The Anzacs - the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, first saw active service in Libya with the British, when they forced the Italian army to surrender. The real test came when Rommel and his Afrika Korps entered the desert arena. At Tobruk, the largely Australian garrison, known as 'the rats of Tobruk', held out against overwhelming odds to repel the Axis forces. Initial defeats in the Mediterranean in Greece and Crete against the German Blitzkrieg might have disillusioned lesser troops, but not the indomitable Anzacs. The war took on new meaning for them after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when the Japanese invaded Malaya, and the Anzacs suddenly found their own territory under threat. A typical Anzac victory occurred in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. Half trained Australian troops fought a desperate battle against superior Japanese forces on the 150 mile long Kokoda Trail, both sides suffered from disease and supply line problems, but against all the odds, the Australians emerged triumphant. The contribution made by the Anzacs to ultimate victory in World War II was out of all proportion to the size of the populations of Australia and New Zealand, but the cost had been high.
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