[1] This was part of a reorganisation of the Militia infantry battalions, which saw them lose their integral machine gun companies, so that they could be grouped together under a single battalion headquarters. Reinforcements arrived from various locations, including the Machine Gun Training Battalion based at Camden, New South Wales, while others came from the 2/1st Machine Gun Battalion to provide a cadre of experienced personnel. Western Australia's 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion was raised at the end of 1940 as one of the support units for the ill-fated 8th Division. The Orcades reached Oosthaven, in Sumatra, on 15 February, and the troops from Orcades were ferried ashore on the tanker Van Spillsbergen, where they were grouped together as "Boost Force" under orders to take up the defence of the Palembang airfields and providing protection to civilians as they were evacuated. Served in Palestine Lebanon and Syria. [22], In late 1941, the Japanese entered the war, attacking Pearl Harbor and launching an invasion of Malaya. Meanwhile, following the conclusion of hostilities, the battalion's personnel were slowly transferred to other units or repatriated back to Australia for demobilisation. The 19 Machine Gun Battalion was raised as a Militia Unit in the Wimmera District of Victoria during 1940. Machine Gun Battalions. After completing training in Australia, in April 1941 the battalion embarked for the Middle East. Other reasons identified for the concept's limited use include distrust of overhead fire by some commanders, a preference for organic fire support over attached sub-units, over-estimating the difficulty of transporting Vickers guns in the jungle, and a tendency to ignore targets that could not be seen. Along the way, they stopped at Ingleburn, New South Wales where a draft of almost 400 reinforcements was received; the result of this was that in its second incarnation, about half the battalion came from New South Wales, instead of South Australia. 2/2 Australian Machine Gun Battalion history written by a Veteran. [lower-alpha 3] On 7 February 1920, following the establishment of the Territorial Army (T.A. Their movements and … [13][14] Within the machine gun companies there were three platoons; these were numbered sequentially starting from 1 to 3 in Headquarters Company through to 13 to 15 in 'D' Company. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was formed in June 1940 as part of the 7th Division and served in Egypt, Syria, the Netherlands East Indies and New Guinea during World War II. [56] Members of the battalion received the following decorations: one Distinguished Service Order, three Military Crosses, four Military Medals, one British Empire Medal and 21 Mentions in Despatches. On 8 February 1942, the ship reached its intermediate destination from where it was escorted by the cruiser HMS Dorsetshire. In the ensuing chaos, Dutch engineers blew up the bridge at the Tjianten River. ), the 1st Line Territorial Force battalions of the regiment wer… Anumb River, But–Dagua, Damour, Jebel Mazar, Jezzine, Nambut Ridge, Sidon, and Syria 1941. [18][19] For the 2/3rd, the campaign saw them heavily involved throughout the short, but sharply contested campaign, with each of the four machine gun companies supporting separate efforts by elements of the 7th Division and also British troops, seeing action around Merdajayoun, Metula, Quneitra, Sidon and Damour before the Vichy French requested an armistice in mid-July. Home / Australia / Army / Patches / Colour Patches (World War 2) / Colour Patches - WW2 (Full Size) (Machine Gun and Pioneer Battalions) Please note that we are taking some time off over Christmas and New Year from 19th December, 2020 to 10th January, 2021. [57] The difficulties of target acquisition in dense jungle also contributed. [17], In the end, this did not eventuate, as the 7th Division was committed to the Syria–Lebanon campaign in early June, to secure the Allied eastern flank from attack. [34] They would subsequently endure three-and-a-half years in captivity as Japanese prisoners of war, being sent to camps across south-east Asia, including the infamous Thai–Burma Railway. They endured a bitter cold, and snowy, winter at Fih near Tripoli, which was punctuated by leave drafts to Tel Aviv. In early December 1945, the 2/3rd's remaining personnel returned to Australia aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Implacable, arriving in Sydney,[55] and the following month, in January 1946, after final clearances had been obtained the unit was disbanded. We virtually had two wars (Nth Africa and the Pacific) and we had two armies, the AIF and the CMF. At the behest of Brigadier Roy King, commander of the 16th Brigade, the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was hastily converted into a standard infantry battalion, which was achieved with a quick issue of rifles, sub-machine guns and mortars. [60], The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion received the following battle honours:[7], The following officers commanded the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion during the war:[7][61], Of these, both Blackburn and Reed were World War I veterans who had later served in the Militia in the 18th Light Horse Regiment, in South Australia, during the inter-war years. