Australian At War

60,000
According to the First World War page on the Australian War Memorial website from a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of which over 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner. The latest figure for those killed is given as 62,000.19 Mar 2021



Australia lost 34,000 service personnel during World War II. Total battle casualties were72,814. Over 31,000 Australian became prisoners-of-war. Of these more than 22,000 were captured by the Japanese; by August 1945 over one third of them had died in the appalling conditions of the prisoner-of-war camps.

One million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War – 500,000 overseas. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and the Pacific.

Five years after the end of the Second World War, 17,000 Australian troops were again called into action; of these, 346 Australians fighting with the United Nations forces during the Korean War lost their lives.

How many troops did Australia sent to Vietnam?

In 1975 North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam. The Vietnam War was the longest 20th-century conflict in which Australians fought, and the first without Britain as an ally. About 52,000 Australians served in Vietnam, with 521 killed and more than 3000 wounded.


41 fatalities
The Australian forces in Afghanistan have suffered 41 fatalities. 261 soldiers have been wounded.

26,000 Australian soldiers
More than 26,000 Australian soldiers served in Afghanistan on Operation Slipper (2001-2014). For them and their families, this was a time of joy and grief, pride and loss. In more than a decade of operations, 41 Australian Army soldiers died in Afghanistan. Many more were wounded, some physically and others mentally.

I can not find information re the number of Australian military deaths in the Middle East from 2014 to 2021.

And now our Gov wants to disband the SAS.   I wonder how many of our troops would have died in Afghanistan if the SAS had not been there.... A bloody lot.

There is only one way to fight a war and that is to go All Out to win and not just to have little skirmishes here and there that makes us look like we are doing something. All that does is result in loss of lives (our soldiers) for zero gain.


The Afghanistan war has dragged on for many years without resolve and now I heard on tv the other day that the reason we are bringing our troops back home is because of an anticipated conflict with China. ...  Ye Gods and Little Fishes!!   How do you reckon that will end.   ....Not well.