My contact skype is lushidong35

During World War 2, over 22,000 Australians became prisoners of war of the Japanese in south-east Asia. The wave of Japanese victories, ending with the capture of the Netherlands East Indies in March 1942, left in its wake a mass of Allied prisoners of war, including many Australians. Most of the Australians (14,972) were captured in Singapore; other principal Australian prisoner-of-war groups were captured in Java (2,736), Timor (1,137), Ambon (1,075), and New Britain (1,049). At the end of the war Australian prisoners of war were widely distributed: 5,549 on Singapore Island and in Johore (Malaya); 4,830 in Burma and Thailand; 265 in French-Indo China; 385 on Java; 243 on Sumatra; 100 on Ambon; 2 on Macassar; 7 on Bali; 150 at Kuching (British North Borneo); 2,700 distributed between Japan, Korea, and Manchuria; and 200 on Hainan Island.

Australia entered World War II shortly after the invasion of Poland, declaring war on Germany on 3 September 1939. By the end of the war, almost a million Australians had served in the armed forces, whose military units fought primarily Europe, North Africa and the South West Pacific . In addition, Australia came under direct attack for the first time in its history; its casualties from enemy action during the war were 27,073 killed and 23,477 wounded. In effect, Australia fought two wars between 1939 and 1945– one against Germany and Italy as part of the British Commonwealth's war effort and the other against Japan in alliance with the United States and Britain. While most Australian forces were withdrawn from the Mediterranean following the outbreak of war in the Pacific, they continued to take part in large numbers in the air offensive against Germany. From 1942 until early 1944, Australian forces played a key role in the Pacific War, making up the majority of Allied strength in the South West Pacific. The military was largely relegated to subsidiary fronts from mid-1944, but continued offensive operations against the Japanese until the war ended.

On 19 February 1942 mainland Australia came under attack for the first time when Japanese forces mounted two air raids on Darwin. The two attacks, which were planned and led by the commander responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbour ten weeks earlier, involved 54 land-based bombers and approximately 188 attack aircraft which were launched from four Japanese aircraft carriers in the Timor Sea. In the first attack, which began just before 10.00 am, heavy bombers pattern-bombed the harbour and town; dive bombers escorted by Zero fighters then attacked shipping in the harbour, the military and civil aerodromes, and the hospital at Berrimah. The attack ceased after about 40 minutes. The second attack, which began an hour later, involved high altitude bombing of the Royal Australian Air Force base at Parap which lasted for 20-25 minutes. The two raids killed at least 243 people and between 300 and 400 were wounded. Twenty military aircraft were destroyed, eight ships at anchor in the harbour were sunk, and most civil and military facilities in Darwin were destroyed.

My father fought in WWII, in France and Germany. This will tell you how old I am. The basic timeline taught in American schools when I was a child is pretty much the same as yours: Germany, after grabbing much territory thru concessions from England and France, invaded Poland and forced the war in 1939. Then in 1941, Hitler invaded Russia and brought it into the war. The U.S. was brought into the war when the Japanese made a suprise attack on an American base in the Pacific, in late 1941. The U.S. declared war on Germany, too. Finally, the Russians, English and Americans, along with other allies, forced the total defeat of Germany in early 1945. Japan surrendered a few months later. Remember, I was in school during the height of the cold war. We were made aware of the great and terrible sacrifice made by the Russian population in defeating Germany, but the U.S. was given major credit for Germany's defeat - at least, that's the impression we were left with. Russia's contribution was not ignored, but neither was it dwelled upon at length. The generation of Americans that fought in that war is greatly respected and sometimes revered here. I'm sure it's the same way in Russia, if not more so.