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was formed in June 1940 as part of the 7th Division and served in Egypt, Syria, the Netherlands East Indies and New Guinea during World War II. [11][12], Several months later, the 6th Machine Gun Battalion was sent to New Guinea, where the Australians were fighting against the Japanese. [45] The 2/3rd remained at Wondecla until 2 December 1944, when they entrained for Cairns and subsequently boarded the transport Evangeline, a former cruise ship, bound for New Guinea, where they were to undertake their final campaign of the war. [38] In late June, 'B' Company embarked upon the Dutch vessel, the SS Jansens and deployed to Netherlands New Guinea as part of Merauke Force, remaining there in a defensive capacity until May 1944. [43] During this time, the battalion was based around Wondecla, south-west of Cairns. [8] In common with the other Australian machine gun battalions, the colours chosen for the battalion's unit colour patch (UCP) were black and gold. Shortly afterwards, they came under air attack from Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes on 22 February, during which one member of the 2/3rd was killed, while six others were wounded. [61], A Vickers machine gun team from the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion in Syria, October 1941, Infantry formations of the Second Australian Imperial Force, Fighting against the Vichy French: Palestine and Syria, Into action against the Japanese: Java and captivity, Re-organisation and garrison duties in Australia, The numerical designation of 2nd AIF units was prefixed by "2/", which was used to set them apart from Militia units or units of the, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2/3rd_Machine_Gun_Battalion_(Australia)&oldid=1000175228, Military units and formations established in 1940, Military units and formations disestablished in 1946, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. This war book is a Battalion History of the 2AIF 2 Machine Gun Company. [7] The battalion's commanding officer on establishment was Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Hearne. The 2/3rd left the village of Fih and moved to a camp at Hill 69, in Palestine, on 14 January 1942. [8], The 6th Machine Gun Battalion came under the command of the 7th Division, in October 1943,[14] and, less one company which stayed in Port Moresby, it joined the Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign. From there, the battalion travelled overland to Sydney where they embarked upon the SS Ile de France from Pyrmont Wharf, bound for the Middle East, as part of a large convoy of troopships. Gordon later reached the rank of major general. Many of these personnel then saw combat in Borneo in 1945. 29 Officers, 1007 Other Ranks. A small number of the battalion's personnel returned to Australia and it was subsequently re-raised in mid-1942. The convoy reached Gourock in Scotland in mid-June. During WW2, the task set for Lieutenant-Colonel Terry Farrell, his officers and NCOs was to form, train and prepare for battle a new machine gun battalion. [42] A long period of relative inactivity subsequently followed as a result of inter-Allied service politics which saw the US Army assume primacy of operations in the Pacific, and indecision about the future role of Australian forces in the Pacific campaign. [9], Initially, the battalion was stretched across several locations, with companies being formed in Seymour, Victoria, Brighton, Tasmania, and Northam, Western Australia. Faced with a threat closer to home, the Australian government pressed for the return of its troops from the Middle East, and so in early 1942 the 7th Division began withdrawing from their garrison posts in Syria and Lebanon. The final elements of unit identity were issued at the time: pugarees and colour patches. An armoured car regiment was formed in 1933 based on the 19th Light Horse Regiment. [33] As the Allied defence of the island began to collapse, the machine gunners were ordered to hold up the Japanese around Leuwiliang for a day. Others who did not board the Orcades included the battalion's 'B' Echelon, essentially all its vehicles, baggage and heavy weapons, and its maintenance personnel. There, fresh orders reached them. The battalion subsequently returned in two contingents, both aboard the Katoomba. Company Headquarters (2 Officers, 57 Other Ranks) 4 x Platoon. There the battalion undertook a vigorous physical training regime to regain the fitness lost from the sea voyage. [7][20] The 2/3rd's casualties during the campaign amounted to one officer and 41 other ranks killed or wounded. They remained there until 31 January when they boarded a train which took them to Kantara where they were ferried across the canal to continue the journey to Port Tewfik where the majority of the battalion, totalling 636 personnel of all ranks, boarded the troopship Orcades. [52] From then until the end of the war, the battalion took part in the ground advance through Wewak and beyond, fighting a series of small scale patrol actions, initially advancing through Arohemi and Muguluwela, and finally the town of But, while 'B' Company was assigned to Farida Force and carried out an amphibious landing around Dove Bay, in early May. In Blackburn's stead, the 'D' Company commander, Major Edward Lyneham, was promoted to take over command of the battalion. Designated a South Australian battalion, its personnel were nevertheless recruited from several Australian states: South Australians predominated, but there were also men from Victoria, Tasmania, and Western Australia, with many of the battalion's cadre staff of officers and senior non commissioned officers having served previously in the Militia with various light horse regiments and infantry battalions. [25] However, shortly after their arrival, they were ordered to re-embark on the tanker, which eventually caught up with Orcades and transferred its personnel for the remainder of the journey to Batavia. 