.W.Whittle, VC. (8 April & 15 April 1917)	Whittle, 2nd Battalion, originally from Huon Island, Tasmania, wins the Victoria Cross for actions at Boursies and Lagnicourt.
8 April	1918	Repatriation Department established	Once soldiers were demobilised all tasks aimed at their rehabilitation and return to civilian life became the responsibility of the Repatriation Department.
9 April	1917	Private T.J.B. Kenny VC	Kenny, 2nd Battalion, originally from Paddington, New South Wales, wins the Victoria Cross at Hermies, France.
9 April	1942	HMAS Vampire sunk	The destroyer, HMAS Vampire and the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes were sunk by Japanese bombers off Colombo in the Bay of Bengal.
9 April	1968	HMAS Sydney arrived at Vung Tau: 1 RAR disembarked, 7RAR embarked.	The 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment embarked, the 7th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment disembarked. HMAS Sydney made 21 voyages to Vietnam during the war.
10 April 1941	1941	6th Division engage the Germans in Greece	The Greek campaign, involving forces from Greece, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, resulted in heavy losses to the 6th Australian Division and ultimately an evacuation of Allied forces from beaches in southern Creece.
10 April		Siege of Tobruk, Libya, begins	Tobruk was surrounded on three sides by the German Afrika Korps in April and remained besieged, but able to be re-supplied by sea, until December. Most Australian, however, left Tobruk between August and October.
11 April	1917	First battle of Bullecourt, Western Front	The 4th Australian Division and 62nd English Division attempted to penetrate the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt where they were unsuccessfully supported by tanks. Over 1,000 Australians became prisoners of war, the largest number in a single action in the First World War. 3,000 became casualties.
11 April	1951	General MacArthur dismissed from command in Korea	MacArthur was dismissed from his command in Korea for the perception in Washington that he was too intemperate and likely to escalate the war.
11 April	1970	HMAS Vendetta returns to Sydney	HMAS Vendetta was the only one of three Australian Daring class destroyers to serve on the gunline in Vietnamese waters. The ship served one tour.
12 April	1918	Battle of Hazebrouck, Western Front	Hazebrouck, a crucial rail centre, 30 kilometres west of Armentieres, was threatened by a renewel of the German offensive. The 1st Australian Division were able to hold the town against several German attacks.
12 April	1941	ANZAC Corps reformed in Greece by General Blamey	Australian and New Zealand troops fought alongside soldiers from Greece and Britain in the ill-fated Greek campaign. Blamey, however, conducted a skillful evacuation of the ANZAC Corps from southern Greece at the end of the campaign.
13 April	1916	Jifjafa	A squadron of the 9th Light Horse regiment captured this Turkish outpost in the Sinai, about 60 kilometres from the Suez. The encounter, the first engagement for the Light Horse in the Sinai, demonstrated their potential for fighting in the Middle East.
13 April	1941	Corporal J.E. Edmondson, VC.	Corporal Edmondson, 2/17 Battalion,originally from Wagga Wagga, wins the Victoria Cross at Tobruk. This was a Posthumous award.
13 April	1983	Dedication of the Rats of Tobruk Memorial	The Memorial, on Anzac Parade, was dedicated by the Governor-General, the Right Hon. Sir Ninian Stephen. The Memorial commemorates the Australian and Allied servicemen who died during the siege of Tobruk in 1941.
14 April	1941	Second attack against Tobruk by Afrika Korps fails	The besieged town of Tobruk held out against German attacks until December 1941 when the siege was lifted.
15 April	1917	Lieutenant C. Pope, VC	Lieutenant Pope, 11th Battalion AIF, originally from London, wins the Victoria Cross at Louveral, France. This was a Posthumous award.
16 April	1967	Operation Sea Dragon	HMAS Hobart begins involvement in Operation Sea Dragon
17 April	1917	Second battle of Gaza	This was the second failure to capture the Turkish coastal strongpoint at Gaza. Reinforced and prepared for an attack the Turks repulsed General Sir Archibald Murray's assault inflicting over 6,000 casualties on the attackers.
18 April	1941	Tempe (or Pinios) Gorge, Greece	The 2/2nd and 2/3rd Battalions AIF and New Zealand 21st Battalion stemmed a German advance in a rearguard action that enabled the main Allied force in Greece to establish a new defensive line across the Thermopylae Peninsula.
18 April	1942	General Blamey appointed to command Allied land forces in the South West Pacific.	In reality General MacArthur kept Blamey from having control over United States land forces in the Pacific during the Second World War.
