CGGS Library: History: World War II

Audiovisual material

ClickView Playlist: World War II
Click here for a playlist of videos about World War II. You will need to log in using your school ID and password.
ClickView Playlist: Indigenous Servicemen & Women
Click here for a playlist of videos about Indigenous servicemen and women. Note that not all videos in this playlist are specific to WWII
ClickView Folder: History
Click here to browse the History folder of our ClickView Library, where you will find many useful videos. You will need to log in using your school ID and password.

How to use ClickView

Important information

Footnoting
Note Taking
Online Reference Generator for APA style
Use your school email address to login if you'd like to save and retrieve your citations and reference lists.

Databases

These links take you to databases we subscribe to. Some may need a login and password. These can be found on our Canvas page.

Modern World History This link opens in a new window
Key words such as Modern Warfare, appeasement and military strategy will help to refine your search.
Gale in Context: High School This link opens in a new window
Information resources for assignments, projects, and presentations across all subject areas. An excellent resource to start your search for information for Years 7-12.
Gale Academic OneFile This link opens in a new window
Use search terms such as Australia (World War II) and Technology and war to help refine your search
Britannica This link opens in a new window
Britannica is a fantastic starting point to get a general understanding of a topic.
You will notice that there are 3 options to click from when you first log in.
If you are in Year 7-8 consider starting with the middle level. for Years 9-12 go to the high option.
To access Britannica from home go the the library Canvas page and click on the link Britannica Home Access. If you are prompted for a password these are also on Canvas.
History Today This link opens in a new window
Search History Today's website to access their archive of articles.
We subscribe to the hard copy of this wonderful journal.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
A broad collection of non-fiction titles, supporting all subject areas. These non-fiction titles have varied reading levels and are useful for students from Years 7 to 12.
Infobase eBooks This link opens in a new window
Search within the Military and War tab to find a number of books about technology and war, as well the causes of both World War I and II.

Websites World War II

These are websites we recommend for this subject. Let us know if you find any more we could add.

If you have a focus on Nazi Germany, please also look at the Nazi Germany page.

Trove (National Library)
Provided by the National Library, Trove is an excellent source of information for the Australian perspective. It has many types of information including an archive of photos and Australian newspapers that you can access online.
Resources for students from Department of Veterans' Affairs
Documents available for download.
Preparing for invasion
The war was a political struggle for Prime Minister John Curtin, while the people prepared for invasion.
World War Two - BBC Bitesize
World War Two changed the world and changed history like no other event in the modern era. From phoney beginnings to global devastation, the course of history was transformed.
The Second World War - RSL NSW
An overview of Australia's involvement in many aspects of World War II.
Videos of Australia's involvement in the SecondWorld War
World War II General Resources
This website leads you to many resources relating to WWII. Read the abstract below each link to see if it may be useful for you.
World War Two - BBC History
The causes, events and people of the most destructive war in history.
Use the menu in the body of this page to be directed to resources on all aspects of WWII.
Australia and the Second World War - DVA
The National World War II Museum New Orleans

The Kokoda Track

Podcast - the first battles of the Kokoda track

The Fall of Singapore

Historic UK - the fall of Singapore
ABC -Fall of Singapore - how a military defeat changed Australia
AWM - Remembering the fall of Singapore
The Fall of Singapore was one of the worst military disasters to befall Australia, and one of the greatest defeats in British history.
ANZAC portal - The fall of SIngapore
ABC education - the fall of Singapore

Atomic Bombs - Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Imperial War Museum - The atomic bombs that ended the war
Khan Academy - The Manhattan project and the atomic bomb
Truman Museum - the decision to drop the atomic bomb
This is a collection of primary sources that look st the rationale to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945
The Atlantic - If the Atomic bomb had not been used
This article was written in 1946, and reflects on the impact and implications of dropping the atomic bomb in Japan.

