Australian occupation of German New Guinea

Common card · No. 492282

The Australian occupation of German New Guinea occurred in the early stages of World War I when the colony was seized by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. The colony of German New Guinea was poorly defended and the invasion met with limited resistance, with the Battle of Bita Paka in September 1914 being the only major engagement. Australian forces subsequently seized the island of Nauru in November 1914. Germany's other possessions in the Pacific were invaded by Allied forces in separate actions around the same time, including the New Zealand occupation of German Samoa and Japanese occupation of Micronesia. German New Guinea remained under Australian military occupation until the end of the war, when it was made a League of Nations mandate and a civilian administration was established for the new Territory of New Guinea.

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