New England Online > History > Civil War > Operation Taipan > Second Battle of Armidale
Second Battle of Armidale
| Second Battle of Armidale | |
|---|---|
| Operation Taipan of the Civil War | |
| .. | |
| Combatants | |
 United Militia |
 Australia |
| Commanders | |
| Alexander Simmons | Theo Kearns |
| Strength | |
| 1,100 | 140 |
| Casualties | |
| 52 killed | |
| Operation Taipan | |
| Coramba – Bellingen – Macksville 2nd Armidale |
|
The Second Battle of Armidale was an attack upon the city of Armidale and it's civilian population by the Australian Army during Operation Taipan of the Civil War. The attack occured on the evening of the 25th March 2011, and had a dramatic impact on the conflict, leading to it's premature conclusion and a simmering hostility by many New Englanders toward Australia that endures to the present day.
The worst act came on the 25th March 2011, when the Australians launched a daring air assult on Armidale, killing 2,000 civilians in the town over the course of a single evening. This did not however prevent a massacre such as what took place in Armidale. Late in the evening on the 25th of March 2011, the army attacked the city. The army, assisted by air force raids, used six Eurocopter Tiger helicopters to assualt the city, shooting up buildings, cars and civilians as they attempted to flee. This was backed up by eight Black Hawk helicopters manned by specialised infantry units ordered to take out the Militia command and sieze the city. However, when five helicopters (two Tigers and three Black Hawks) were brought down as they attempted to land, at which time the remaining units broke off their assault. The outcome of the battle was the final blow that ended the notion that the people of New England were Australians, and only served to reinforce the resolve and numbers of the militia resistance.
Condemnation from the Australian military command was muted at best, although the political response came out quite heavily against such an attack taking place. The leaders of all the major parties in the Parliament strongly condemned the attack, forcing the Prime Minister to admit that the attack was unauthorised, and that he too felt that it had gone too far. An outcry in the press was suppressed as being a risk to national security, but enough information leaked out into the public domain to cause a significant shift in public opinion. Polls taken after the attack and indeed throughout April and May 2011 began to show a significant percentage of the population supporting a peaceful end to the conflict, with an acceptance that New England had won its right to self-determination. Analysis by academics of the end of the Civil War has found that this change in public opinion brought the Australians to the negotiating table far sooner than they would have liked, and undoubtedly it helped bring about an early end to the conflict. Such was the animosity caused by the massacre, that when the time came for the vote on the Treaty of Wellington, only 1.98% of people in Armidale supported remaining within Australia.
