![]() Rather than wait for supplies to arrive from America, both countries began to seek solutions from within their respective borders. But with Britain fighting for its own survival, there was no likelihood of production being spared for Australia and New Zealand. John Curtin pleaded Britain and the United States to send in armored vehicles and tanks. Australian troops were fighting in the Middle East, and some 15,000 Australian soldiers were captured and became prisoners of war during the battle of Singapore. Unfortunately, neither Australia nor New Zealand was combat ready. The Australian Prime Minister John Curtin predicted an invasion of Australia was coming. After the crushing collapse of British Malaya and the fall of Singapore, the Japanese began making air attacks on northern Australia, beginning with the devastating bombing of the city of Darwin. The Japanese army was advancing rapidly across South East Asia invading Burma, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur. ![]() In 1941, war hysteria gripped New Zealand and its neighboring country of Australia.
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