The Bombing of Darwin

The Guardian - "Australia's Pearl Harbour' - The bombing of Darwin
The largest single attack ever mounted on Australia occurred on 19 February 1942, when Darwin was bombed by Japan. Often called ‘Australia’s Pearl Harbor’, the bombing of the Northern Territory capital by Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft killed more than 230 people and destroyed ships, buildings and infrastructure. Japanese air raids continued until 12 November 1943
NMA - Defining moments - Darwin bombed and Kokoda trail

Technology in WWII

The Smithsonian - The invention that won World War Two
WWII technology that changed warfare - radars and bombsights
Six technologies that helped win the Second World War - The Engineer
Abstracts from articles exploring technological advances in WWII. Click on the link below each abstract to read the full article.
The Scientific and Technological Advances of World War II - The National World War II Museum New Orleans
The war effort demanded developments in the field of science and technology, developments that forever changed life in America and made present-day technology possible.

Indigenous service members

Indigenous Australians in service during World War II - Department of Veterans' Affairs
Content on this page includes: Willingness to serve Australia, Discrimination at the time, Indigenous airmen, Service in Australia, Civilian efforts, Role of Indigenous women, Coming home and civil rights, Commemorating their service, Stories of those who served, Student enquiry questions
Serving their country - AIATSIS
Indigenous defence service - Austalian War Memorial
Australia’s forgotten indigenous World War II veterans
A CNN article from 2018.
Anzac Day & Aboriginal Service People - Deadly Story
Indigenous servicemen: their contribution
Australian Geographic article from 2011
Anzac Day: Indigenous soldiers thought 'when we got back we'd be treated differently'
ABC article from 2017

Women in WW2

How the Second World War changed the game for Australian women.
Women's Auxillary services
World War II was an opportunity for Australian women to take a step outside of the domestic sphere.
US women in WWII
Letters from women on the homefront in the US reveal the profound and lasting change that War brought to women's experiences.
You may need to log in to access this article. See the library Canvas page for the password.
Women under fire
English women and WWII

John Curtin

In Office, John Curtin - Australia's PMs
An introduction main events in John Curtin's career ans Australia's Prime Minister.
Curtin Speech - Japan Enters Second World War
Listen to the speech John Curtin made in 1941 to the Australian public.
Curtin brings home troops - National Museum of Australia
Backroom Briefings - John Curtin's War
An eBook

Field Marshal Thomas Albert Blamey

Field Marshal Thomas Albert Blamey - Australian War Memorial
Blamey, Sir Thomas Albert (1884–1951)
Australian dictionary of biographies.
Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey
This page was created by Ross Mallett while he was researching for his PhD at ADFA.
Sir Thomas Blamey - Department of Defence
Australian Defence Force Journal

Books from our collection

Here are some of the books and eBooks in the Library collection on World War II topics. Find more by searching the catalogue (link below).

Library catalogue (Oliver)
Use the Library catalogue to search for books and other resources. Find out more on the Read page.

Print books

Australian women at war by Patsy Adam-Smith
Call Number: 994 ADA
ISBN: 9781760062637
Publication Date: 2014
This work is a history of how Australian women have responded to war -- from 1900, when the first nurses sailed to the Boer War, to 1945 and its aftermath.
The story of the Second World War by Paul Dowswell
Call Number: 940.53 DOW
ISBN: 9781409523406
Publication Date: 2012
This book looks at the causes of the War, its great battles and catastrophes from Stalingrad to D-Day, Pearl Harbor and the Holocaust, and how and why it was won and lost.
John Curtin's War by John Edwards
Call Number: 994.04 EDW
ISBN: 9780670073474
Publication Date: 2017
John Curtin became Australia's Prime Minister eight weeks before Japan launched war in the Pacific. Curtin's struggle for power against Joe Lyons and Bob Menzies, his dramatic use of it when he took office in October 1941, and his determination to be heard in Washington and London as Japan advanced, is a political epic unmatched in Australian experience.

eBooks

World War II by Carl J. Schneider; Dorothy Schneider
ISBN: 9781438108902
Publication Date: 2009
What did it feel like to be an American during World War II and in the years that preceded and followed it? This work provides first-hand accounts of the period - from letters, speeches, and newspaper articles - that illustrate how important events appeared to those who lived through them.
World War II by George Feldman; Christine Slovey
ISBN: 9780787691868
Publication Date: 2004
Provides background and information on major topics about the World War II period, biographies of significant men and women involved in the war, and primary sources such as full or excerpted speeches, diary entries, newspaper accounts and other original documents.
Wartime by Australian War Memorial
Call Number: Magazine Stand
ISBN: 13282727
Publication Date: 20003-2022