Battalion Formation and Training

    "Everyone who was 18 wanted to join up."

The 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion (MGBn) has an unusual history, having been extensively reinforced in early 1942, after most of the original Battalion had become prisoners of war of the Japanese Army on Java (Indonesia).

    The Original Battalion
    The original Battalion was formed in June 1940, a few days after France had fallen to Germany, prompting Australia to boost enlistment into the 2nd AIF (Australian Imperial Force). The first Battalion Company was formed in South Australia under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Blackburn ('Blackie') of Adelaide. Colonel Blackburn had been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry at Pozieres, France, in WWI. (At Gallipoli in 1915, Blackburn and Private Phil Robin penetrated further inland than any other Australian soldiers during the entire campaign.)

    Other Companies soon formed in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania. In October 1940, all five Companies (four from four States, plus Headquarters Company) 'concentrated' at Warradale, south of Adelaide. The men moved to Woodside camp, east of Adelaide, in January 1941.

    On Good Friday, 11 April 1941, the Battalion set sail for the Middle East (the campaign against the Vichy French in Syria) aboard the SS Ile de France, a former 1200-berth French luxury liner refitted to accommodate more than 4000 troops. Syria was the only campaign in which the Battalion fought in the traditional role of machine gunners, which is to support infantry. In its later campaigns - the brief, intense battle on Java and the longer Aitape-Wewak campaign in New Guinea - the Battalion fought as infantry.

    The Reinforced Battalion
    The reinforced Battalion was formed in April 1942, with a large intake of recruits to augment the small number of men who had returned from the Syrian campaign (and who had not been sent to Java).

    From Adelaide, the new Battalion moved to Cowra, NSW. The Battalion's 'B' Company left Cowra in April 1943 for Merauke, on the south coast of New Guinea. Their role was to help prevent any Japanese landings in north east Queensland.

    The remainder of the Battalion was sent to a series of places in Queensland - Deception Bay, Moreton Island and Bribie Island. In August 1943, the Battalion moved to Wondecla in the Atherton Tableland near Cairns, to join the 6th Australian Division in training for jungle warfare.

    At last, in December 1944, the Battalion embarked for Aitape on the north coast of New Guinea, to take part in the final campaign against a large Japanese Army force based at Wewak to the east.


Battalion Formation and Training | Middle East | Java | POWS
POW School | Burma-Thai Railway | Weary Dunlop | New Guinea
War's End