the Battle of Brisbane November 26-27 1942 World War II during the Pacific Campaign of World War II the American alliance with Australia was an important element of the Allied Forces efforts to work together lying Within Reach of the Malay archipelago and other japanese-controlled territories Australia was a perfect base for the American Military to establish themselves it would serve as a starting point for the Pacific Campaign along with deploying troops and equipment to the front line of the fighting the alliance between the two countries that was forged during the war has remained solid ever since however this was not always the case during the early days these allies did not often look upon each other particularly favorably on November 22 1942 the animosity between servicemen of the two Armed Forces spilled over and came to a point where it led to Violent clashes and rioting which has since become known as the Battle of Brisbane the arrival of American soldiers on Australian soil began on December 22nd 1941. just two weeks after the United States had entered into the war four thousand troops disembarked from Troop carrying ships at Hamilton Wharf in Brisbane located on the Eastern Gold Coast by the end of the war in 1945 more than a million American soldiers had passed enroute through Australia most of them had been stationed in the city of Brisbane which only had a population of 335 thousand at its peak the city had more than 80 000 American soldiers stationed amongst its own inhabitants almost one quarter of its population together with the additional Australian troops the city looked more like a huge Garrison in an urban settlement the American presence was felt on every street corner of the city brisbane's residents began tasting the American way of life through the gis they were now living shoulder to shoulder with in the beginning many locals were extremely fond of their allies and formed amicable relations with them however the poor behavior of some U.S soldiers began to cause discontent and animosity among the community the very first to develop resentment towards the gis were the Australian soldiers themselves the Americans may have been their comrades on the battlefield but when on leave they quickly became bitter Rivals on the islands of the Malayan archipelago they fought together against the Japanese in the Brisbane and other Australian towns they fought each other mainly over the local women with a better salary as well as access to many Goods that were scarce in Wartime Australia the U.S soldiers generally had the advantage when it came to attracting the opposite sex additionally it was noted that GIS came across as more charismatic a product of a higher level of social interaction with the opposite gender back home this was something that many of the Australian troops appeared to lack American military uniforms were also seen as more flattering and well presented an element that was not missed by the local women the Australian troops regularly found the situation humiliating often referring to them as overpaid oversexed and over here the Rivalry also ended in frequent brawls with their American Allies in numerous cases Australian police forces recorded up to 20 brawls per night between the opposing servicemen these physical altercations were regularly settled and dealt with by both the American and Australian military police however on November 26 1942 another seemingly insignificant brawl evolved into a massive fight which ended up with many severe casualties Thanksgiving day was also on the 26th of that year and private James R Stein of the U.S 404th Signal Company was drinking in a hotel bar to celebrate it one of a limited number of places where it was possible to purchase alcohol once the bar had closed and in a drunken State Stein left the hotel and made his way towards the post-exchange canteen post exchanges or more commonly referred to as px's where retail stores established by the US military which sold products such as cigarettes alcohol chocolate and other luxury items PX canteens were usually well stocked and gave exclusive access to U.S military personnel as private Stein walked down the street he stumbled into three Australian soldiers despite the tensions between the American and Australian soldiers the farm made light-hearted conversation this was cut short however when the patrol of the U.S 814th military police company arrived on the scene it was around seven o'clock when one of them private Anthony e O'Sullivan approached Stein and asked for his Leaf pass in a drunken State he struggled to find it but the MPS became increasingly frustrated and proceeded to place him under arrest the three Australian soldiers watching all this began jeering and swearing at the American MPS and demanded they released Stein MP private O'Sullivan responded by raising his baton appearing to the Australians as if he were about to strike one of them in response they tackled O'Sullivan to the ground almost immediately the other MPS as well as another group of Australian servicemen and some civilians joined the brawl this rapidly escalated the situation the MPS realizing they were outnumbered withdrew towards the nearby PX canteen taking private style along with them in under an hour the group of Australians outside the PX had grown to hundreds of men and fueled by alcohol and resentment towards the Americans started throwing rocks and Bricks at the American canteen Australian military police who had just arrived on the scene stood to one side and decided not to intervene inside the PX the American MPS were in an increasingly volatile situation the canteen was being attacked by a mob and taking serious damage and it appeared that the crowd outside was showing no signs of calming down armed with shotguns the MPS decided to leave the building to establish the defensive perimeter however the sight of the Americans pointing Firearms only further infuriated the Australians outside protesting a group of them grappled with the MPS attempting to disarm them one of the military police officers private Norbert Grant was attacked by several Australian soldiers and in the struggle he fired three shots as attackers one of them gunnered Edward S Webster was killed instantly and several others were wounded the MPS withdrew back to the PX and began waiting for the crowd outside to disperse the riding lasted until 10 pm when most of the Australians finally left leaving behind them a chaotic scene a rebel strewn Street as well as a completely destroyed ground floor of the PX canteen on both sides there were injuries and one fatality on the following day the PX was put under a heavy guard military Authorities on both sides believed that the soldiers would sober up after a good night's sleep and the whole incident would be forgotten about in retrospect all soldiers should have been confined to Barracks for a day or two to defuse the situation and let things settle down because on the evening of November 22nd 600 Australian soldiers gathered in front of the American Red Cross building just opposite the heavily damaged PX from there they moved down the street toward the headquarters of general Douglas MacArthur along the way however they ran into a large group of American MPS who drew their sidearms ready to confront the mob fortunately this was avoided as once again the outnumbered military police officers withdrew from the area throughout the rest of the night groups of Australian soldiers hunted down American GIS on the city's streets more significantly neither the Australian MPS or the civilian police were particularly proactive in trying to stop them as a result dozens of American soldiers were assaulted many of whom ended up hospitalized it was only once senior Australian military officials arrived on the scene that the Australian MPS began to enforce a more serious approach to the situation they soon began to disperse the large groups of troops threatening further arrests if any activity were to continue this began to bring about the end of the battle of Brisbane all parties involved in the incident were put under investigation Australian units engaged in the rioting were relocated from Brisbane and usmp private Norbert Grant was put on court martial accused of killing private Edward S Webster but was later acquitted as it was decided that he had acted in self-defense only one Australian Soldier was given a custodial sentence of six months for the assault in the end the rioting in what happened afterwards was obviously disgraceful Behavior by both sides and the authorities did their best to contain the story as a result the world knew relatively little of one of the most unusual battles of World War II [Music]