19 April	1968	Dedication of the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial	The Memorial, on Anzac Parade, was dedicated by Prime Minister John Gorton. The Memorial is a copy of the original unveiled at Port Said, Egypt by former Prime Minister William Morris Hughes in 1932
20 April	1915	First half-flight, Australian Flying Corps, sailed for the Baghdad expedition	This was the first use of Australian aircraft and aircrew in war.
20 April	1941	ANZAC Corps withdraw to Thermopylae Line, Greece	The Greek campaign ended in disaster for the Allies. Unable to hold out against superior and better organised German forces, the Allies were forced to evacuate their troops from Greece in late April 1941.
21 April	1917	Foundation of the Imperial War Graves Commission	The Imperial War Graves Commission was later renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It is responsible for erecting and maintaining war Memorials and cemeteries
22 April	1941	Evacuation of Greece begins	The evacuation marked the end of the ill-conceived Greek campaign which lasted only three weeks and saw the Allies retreat ever southwards in the face of the German advance until they were evacuated at the end of April.
23 April	1918	Ostend and Zeebruge, Belgium, raided.	Eleven volunteers from HMAS Australia took part in a raid that aimed to close of the Belgian Port of Bruges for use as a base for German submarines.
23 April	1951	Battle of Kapyong, Korea	The most well-known Australian action of the Korean war, Kapyong involved the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. The fighting at Kapyong blunted the Chinese advance during the 1951 Spring Offensive and prevented a Communist breakthrough on the United Nations central front. The 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment was awarded a United States Presidential citation for their part in the battle.
24 April	1918	Second battle of Villers-Bretonneux, Western Front	When the Germans captured the town that had been the centre of fighting just 3 weeks previously Australian and British troops drove them out in a daring night time attack at a cost of 1,469 casualties.
24 April	1998	Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum opened	The Memorial Museum, honouring Australian prisoners who worked on the Burma-Thailand railway, was opened by the Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. John Howard.
25 April	1901	Naval contingent return to Sydney from China	Sailors from New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria were sent to China to assist in quelling an anti-western rebellion by Chinese secret societies. They arrived too late to see any significant fighting. The Australian colonial force suffered only 6 fatalities, none from combat.
25 April	1915	Landings at Gallipoli	British, French and Australian troops were involved in the landings. Although the Gallipoli campaign was a military failure, the anniversary of the landing has become a national day of commemoration in Australia.
25 April	1916	First commemoration of Anzac Day	The first anniversary of the Gallipoli landings was widely observed in Australia. Large crowds attended church services and public ceremonies . The day was also commemorated by Australian and New Zealand servicemen in Egypt and London.
25 April	1918	Fighting around Villers-Bretonneux	When the Germans captured the town that had been the centre of fighting just 3 weeks previously Australian and British troops drove them out in a daring night time attack at a cost of 1,469 casualties.
26 April	1944	Alexishafen occupied	Alexishafen, New Guinea, was occupied by Australian troops
26 April	1953	Cease Fire talks resume in Panmunjong.	Warring sides try to bring an end to the fighting in Korea
27 April	1942	Darwin bombed by Japanese aircraft	Darwin was bombed 64 times during the Second World War
28 April	1952	Australia ratifies peace treaty with Japan and official ending of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF)	From the end of 1948 Australia had taken on the largest role in BCOF. When the state of occupation ended the Commonwealth organisation in Japan was redesignated British Commonwealth Forces Korea and continued supplying and administering Commonwealth forces then fighting in Korea.
29 April	1915	HMA Submarine AE2 sunk in the Sea of Marmara	AE2 was the first submarine to penetrate the Dardanelles. For five days the AE2 carried out orders to disrupt Turkish shipping. When her torpedoes were exhausted and she was attacked by Turkish gunboats the submarine was scuttled and her crew captured.
29 April	1965	Prime Minister Menzies announces the commitment of an infantry battalion to Vietnam	Australia's involvement in Vietnam was a gradual process of commitment. By April 1965 there were 100 members of the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam in Vietnam. The commitment of a battalion represented a major step in Australia's involvement and precipitated further increases in the number of Australians serving in Vietnam until reductions in their number began in 1970.
30 April	1941	Last evacuation ship leaves Greece	Australian and New Zealand troops fought alongside soldiers from Greece and Britain in the ill-fated Greek campaign. General Blamey conducted a skillful evacuation of the ANZAC Corps from southern Greece at the end of the campaign.
30 April	1967	7RAR arrives in South Vietnam	7RAR arrives in South Vietnam