Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

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Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was a small volunteer

Volunteer

A volunteer is someone who works Community service or for the benefit of environment primarily because they choose to do so. The word comes from France, it can also be translated as "will" ....
force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
shortly after the outbreak of the First World War

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
to seize and destroy German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
wireless

Wireless telegraphy

The term wireless telegraphy is a historic term used today as applied to early radio telegraph communications techniques and practices. Wireless telegraphy originated as a term to describe electrical signaling without the electric wires to connect the end points....
stations in German New Guinea

German New Guinea

German New Guinea was a former Germany protectorate from 1884 to 1914, consisting of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups....
in the south-west Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
. Britain required the German wireless installations to be destroyed because they were used by the German East Asian Cruiser Squadron of Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee

Maximilian von Spee

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Encyclopedia

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force was a small volunteer

Volunteer

Australia

World War I

Germany

Wireless telegraphy

German New Guinea

German New Guinea was a former Germany protectorate from 1884 to 1914, consisting of the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups....
in the south-west Pacific

Pacific Ocean

Maximilian von Spee

Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee was a Germany admiral. Although he was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, the counts von Spee belonged to the prominent families of the Rhenish nobility....
which threatened merchant shipping in the region. Following the capture of German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war. New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
provided a similar force for the occupation of German Samoa

Occupation of German Samoa

The Occupation of Samoa was the takeover and subsequent administration of the Pacific colony of German Samoa in August 1914 by an expeditionary force from New Zealand called the Samoa Expeditionary Force and New Zealand's first action in World War I....
.

History

Formation

The AN&MEF began forming following a request by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
government on 6 August, 1914. The objectives of the force were the German stations at Yap

YAP

Yet Another Previewer or Yet Another Prolog are two document previewing applications and one Prolog compiler often referred to as YAP....
in the Caroline Islands

Caroline Islands

The Caroline Islands form a large archipelago of widely scattered islands in the western Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end....
, Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in the Micronesian Pacific Ocean....
and at Rabaul

Rabaul

New Britain

New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier Strait , and from New Ireland by the St....
. The AN&MEF was assembled under the guidance of Colonel

Colonel

Colonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures....
J.G. Legge

James Gordon Legge

Lieutenant General James Gordon Legge Order of the Bath, Order of Saint Michael and Saint George was an Australian Army Lieutenant General who served in World War I....
, and was separate from the Australian Imperial Force forming under Major-General W.T. Bridges

William Throsby Bridges

Major General Sir William Throsby Bridges Order of the Bath, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George served with Australian forces during World War I, and was the first Australian to reach general officer rank....
. The AN&MEF comprised one battalion

Battalion

A battalion is a military unit of around 500-1500 men usually consisting of between two and seven company and typically commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel....
of infantry

Infantry

Infantry are soldiers who are primarily trained for the role of fighting on foot. A soldier in the infantry is known as an infantryman. Infantry units have more physically demanding training than other branches of armies, and place a greater emphasis on fitness, physical strength and aggression....
(1,000 men) enlisted in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
plus 500 naval reservists and ex-sailors who would serve as infantry. Another battalion of militia from northern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
, which had been hurriedly dispatched to garrison Thursday Island, also contributed 500 volunteers to the force. The objectives of the force were the German stations at Yap

YAP

Yet Another Previewer or Yet Another Prolog are two document previewing applications and one Prolog compiler often referred to as YAP....
in the Caroline Islands

Caroline Islands

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in the Micronesian Pacific Ocean....
and at Rabaul

Rabaul

New Britain

William Holmes (General)

Major General William Holmes Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order, Volunteer Decoration was an Australian Army Major General in World War I....
, the AN&MEF departed Sydney aboard HMAS Berrima

HMAS Berrima

HMAS Berrima was an Armed merchantmen which served in the Royal Australian Navy during World War I.The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company passenger liner SS Berrima was requisitioned for use by the Navy, refitted and armed at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard and commissioned into the RAN as the auxiliary cruiser HMA...
and halted at Palm Island

Palm Island, Queensland

Palm Island, also known as Great Palm Island, or by the Indigenous Australians name Bukaman, is a tropical island with a resident community of about 2,000 people....
off Townsville

Townsville, Queensland

Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland....
until the New Zealand force, escorted by the battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large warships in the first half of the 20th century that were first introduced by the Royal Navy. The battlecruiser was developed as the successor to the armoured cruisers, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleships....
HMAS Australia

HMAS Australia (1911)

HMAS Australia was one of three Indefatigable class battlecruiser built for the defence of the British Empire. Launched in 1911, Australia was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as flagship in 1913, and is the only capital ship to serve in the RAN....
, cruiser HMAS Melbourne

HMAS Melbourne (1912)

HMAS Melbourne was a Town class cruiser light cruiser laid down by Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in England on 4 April 1911, launched on 30 May 1912 by Mrs....
and the French cruiser Montcalm, occupied Samoa

Occupation of German Samoa

Port Moresby

||-||-||-||-||-||}Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, population 255,000 , is the Capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea ....
where it met the Queensland contingent aboard the transport HMAHS Kanowna. The force then sailed for German New Guinea on 7 September but the Kanowna was left behind when her stokers refused to work.

