Military history and 1943: A perspective 70 years on

This book is a sibling of last year's production Australia 1942: In the Shadow of War. That book focused on Australia's first traumatic year of the Pacific War from the fall of Singapore until the victory in Papua in January 1943. It demonstrated that while a Japanese invasion of Australia may have been possible it was never probable and that ultimately the country was not under direct threat. Instead, stretched to their limits, the Japanese had decided in February 1942 to isolate Australia. This meant that the battles of 1942 were to be fought in the air and sea approaches to the Australian continent and in the islands of the archipelago to Australia's north. It is here that the security of Australia was achieved. The events of 1942 had shown that Australia, with its small population and limited industrial base, needed to develop a close strategic partnership with a global power. When Great Britain failed to be able to meet this need in 1942 Australia was fortunate that the United States was both capable and willing to fill the void. In partnership with the United States, Australia's Army, Navy and Air Force had defeated the Japanese attempts to isolate Australia during 1942. At the dawn of a new year - 1943 - Australian and US forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) would plan and launch offensive operations to push the Japanese far away from Australia's shores and to strike at the heart of Japanese military power in the South Pacific.