6 MACHINE GUN BATTALION, 2AIF IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2 . On 15 April 1942, the order was passed to re-form the battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Sidney Reed, the battalion's original second-in-command. Formed with men from across the state, they all came together at Northam military camp, east of Perth, where they carried out their initial training. The first Turkish reinforcements to reach the battlefield were Sefik Aker’s reserve battalions and machine-gun company. A second armoured car regiment was formed in Sydney in 1939. It was structured along the same lines as the other 2nd AIF machine gun battalions, which consisted of between 800 and 900 personnel organised into a headquarters element consisting of three platoons – signals, anti-aircraft and administration[12] – and four machine gun companies, each equipped with 12 Vickers machine guns, to make a total of 48 across the entire battalion. NOTE:-In May 1942 an Army Order was issued which inserted ‘Aust’ into all unit names to avoid confusion with US units.Note that this is ‘Aust’ not ‘Australian’. When the units had been established, the intent had been that the machine gun battalions would provide highly mobile fire support;[57] however, this was largely only applicable in theatres where principles of open warfare could be applied. [27], Blackburn established his force into a brigade formation, utilising the pioneers and machine gunners as infantry battalions, and forming a third infantry battalion from troops that were assigned to garrison the base, as well as logistics and administrative personnel, and members of the AIF who had been able to get out of Singapore before it fell. 2/3rd Australian Machine Gun Battalion Formed on 17th June 1940 at Wayville S.A. under the command of Lt. Col. A. S. Blackburn V.C. In June/July 1941 it saw action against Vichy Fre… These companies were supported by assorted service support soldiers including signallers, stretcher bearers, administration clerks, caterers and quartermasters. [36][37], In May, the battalion moved to Balcombe on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, where they undertook range shoots, planning exercises and bivouacks. 1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion. In addition, a small number of personnel were received from the 2nd and 41st Infantry Battalions. While its personal were transferred to the Regular Army 1st Battalion on 12 July 1919 disembodied on 29 July, it was not formally disbanded until April 1953. [9] The battalion was sent to Dapto, on the New South Wales coast, in October 1942, to carry out defensive duties. [6] With an authorised strength of 700 to 800 men, the battalion was equipped with 48 Vickers medium machine guns that were spread between four main companies. When World War II broke out, the decision was made to raise several machine gun battalions within the 2nd AIF, allocated at a rate of one per division. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was formed in June 1940 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Blackburn, VC. In early 1944, the battalion returned to Australia and over the course of the year was disbanded, with its personnel being sent to other units as reinforcements. Joined February 1917. Most of its personnel volunteered to serve overseas with the Second Australian Imperial Force and later served in Borneo in 1945 with several other infantry, pioneer and machine gun battalions,[2] including the 2/24th Infantry Battalion, with which they saw further action on Tarakan. By late July, the majority of the battalion moved to Wewak Point, while two companies remained in the vicinity of Mandi–Bandi; operations in the area had killed 59 Japanese, for the loss of four men from 2/3rd killed in action and eight wounded. Ultimately, this never eventuated and Blackforce was ordered to surrender on 9 March 1942 following the Dutch capitulation the day before. The Owen was the only entirely Australian-designed and constructed service submachine gun of World War II and was used by the Australian Army from 1943 until the mid-1960s. A week later, the Japanese surrender was announced, bringing combat operations officially to an end. The 2/1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion was formed on 14 December 1939 as part of the 6th Division. [23], The Orcades, a fast transport capable of 26 knots, set sail for Colombo before even the battalion's baggage could be brought on board. After completing training in Australia, in April 1941 the battalion embarked for the Middle East. [5], In early April 1941, the battalion, less 'D' Company which travelled west for home leave, entrained at Oakbank, near to Woodside, South Australia where they had moved the previous February. Those who had survived the fighting spent the rest of the war as prisoners. [29] Concentrating around the civilian airport at Kemajoian, the battalion formed part of Blackforce's defensive garrison, tasked with protecting Batavia's five airfields from Japanese paratroopers; 'B' Company was detached in this time to defend the Buitenzorg military airfield. In addition, one member was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and four were appointed as Members of the Order of the British Empire. As with the rest of the Australian Army, the outbreak of war in 1939 lead to a dramatic expansion of Australia's armoured force. It was later attached to the 6th Division as a corps unit and served in Papua New Guinea during the Aitape–Wewak campaign in 1944–1945. [7] The battalion later moved into the Mandi and Brandi areas where they were tasked with re-invigorating the Australian operations in the area, as Japanese resistance around the plantations increased. [32] Occupying positions in support of the 2/2nd Pioneers who held the bridge over the Tjianten River, they