Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force
Troops landing at Herbertshöhe (Kokopo), by F. S. Burnell, September 1914.
Active	1914
Country	Australia
Allegiance	British Empire
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	2,000 men
Engagements	World War I Battle of Bita Paka Siege of Toma
Commanders
Commander	Colonel William Holmes

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of World War I to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guinea in the south-west Pacific. The German wireless installations were ordered to be destroyed because they were used by Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy, which threatened merchant shipping in the region. Following the capture of German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war. New Zealand provided a similar force for the occupation of German Samoa.