Second World War 1939–45 From: http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/ww2.htm Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific. The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time, as Japanese aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney harbour. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) participated in operations against Italy after its entry into the war in June 1940. A few Australians flew in the Battle of Britain in August and September but the Australian Army was not engaged in combat until 1941, when the 6th, 7th, and 9th Divisions joined Allied operations in the Mediterranean and North Africa. At sea off Crete in the Mediterranean, 19 July 1940: Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni under attack by HMAS Sydney near Cape Spada. AWM P01103.005 Following early successes against Italian forces, the Australians suffered defeat with the Allies at the hands of the Germans in Greece, Crete, and North Africa. In June and July 1941 Australians participated in the successful Allied invasion of Syria, a mandate of France and the Vichy government. Up to 14,000 Australians held out against repeated German attacks in the Libyan port of Tobruk, where they were besieged between April and August 1941. After being relieved at Tobruk, the 6th and 7th Divisions departed from the Mediterranean theatre for the war against Japan. The 9th Division remained to play an important role in the Allied victory at El Alamein in October 1942 before it also left for the Pacific. By the end of 1942 the only Australians remaining in the Mediterranean theatre were airmen serving either with 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) or in the Royal Air Force (RAF). North Africa, 6 January 1941: Australian troops advance into Bardia. AWM 069221 Japan entered the war in December 1941 and swiftly achieved a series of victories, resulting in the occupation of most of south-east Asia and large areas of the Pacific by the end of March 1942. Singapore fell in February, with the loss of an entire Australian division. After the bombing of Darwin that same month, all RAN ships in the Mediterranean theatre, as well as the 6th and 7th Divisions, returned to defend Australia. In response to the heightened threat, the Australian government also expanded the army and air force and called for an overhaul of economic, domestic, and industrial policies to give the government special authority to mount a total war effort at home. In March 1942, after the defeat of the Netherlands East Indies, Japan's southward advance began to lose strength, easing fears of an imminent invasion of Australia. Further relief came when the first AIF veterans of the Mediterranean campaigns began to come home, and when the United States assumed responsibility for the country's defence, providing reinforcements and equipment. The threat of invasion receded further as the Allies won a series of decisive battles: in the Coral Sea, at Midway, on Imita Ridge and the Kokoda Trail, and at Milne Bay and Buna. Milne Bay, Papua, September 1942: a Bofors gun position manned by the 2/9th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Australian Artillery, at Gili-Gili airfield. In the background a Kittyhawk is about to land. Read more at the link.
Australian RAAF Air Force Units ww2 Australian RAAF Air Force Units ww2 http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp Australians (RAAF & RAF) were attached to over 200 RAF squadrons besides those listed in the link. 1 Squadron RAAF 2 Squadron RAAF 3 Squadron RAAF 4 Squadron RAAF 5 Squadron RAAF 6 Squadron RAAF 7 Squadron RAAF 8 Squadron RAAF 9 Squadron RAAF 10 Squadron RAAF 11 Squadron RAAF 12 Squadron RAAF 13 Squadron RAAF 14 Squadron RAAF 15 Squadron RAAF 18 (NEI) Squadron RAAF 20 Squadron RAAF 21 Squadron RAAF 22 Squadron RAAF 23 Squadron RAAF 24 Squadron RAAF 25 Squadron RAAF 30 Squadron RAAF 450 Squadron RAAF 451 Squadron RAAF 452 Squadron RAAF 453 Squadron RAAF 454 Squadron RAAF 455 Squadron RAAF 456 Squadron RAAF 457 Squadron RAAF 458 Squadron RAAF 459 Squadron RAAF 460 Squadron RAAF 461 Squadron RAAF 462 Squadron RAAF 463 Squadron RAAF 464 Squadron RAAF 466 Squadron RAAF 467 Squadron RAAF
Australian Armoured units ww2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 -Armoured units 1 Armoured Regiment 2/4 Armoured Regiment 2/6 Armoured Regiment 2/8 Armoured Regiment 2/9 Armoured Regiment
Australian Artillery Units ww2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 From: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp -Artillery units 4 Field Regiment 2/4 Field Regiment 2/7 Field Regiment 2/8 Field Regiment 2/10 Field Regiment 2/11 Field Regiment 2/14 Field Regiment 2/15 Field Regiment
Australian Cavalry Units WW2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 From: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp -Cavalry units 6 Division Cavalry Regiment 7 Division Cavalry Regiment 9 Division Cavalry Regiment