Landing at Rabaul

Off the eastern tip of New Guinea, the Berrima rendezvoused with Australia and the light cruiser HMAS Sydney

HMAS Sydney (1912)

HMAS Sydney was a Town class cruiser light cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. Her crew made history in 1914, during World War I, when Sydney took part in the RAN's first ship against ship battle, the Battle of Cocos....
plus some destroyers. Melbourne had been detached to destroy the wireless station on Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island nation in the Micronesian Pacific Ocean....
. The task force reached Rabaul

Rabaul

Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption....
on 11 September, finding the port free of German forces. Sydney and the destroyer HMAS Warrego landed small parties of naval reservists at the settlements of Kabakaul and the German gubernatorial capital Herbertshöhe on Neu-Pommern, south-east of Rabaul. These parties were reinforced firstly by sailors from Warrego and later by infantry from Berrima. A small 25 man force of naval reservists was subsequently landed at Kabakaul Bay and proceeded inland to capture the radio station believed to be in operation at Bitapaka, seven kilometres to the south. The Australians were resisted by a mixed force of German reservists and Melanesian native police, who forced them to fight their way to Bitapaka. By nightfall the radio station was reached, and it was found to have been abonded, the mast dropped but its instruments and machinery intact. During the fighting seven Australians were killed and five wounded, whilst the defenders lost one German NCO and about 30 Melanesians killed, and one German and ten Melanesians wounded. Later it was alleged that the heavy losses among the Melanesian troops was the result of the Australians bayoneting all those they had captured during the fighting. As a result of this engagement Seaman W.G.V. Williams became the first Australian fatality of the war.

At nightfall on 12 September, the Berrima landed the AN&MEF infantry battalion at Rabaul. The following afternoon, 13 September, despite the fact that the German governor had not surrendered the territory, a ceremony was carried out to signal the British occupation of New Britain. The German administration had withdrawn inland to Toma and at dawn on 14 September, HMAS Encounter

HMAS Encounter

HMAS Encounter was a second-class protected cruiser of the Challenger class cruiser of the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy ....
bombarded a ridge near the town, while half a battalion advanced towards the town, supported by a field gun

Field gun

A field gun is an artillery piece.Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march and when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances....
.

German surrender

This show of firepower was sufficient to start negotiations. The terms were signed on 17 September and all military resistance in German New Guinea ceased, with the remaining armed forces, comprising 40 German soldiers and 110 natives, surrendering by 21 September. The German colony at Madang

Madang

Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germany in the 19th century....
on Kaiser-Wilhelmsland

Kaiser-Wilhelmsland

Kaiser-Wilhelmsland was the name given to the north-eastern part of the New Guinea mainland, while under Germany's control between 1884 until 1914, when it was conquered by Australian troops....
(the New Guinea mainland) was occupied on 24 September but the German cruiser SMS Cormoran

SMS Cormoran

SMS Cormoran or SMS Cormoran II was built at Danzig, Germany in 1909 for the Russian merchant fleet and named SS Ryaezan . She was used by imperial Russia as a combination passenger, cargo and mail carrier on North Pacific routes....
, which was lurking nearby, escaped undetected. Over the next two months, the remaining German outposts were occupied.

The terms of the surrender allowed the colony's governor, Dr. Eduard Haber, to return to Germany while German civilians could remain as long as they swore an oath

Oath

An oath is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact....
of neutrality. Those who refused were transported to Australia from where they could freely travel back to Germany.

Although successful the operation was not well managed, and the Australians had been effectively delayed by a half-trained native force. The losses of the AN&MEF were light in the context of later operations but were sufficiently heavy given the relatively modest gain. These loses were further compounded by the disappearance of the Australian submarine HMAS AE1

HMAS AE1

HMAS AE1 was an British E class submarine submarine of the Royal Australian Navy . She was the first submarine to serve in the RAN, and was lost at sea with all hands near East New Britain, Papua New Guinea, on 14 September 1914, after less than seven months in service....
during a patrol off Rabaul on 14 September, with 35 men aboard. Following the capture of German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war.