were alerted to the advancing Japanese by the presence of fifth columnists, who were seen to be laying out marking panels. The medium machine guns were also largely utilised in the same manner as light machine guns, such as the Bren. As the situation in the Pacific worsened for the Allies – Singapore had fallen in early February and the Japanese were steadily advancing through the Netherlands East Indies – the Allies made the decision to hastily make a stand. The single exception was the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion. Relieving the 7th Machine Gun Battalion,[13] the battalion was attached to the 3rd Division and undertook defensive duties in Port Moresby, mainly located at Ward's Airfield, starting in July. [6], The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion was formed on 17 June 1940, in Wayville, South Australia. The British withdrew sustained fire machine guns from infantry battalions in 1915, grouping them as a brigade asset. Two of these wounded were later smuggled out of the Indies by medical personnel back to Australia, with one rejoining the battalion there later in the year. The 6th Division was subsequently assigned to take over from the US XI Corps around Aitape–Wewak. After the war, the machine gun battalion concept was discontinued in the Australian Army and in the 1920s medium machine gun platoons were added to standard infantry battalions. [3], Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=6th_Machine_Gun_Battalion_(Australia)&oldid=1000612482, Military units and formations established in 1942, Military units and formations disestablished in 1944, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 22:01. Furthermore, it was only partially independent from the United Kingdom (Britain). When the Army was reorganised in 1921, they were not re-raised, but in 1937, as the Army looked to expand as fears of war in Europe loomed, four such units were raised within the part-time Militia, by converting light horse units and motorising them. They were allocated to sections of the line in detachments of varying sizes depending on the task, but generally as a minimum in pairs as a 'section'. A Plaque commemorates those who served with the 2nd / 3rd Australian Machine Gun Battalion during World War Two. The Battalions took the number of their Division. For the next three years they were used for labour, most of them working on the infamous Thai-Burma Railway or … The plan had been for the Dutch troops to make a stand at Djasinga, but faulty intelligence resulted in a rout and the Dutch began to withdraw back to Bandung, flooding through Blackforce's lines. Therefore, most of Australian weapons and equipment during war was imported from either Britain or USA, although many were replaced with locally produced versions later in war. [31], Following the Battle of the Java Sea, the Japanese were able to land a force around Banten Bay and Marek, on the western tip of Java, and subsequently began advancing east towards Batavia and Buitenzorg, forcing Blackforce to reorientate itself east of the Tjianten River, to make a stand south of Buitenzorg. [49], With priority of effort being given to the campaigns in the Philippines and Borneo, the arrival of the 6th Division took place over several months. While the 3rd Machine Gun Battalion didn't come into being until March 1918, its resources were previously known as the 9th, 10th, 11th and 23rd Machine Gun Companies. They were designated with the same number as the parent Brigade. The author served with the 2/2 Machine Gun Battalion during its Desert Campaigns North Africa, New Guinea and was on Tarakan with Brigadier Whitehead's 26th Brigade, which included Don Company of the machine gunners, when the war ended. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Blackburn when it was raised, the battalion was primarily a South Australian unit, although it had sub-units formed in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. For the next couple of days, the battalion fought several skirmishes with 'C' Company bearing the brunt of the Japanese attacks, suffering seven killed and 28 wounded, while inflicting about 200 casualties on the Japanese. Arriving at Port Adelaide, the battalion's vehicles, weapons and heavy equipment was moved to Morphettville Racecourse and the remaining personnel concentrated at Sandy Creek. Forced to endure brutal conditions, over worked in labour camps, and inadequately provided for, casualties amongst these men were high. Lyneham and Gordon had both served in the Militia before the war, with Lyneham serving in the 28th Battalion, The Swan Regiment in Western Australia and Gordon in the 6th Battalion, Royal Melbourne Regiment. The 6th Machine Gun Battalion was a battalion of the Australian Army that was raised for service during World War II. The battalion defended a position north-east of Beirut, around Bikfaya, initially but was moved around to various locations including Aleppo, on the Turkish border, throughout the remainder of 1941. By December, the unit ceased to exist. The 6th Machine Gun Battalion was a battalion of the Australian Army that was raised for service during World War II. [28] Due to the presence of a large amount of equipment on the wharf, which had been intended to be sent to Singapore before its fall, Blackforce was able to re-equip itself handsomely with vehicles including carriers and armoured cars, Bren guns, Thompson sub-machine guns and mortars; but there were no machine guns. Headquarters was based at Horsham. [26] This force, under Blackburn who was promoted to brigadier, came to be known as "Blackforce",[7] with headquarters being established at Batavia. 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