A short time later, a force of five Japanese light tanks attempted to cross the river, but were rebuffed by anti-tank rifles and small arms. The online shop will remain open however any orders won't be processed and dispatched until after the 4th January, 2021. 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. [50] While this took place, 'B' and 'D' Companies were assigned to the 17th Brigade, with whom they undertook a mainly defensive role around Aitape, while accompanying infantry patrols into the interior. Served in Palestine Lebanon and Syria. 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. [4] At its peak, the 2/3rd was equipped with 124 motor vehicles of various descriptions and 50 motorcycles. Formed in February 1918 by merging the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 21st Australian Machine Gun Companies. In early 1942, as the Japanese advanced through the Netherlands East Indies, the majority of the battalion was captured during the Battle of Java. Also unit names were issued with an official amendment to the Order of Battle. [54], In late August, following the conclusion of hostilities the 2/3rd was concentrated at Wewak Point, in the 19th Brigade's area, where final parades were held and education classes commenced to prepare the soldiers for discharge and return to civilian life. [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. [2] Motorised infantry units, equipped with wheeled motor vehicles, motorcycles and sometimes tracked carriers,[3] the machine gun battalions were formed to provide a greater level of support by fire than that which was organically available within ordinary infantry battalions. [43] During this time, the battalion was based around Wondecla, south-west of Cairns. The first Turkish reinforcements to reach the battlefield were Sefik Aker’s reserve battalions and machine-gun company. Although raised in South Australia, B Company came from Victoria, C Company came from Tasmania and D Company came from Western Australia. Merged into 1st Australian MG Battalion February 1918. The battalion was disbanded in January 1946. Later, they moved to Semina where they established a camp until shipping became available for the return to Australia. When they returned from New Guinea they were again based at Wallgrove Army Camp from 12 June 1944 till their disbandment on 1 December 1944.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2/2 Australian Machine Gun Battalion history written by a Veteran. [10] The Tasmanians and Western Australians had initially been intended to join the 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion, and during its formative period, the companies completed basic training in their home locations, before concentrating together at Warradale, South Australia with the Tasmanians sailing to Melbourne to link up with Victorians prior to entraining for the journey west, while the Western Australians crossed the Nullarbor Plain. [44] As a result of this change, the battalion was required to return all of its vehicles, with the intention that its guns would largely be carried across the battlefield by soldiers moving on foot. The 2nd Machine Gun Battalion was an infantry support unit of the Australian Army that was raised for service during World War I as part of the all volunteer Australian Imperial Force.It was one of five such units raised as part of the AIF during the war. Using men from six 'E' (Vicker machine gun) companies from different infantry battalions, the newly-formed unit went on to serve in the defence of Port Moresby, Battle of Wau and at Milne Bay. These ships were to follow the Orcades up at its eventual destination, which was at the time, still being kept secret even to the troops on board. Over the course of the war, on the Western Front the concept had evolved through the establishment of machine gun companies in 1916 and machine gun battalions in 1918. We virtually had two wars (Nth Africa and the Pacific) and we had two armies, the AIF and the CMF. Following Japan's entry into the war, the decision was made to transfer a large number of Australian troops from the Middle East to the Pacific region. In mid-July, the 2/3rd received orders to move north to Cowra by road. Please note that we are taking some time off over Christmas and New Year from 19th December, 2020 to 3rd January, 2021. Four personnel from the 6th Machine Gun Battalion drowned during the rescue effort. Meanwhile, following the conclusion of hostilities, the battalion's personnel were slowly transferred to other units or repatriated back to Australia for demobilisation. Each Infantry Brigade had a Machine Gun Company under command. [5], Developed by the British Army, the concept within the Australian Army had its genesis during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, when the machine guns assigned to the infantry battalions – initially two and then, later, four – had been grouped together and co-ordinated at brigade level to help compensate for the lack of artillery support. 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. 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. 29 Officers, 1007 Other Ranks. [7][20] The 2/3rd's casualties during the campaign amounted to one officer and 41 other ranks killed or wounded. [8] As personnel were evacuated due to illness, the Port Moresby company was used as a reinforcement pool until it was disbanded. 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. 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. 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. [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. Two months later, the battalion was sent to Donadabu, where they were attached to the 7th Infantry Brigade. Legacy. AUSTRALIAN ARMY IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII . 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. Men who were in the hospital or on course were subsequently reposted to the 2/2nd Machine Gun Battalion, and remained in the Middle East, later seeing action at El Alamein. At the beginning of the Second World War, Australia did not have an extensive manufacturing industry. 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. An armoured car regiment was formed in 1933 based on the 19th Light Horse Regiment. [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. [8], Shortly after the companies came together at Narellan, the battalion moved to Wallgrove for training. Its role during this period was to defend Gusap Airfield,[15] amidst heavy fighting around Shaggy Ridge. 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. [7], After the war, the Australian Army moved away from the machine gun battalion construct and consequently no similar units have been raised since, with the role being subsumed into the support companies of individual infantry battalions. In addition, a small number of personnel were received from the 2nd and 41st Infantry Battalions. 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. The move was carried out on foot over several days. Gordon later reached the rank of major general. [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. By December, the unit ceased to exist. Not so in WW2. 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. [4] The battalion was highly mobile and included many different types of vehicles. 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. [7] The battalion's commanding officer on establishment was Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Hearne. The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion[Note 1] was one of four machine gun battalions that were raised as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) for service overseas during World War II. Members of the 2/3rd battalion were captured by the Japanese in Java in 1942. 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. [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. Initially, they were camped around Tadji defending the airfield there, but after Christmas, the majority of the battalion – headquarters, headquarters company and two machine gun companies – was assigned to the 19th Brigade as they advanced west along the coast towards the Danmap, switching to providing support to the 16th Brigade in early January as it drove towards Abau; in the open country of the coastal area the machine guns proved quite effective. Their movements and … While at Shellharbour, on 16 May 1943, the battalion took part in rescuing the crew of a US tanker, the Cities Service Boston, which sunk near Bass Point after running aground. 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’. They were transported overland from Colac in early January 1942 to Winnellie. [58] Once the focus of Australian Army combat operations shifted to the Pacific, the machine gun battalions were largely misused, being employed in a static defensive capacity against short and medium range targets, or for menial tasks, rather than as offensive fire support weapons that could have been employed to provide long range fire support. In Blackburn's stead, the 'D' Company commander, Major Edward Lyneham, was promoted to take over command of the battalion. [9] The battalion was sent to Dapto, on the New South Wales coast, in October 1942, to carry out defensive duties. A week later, the Japanese surrender was announced, bringing combat operations officially to an end. [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. 2/3rd Australian Machine-Gun Regiment (Victoria) 2/4th Australian Pioneer Battalion; 9th Australian Divisional Cavalry - From 8th Infantry Division in May 1941; 2/3rd Field Company, RAE - Tasmania/Western Australia/South Australia - From 6th Infantry Division; 2/13th Field Company, RAE - Queensland - Ex 2/1st Field Park Company 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. Machine Gun Battalions were formed in the Divisions in the early months of 1918, by bringing together the four MGC Companies into a single command structure. 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