Portal:Military history of Australia/Selected article/12

The Australian Army was the largest service in the Australian military during World War II. Prior to the war the Australian Army was split into the small full-time Permanent Military Forces (PMF) and the larger part-time Militia. After the outbreak of war in September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced that 40,000 members of the Militia would be called up for training and a 20,000-strong expeditionary force, designated the Second Australian Imperial Force (Second AIF), would be formed for overseas service. Meanwhile, conscription was introduced in October 1939 to maintain the Militia as its members volunteered for the AIF. The Australian Army subsequently made important contributions to the Allied campaigns in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa fighting the Germans, Italians and Vichy French during 1940 and 1941, and later in the jungles of the South West Pacific Area fighting the Japanese between late 1941 and 1945. Following the Japanese surrender Australian Army units were deployed as occupation forces across the South West Pacific, and as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in Japan.