|
The 2/3rd Battalion
was raised at Victoria Barracks, Sydney on 24 October 1939 as part
of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Australian Division. It relocated
to the newly-opened Ingleburn Camp on 2 November where it
conducted its basic training. On 10 January 1940, it sailed from
Sydney and disembarked in Egypt on 14 February.
After further training in Palestine and
Egypt, the 2/3rd took part in its first campaign – the advance against
the Italians in eastern Libya – in January 1941. It was involved in
the successful attacks at Bardia (3–5 January) and Tobruk (21–22
January), and remained as part of the Tobruk garrison when the advance
continued. One company of the 2/3rd was also employed to garrison Derna
after its capture by the 19th Brigade on 30 January. The 2/3rd left
Tobruk on 7 March, ultimately bound, with the rest of the 6th Division,
for Greece.
Arriving in Greece on 19 March, the
2/3rd was soon deployed north to resist the anticipated German invasion.
It occupied positions at Veria on 7 April, but a succession of
withdrawals by the Allies in Greece meant that the battalion did not
meet the enemy in battle until 18 April – at Tempe (Pinios)
Gorge.
There, the 2/3rd supported the 2/2nd
Battalion and blocked German movement through the gorge, allowing the
unhindered withdrawal of Allied forces further south. The 2/3rd itself
was forced to withdraw again by nightfall. Its activities in Greece
ended with evacuation by sea from Kalamata on 27 April. The bulk of the
battalion returned to Palestine, via Egypt, but one group of 141 troops
subsequently fought with the 16th Brigade Composite Battalion on Crete,
after the transport carrying them away from Greece was sunk.
In June and July 1941, the 2/3rd took
part in the campaign in Syria and Lebanon and fought around Damascus
(20–22 June), in an unsuccessful effort to secure Jebel Mazar (24–28
June), and in the climactic battle of Damour (6–10 July). The
battalion was destined to remain in Syria as part of the garrison there
until January 1942. It left the Middle East, heading for the war against
Japan, on 10 March 1942. The 16th and 17th Brigades, however, were
diverted on the voyage home. Between 27 March and 13 July they defended
Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) from possible Japanese attack. The 2/3rd
finally disembarked in Australia, at Melbourne, on 8 August 1942.
The 2/3rd’s first campaign against
the Japanese was the advance along the Kokoda Trail to the Japanese
beachheads between September and December 1942. It fought major
engagements at Eora Creek (22–28 October), Oivi (5–12 November), and
on the Sanananda Track (21 November–19 December). 1943 and 1944 were
spent training in northern Queensland, and the 2/3rd’s last campaign
of the war was the operation to clear the Japanese from the Aitape–Wewak
region of New Guinea between December 1944 and August 1945.
The 2/3rd Battalion disbanded on 8
February 1946. Text from AWM |
