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Category:1st AIF/4th
Div/12th Bde |
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- 46th Battalion AIF
(Victoria) [12th Infantry Brigade]
Formed Egypt 4 March 1916 from the 14th Battalion AIF.
- 2nd Reinforcements
departed Melbourne Euripides
4 April 1916,
- 3rd Reinforcements departed Melbourne Medic
20 May 1916, and
- Sydney Borda
5 June 1916,
- 4th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Orontes
16 August 1916,
- 5th Reinforcements departed Sydney Port
Sydney 7 September 1916,
- 6th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Port
Lincoln 20 October 1916,
- 7th Reinforcements departed Sydney Port
Napier 17 November 1916,
- 8th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Persic
29 December 1916,
- 9th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Ascanius
11 May 1917,
- 10th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Nestor
28 February 1918
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Battle Honours:
Egypt 1916, Somme 1916-18,
Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele,
Arras 1918, Ancre 1918, Amiens, Albert 1918, St Quentin Canal, Hindenburg
Line, Epehy, France and Flanders 1916-18
by
Ross Mallett (ADFA)
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46th Battalion
The 46th Battalion was raised in Egypt
on 24 February 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF.
Approximately half of its new recruits were Gallipoli veterans from the
14th Battalion, and the other half, fresh reinforcements from Australia.
Reflecting the composition of the 14th, the new battalion was composed
mostly of men from Victoria, although some of the reinforcements hailed
from New South Wales and Western Australia.
As part of the 12th Brigade of the 4th
Australian Division, the 46th Battalion arrived in France on 8 June
1916, destined for the Western Front. It participated in its first major
battle at Pozières. Initially, the battalion provided carrying parties
for supplies and ammunition during the 2nd Division’s attack on 4
August, and then, with its own division, defended the ground that had
been captured. The 46th endured two stints in the heavily contested
trenches of Pozières, as well as a period in reserve.
After Pozières, the battalion spent
the period up until March 1917 alternating between duty in the trenches
and training and rest behind the lines. On 11 April it took part in the
attack mounted against the heavily defended village of Bullecourt –
part of the formidable Hindenburg Line to which the Germans had
retreated during February and March. Devoid of surprise, and dependent
upon the support of unreliable tanks, the attack had little chance of
success; after managing to fight through to it's objectives, the 46th
was forced to withdraw with heavy casualties. Later in the year, the
focus of the AIF’s operations switched to the Ypres sector in Belgium
where the 46th took part in the battles of Messines and Passchendaele.
The 46th rotated in and out of the
front line throughout the winter of 1917–18. In the spring of 1918, it
played a role in turning the great German offensive by defeating attacks
around Dernancourt in the first days of April. During the Allied
offensive that commenced in August, the 46th also played an active part,
fighting in the battle of Amiens on 8 August and in the battle to secure
the Hindenburg “outpost line” on 18 September. The battalion was out
of the line when the war ended on 11 November, and disbanded in April
1919. Text from AWM
- 590 killed, 1939 wounded
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Decorations
- 4 DSO, 1 bar
- 1 OBE
- 28 MC, 1 bar
- 14 DCM
- 140 MM, 7 bars
- 6 MSM
- 37 MID
- 5 foreign awards
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