Australian Infantry Units WW2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 From: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp -Infantry units As part of '3rd Division' 9 Battalion (Moreton Regiment) 15 Battalion (Oxley Regiment) 24 Battalion (Kooyong Regiment) 25 Battalion (Darling Downs Regiment) 42 Battalion (Capricornia Regiment) 47 Battalion (Wide Bay Regiment) 61 Battalion (Queensland Cameron Highlanders) 57/60 Battalion (Merri/ Heidelberg Regiment) 58/59 Battalion (Essendon, Coburg, Brunswick/ Hume Regiment) As part of '5th Division' 11 Battalion (City of Perth Regiment) 16 Battalion (Cameron Highlanders of Western Australia) 19 Battalion (South Sydney Regiment) 22 Battalion (South Gippsland Regiment) 28 Battalion (Swan Regiment) 36 Battalion (St George's English Rifle Regiment) 14/32 Battalion (Prahran/ Footscray Regiment ) 29/46 Battalion (East Melbourne Regiment/ Brighton Rifles) 37/52 Battalion (Hunt/ Gippsland Regiment) As part of '6th Division' 2/1 Battalion 2/2 Battalion 2/3 Battalion 2/4 Battalion 2/5 Battalion 2/6 Battalion 2/7 Battalion 2/8 Battalion 2/11 Battalion As part of '7th Division' 2/9 Battalion 2/10 Battalion 2/12 Battalion 2/14 Battalion 2/16 Battalion 2/25 Battalion 2/27 Battalion 2/31 Battalion 2/33 Battalion As part of '8th Brigade' 4 Battalion (Australian Rifles) 30 Battalion (New South Wales Scottish Regiment) 35 Battalion (Newcastle's Own Regiment) As part of '8th Division' 2/18 Battalion 2/19 Battalion 2/20 Battalion 2/21 Battalion 2/22 Battalion 2/23 Battalion 2/26 Battalion 2/29 Battalion 2/30 Battalion 2/40 Battalion As part of '9th Division' 2/13 Battalion 2/15 Battalion 2/17 Battalion 2/24 Battalion 2/28 Battalion 2/32 Battalion 2/43 Battalion 2/48 Battalion As part of '11th Brigade' 26 Battalion (Logan and Albert Regiment) 31/51 Battalion (Kennedy/ Far North Queensland Regiment) 55/53 Battalion (New South Wales Rifle/ West Sydney Regiment) As part of '14th Brigade' 55 Battalion (New South Wales Rifle Regiment) As part of '23rd Brigade' 7 Battalion (North West Murray Borderers) 8 Battalion (City of Ballarat Regiment) 27 Battalion (South Australian Scottish Regiment) As part of '30th Brigade' 3 Battalion (Werriwa Regiment) 39 Battalion (Hawthorn Kew Regiment) 49 Battalion (Stanley Regiment) 53 Battalion (West Sydney Regiment) As part of 'Merauke Force' 62 Battalion (Merauke Regiment) 2/1 Machine Gun Battalion 2/2 Machine Gun Battalion 2/3 Machine Gun Battalion 2/4 Machine Gun Battalion
Australian Pioneer Battalions WW2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 From: http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp -Pioneer battalions 2/1 Pioneer Battalion 2/2 Pioneer Battalion 2/3 Pioneer Battalion 2/4 Pioneer Battalion
Australian Medical Units WW2 Australian Military Units Second World War, 1939-1945 -Medical Units 2/13 Australian General Hospital
http://www.awm.gov.au/units/ww2.asp -Independent companies •1 Independent Company •2/2 Independent Company •2/3 Independent Company •2/4 Independent Company •2/5 Independent Company •2/6 Independent Company •2/7 Independent Company •2/7 Independent Company •2/8 Independent Company The Independent Company's name changed when they and elements of the Cavalry Units of the 2nd AIF were mixed to become 2nd AIF Cavalry Commando Squadrons. Later they became Commando Sqdns. The Commandoes IMO mixed the two units Standard Operating Procedures (Cav and Commando) and became a great multi use combat resource for the type of war fought by the Australians in the Islands to our north. They during the early days of theSth West Pacific war operated behind enemy lines in places like Timor and the north coast of Papua New Guinea, later in the war they were used as a force that fought on the flanks of main force units, harrasing and undertaking offensive actions in accordance with the main force units as well as hiting supply lines and other such commando type operations. It will be good once the hard workers at the AWM digitize not just all the combat units but HQ units and certain A Echelon type units.
A note on the Infantry Btns, of the 9th Div and the 7th Div. When the 9th Div withdrew to Tobruk it still only had 8 Btns the 2/25th Btn still being in Australia. A testament of just how unready for Divisional operations they were Around the 27th April till 4th May 1941 the 2/32nd Btn ex 7th AIF Division landed in Tobruk to finally fill out the Division to 9 Btns, the 9th div having fought so far with just the 8 Btns. Once the 2/32nd arrived they stayed with the 24th Bgd 9th Div till wars end. The 2/25th Btn which was meant for the 9th division had been raised in Brisbane and undergone unit training in the area's around Darwin. This Btn arrived in the Mid East during mid May 1941 and went to the 7th AIF Div for action in Syria. It can be very difficult at times working out which Btns/ Bgds were with which Div as in early/mid 1941 the AIF organisation was being changed around to meet the continuing flow of enemy activity, and it was similar during 1942 in the Pacific, Bgds were being used independently from their Divisional homes.
