Churchill obviously had a wonderful speech writer and a powerful presence with world leaders but a recent book shows he was no friend to Australia …ever. A Key figure in the Dardanelles campaign,a dreadful failure by any measure, and backed up by the slaughter of our surviving troops on the Western Front, this was the man who refused to release Australian troops to come home to defend Australia against the Japanese advance. The war diaries from Curtin show the continual frustration in dealing with Churchill so that eventually we turned to the USA to provide the essential war supplies at a time when we had the men but no munitions. It was said that of 60,000 men recruited to our ranks to defend the North, only one in three had a rifle and many of those were World War 1 weapons ,many of which did not work. Our country has been tied to the USA since then,even though the main reason they came was because they needed a safe forward base for their own war against Japan. Many of our Dads were frightened kids forced to grow up in the jungles of New Guinea, if they survived to grow up at all. Now the Superpowers of the world mainly fight in the boardrooms because they know that trade is where the new wars are fought. China long ago accepted that once Japan surrendered they started down the path of winning the economic war. China has now (in the last 20-30 years) followed suit and a war over North Korea is the last thing they want. The warrior class had been beaten never to rise again. Sadly in Africa and the Middle East the tribal wars are still going on. Today we remember those who voluntered or were conscripted, it makes no diffference, to fight the good fight no matter what the cause. So today we join together to have a drink, enjoy our Sport, and have a day out together as a united Australia.
1 Comment. Leave new
Hear Hear. Lest We Forget