1941 SERVICE AMID STRIFE AUSTRALIA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR COIN WOMENS SERVICES

North Africa & the Middle East

During 1940 and 1941, Australian forces fought in the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East. In swift victories against Italy in early 1941, Allied forces captured the Libyan coastal cities of Bardia, Tobruk and Benghazi. However, German reinforcements recaptured much of what the Italians had lost, except for the fortress of Tobruk, which the Australians tenaciously defended