In this episode of Digger History: Australia’s Military Heritage, we journey through the month, exploring the battles, operations and events that shaped Australia’s military story — from the outbreak of the Second World War and the victory at Milne Bay, to the fighting on the Kokoda Track, the tragedy of HMAS AE1, Operation Jaywick, and the Battle of Nui Le.

We also look at the Australian attack on the Hindenburg Line in 1918, the surrender of German New Guinea, the origins of the Australian Flying Corps, and the establishment of Australia’s long tradition of United Nations peacekeeping.

From the First World War through Vietnam and beyond, discover the remarkable stories hidden in the dates of September.

18 August 1966, a company of 108 young ANZAC soldiers faced a force twenty times their size in a Vietnamese rubber plantation. In this episode, we break down the hour-by-hour timeline of the Battle of Long Tan.

Even now, over a century later, the debate continues about who shot down the Red Baron.

I’d like to give a special thanks to the Military Museums in Calgary, AB Canada, and especially to the volunteer who showed me through the Air Force part of the museum (and whose conversation inspired me to do this episode).

This is a brief story about the ANZACs in Greece and Crete during World War 2.

A small group of Australian, British and Indian defenders were tasked with holding the besieged town against the German and Italian forces. German propaganda thought they were insulting these troops by calling them rats, but instead, the defenders used it as a badge of honour - The Rats of Tobruk.

In this episode I talk about the history of the slouch hat and how it has evolved over the last 150 years.