Portal:Military history of Australia/Selected anniversaries/August
Selected anniversaries in August
January • February • March • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • December
Anniversaries can be found here from the Army news website or here at the AWM or here at the Australian History unit, or in books, journals or other sources related to Australian military history.
- 1871 – The New South Wales Permanent Military Forces was established to consist of one battery of field artillery and two companies of infantry, following the withdrawal of the British Army from Australia.
- 1947 – The Permanent Military Forces was reformed.
- 1972 – School of Army Aviation formed at RAAF Base Amberley.
- 1948 – The Army Apprentices School was formed.
- 1950 – The Australian Government publicly announced that only volunteers would be sent to the Korean War.
- 1914 – World War I: The Government offered Britain 20,000 troops organised into an infantry division for Imperial service.
- 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Romani commences
- 1942 – World War II: Overwhelming Japanese numbers forced the 39th Battalion to withdraw at Kokoda.
- 1914 – World War I: Great Britain declared war on Germany; as a result, Australia was also at war.
- 1914 – World War I: Fort Nepean, Victoria fired the opening shots of World War I, opening fire on the German merchant ship Pfalz.
- 1942 – World War II: Japan launches the first air raid on Milne Bay.
- 1916 – World War I: German counterattack was repulsed at Pozieres.
- 1944 – World War II: At least 545 Japanese prisoners of war attempt a mass escape from a camp near Cowra, New South Wales. The escape was one of the largest of the war.
- 1915 – World War I: Members of the 1st Division begin their assault on Lone Pine during the Gallipoli Campaign. The attack was part of the greater August Offensive.
- 1951 – National Service Training began. This conscription scheme continued to July 1960.
- 1915 – World War I: Australian Light Horse troops charge against the Turkish forces at the Nek, with heavy casualties sustained by the Australian troops.
- 1915 – World War I: Leonard Keysor is awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine.
- 1915 – World War I: William Symons is awarded a Victoria Cross for actions at Gallipoli, Turkey.
- 1916 – World War I: Battle of Mouquet Farm begins.
- 1918 – World War I: Battle of Amiens begins.
- 1918 – World War I: Alfred Gaby is awarded a Victoria Cross for actions at Villers-Bretonneux, France.
- 1915 – World War II: Alexander Burton was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
- 1915 – World War II: William Dunstan was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
- 1915 – World War II: John Hamilton was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
- 1915 – World War II: Alfred Shout was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
- 1915 – World War II: Frederick Tubb was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions at Lone Pine, Gallipoli.
- 1918 – World War II: Robert Beatham was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions near Amiens, France.
- 1942 – World War II: HMAS Canberra was sunk in the Battle of Savo Island.
- 1916 – World War I: Martin O'Meara was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions near Pozières, France.
- 1919 – Russian Civil War: Arthur Sullivan was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions near Sheika River, Russia.
- 1914 – World War I: Recruiting for Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force begins.
- 1942 – World War II: A restructured Headquarters for New Guinea Force was established at Port Moresby to take command of the Kokoda Track Campaign.
- 1918 – World War I: Percy Statton was awarded the Victoria Cross for action near Proyart, France.
- 1942 – World War II: The 21st Infantry Brigade arrived in Port Moresby to relieve the militia units fighting on the Kokoda Track.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese and Australian forces in action around Deniki during the Kokoda Track campaign
- 1964 – Vietnam War: six Caribou aircraft deploy as part of the RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam (which is later renamed No. 35 Squadron RAAF)
- 1945 – World War II: Japan announces its surrender, bring an end to the war in the Pacific
- 1942 – World War II: the Japanese high command decides to postpone the overland advance on Port Moresby following delaying actions by Australian troops along the Kokoda Track, and a Marine landing at Guadalcanal
- 1942 – World War II: Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner assumes command of the 39th Infantry Battalion at Isurava, following its withdrawal from Kokoda
- 2002 – HMAS Stuart, an Anzac-class frigate, is commissioned
- 1966 – Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan is fought
- 1941 – World War II: Australian troops are relieved by Polish troops during the Siege of Tobruk
- 1943 – World War II: in New Guinea, the Battle of Bobdubi ends
- 1994 – Australian peacekeepers deploy to Rwanda as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
- 1915 – World War I: the last major assault of the Gallipoli Campaign began at Hill 60
- 1891 – Henry Bachtold, Australian Army engineer officer, was born
- 1918 – World War I: Lieutenants Dominic McCarthy and William Joynt win the Victoria Cross for their actions during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive on the Western Front
- 1899 – regular colonial artillery forces from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are combined for the first time, establishing a precedent for the eventual establishment of the Royal Australian Artillery
- 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Milne Bay commences
- 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Isurava commences as Japanese forces continue to advance towards Port Moresby during the Kokoda Track campaign
- 1918 – World War I: Lance Corporal Bernard Gordon, of the 41st Infantry Battalion, wins a Victoria Cross for actions around Bray, France, during the Hundred Days Offensive
- 1945 – World War II: Allied warships, including Royal Australian Navy destroyers, enter Tokyo Bay prior to the signing of documents formalising Japan's surrender
- 1942 – World War II: Private Bruce Kingsbury, of the 2/14th Infantry Battalion, posthumously wins a Victoria Cross during heavy fighting against the Japanese at Isurava, during the Kokoda Track campaign
- 1968 – Charles Bean, editor of the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 and driving force behind the creation of the Australian War Memorial, dies aged 88.
- 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Isurava ends as Australian forces withdraw