History of the Australian Army

The Two Armies: Militia and Permanent forces 1870–1947

"For more about Australian military history before the withdrawal of British forces, see: Colonial forces of Australia."

For more than 80 years after the first British settlement, the only professional soldiers in Australia were members of British Army garrisons.

The first conflicts in which large numbers of Australian-born soldiers fought overseas were the Maori Wars, between 1863–72, although almost all of these—about 2,500 men—served in New Zealand colonial units, or the British Army.

By the time that the garrisons were withdrawn in 1870, the six separate self-governing colonies in Australia already had their own separate, part-time reserve units, known as militia or "volunteers". The colonial governments began to raise professional artillery units, to staff coastal batteries. From 1877 onwards, the British sent officers to advise the colonies on defence matters, and in the early 1880s, the first inter-colonial defence conferences were held.

During 1885, the government of New South Wales sent an infantry battalion, with artillery and support units to the short-lived British campaign in Sudan.

During the economic depression of the early 1890s, large-scale strikes in various colonies were met with governments mobilising and/or threatening to use militia against strikers. This was very unpopular and led to successful and historically-significant campaigns against the formation of standing, regular forces. The "two armies" system was established whereby the only infantry units would be militia, although permanent artillery and other support units remained.

As Federation of the colonies approached, on August 24, 1899 the colonial artillery units were merged into the first Australia federal army unit.

Boer War 1899–1902

Before Federation of Australia and the forming of the national army, the six self-governing and independent Australian colonial governments sent contingents to South Africa to serve in the Second Boer War. The first offer of 250 mounted troops came from the new colony of Queensland in July 1899, some months before the declaration of war. (Wilcox, p. 18)

The first arrivals of Australian troops was the First New South Wales Contingent which arrived in November 1899, after departing London. A detachment, sent from Australia in October 1899, was known as The Australian Regiment and was an infantry unit, made up mainly of volunteers from the Colonies of Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia, who left on one ship for Cape Town. Due to the way the war developed, these troops were converted from infantry to mounted infantry.

Strong resistance from the Boer Afrikaner forces led to further recruiting in the Australian colonies. Known as Bushmen's Contingents, these soldiers were usually volunteers with horse-riding and shooting skills but no military experience. After Federation in 1901, eight Australian Commonwealth Horse battalions were sent.

Many of the Australian units had a short tour of duty and some were subject to restructuring. Later Australians transferred to, or enlisted into multinational units, such as the Bushveldt Carbineers, in which Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Hancock served, before their court martial and execution for alleged war crimes.

Australian units served at many notable actions, including the relief of Mafeking, Sunnyside, Slingersfontein, Pink Hill, the Relief of Kimberley, Paardeburg, Bloemfontein, the Siege of Eland's River, Rhenosterkop and Haartebeestefontein. Australians were there for the capture of Johannesburg and were first into Pretoria. Later they participated at Diamond Hill.

In all, 16,175 Australians, with 16,314 horses, served in the Boer War; 251 were killed in action, 267 died of other causes and 43 went missing in action. Six Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of the Australian contingents. Many Australian did more than one tour of duty and a number remained after the war and settled in-country; while others returned to Australia then returned back to South Africa.

1901–14

As the Boer War raged, the Commonwealth of Australia was founded on January 1, 1901. On March 1, 28,923 colonial soldiers, being 1,457 professional soldiers, 18,603 paid militia and 8,863 unpaid volunteers, were transferred to the new Australian Army. However, the individual units continued to be administered under the various colonial Acts. Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Hutton, a former commander of the New South Wales Military Forces, became the first commander of the Commonwealth Forces on December 26 and set to work devising an integrated structure for the new army.

The Defence Act of 1903 brought all of the units under one piece of legislation; more significantly, it prevented the raising of standing infantry units and specified that militia forces could not be used in industrial disputes, and "could not serve outside Australia". The vast majority of soldiers remained in militia units, now known as the Citizen Military Forces (CMF).

In 1911, two significant changes followed a report by Lord Kitchener: the Royal Military College, Duntroon was established and; a system of universal national service began: boys aged 12 to 18 became cadets, and men aged 18–26 had to serve in the CMF.

World War One

When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany at the start of World War I, the Australian government followed without hesitation. This was considered to be expected by the Australian public, because of the very large number of British-born citizens and first generation Anglo-Australians at the time. By the end of the war, almost 20% of those who served in the Australian forces had been born in the United Kingdom, even though nearly all enlistments had occurred in Australia.

Because existing militia forces were unable to serve overseas, an all-volunteer expeditionary force, the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was formed from August 15, 1914. The Australian government had pledged to supply 20,000 men, organised as one infantry division and one light horse brigade plus supporting units. The first commander of the AIF was General William Bridges, who also assumed direct command of the infantry division.

However, the first target for Australian action was close to home, seizing German colonial outposts in the south-west Pacific and New Guinea. The 2000-man force assembled for this purpose, known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), landed near Rabaul on September 11, 1914 and after some fighting, the German garrison surrendered on September 21.

Departing from Western Australia on November 1, 1914, the AIF was sent initially to British-controlled Egypt, to pre-empt any attack by the Ottoman Empire, and with a view to opening another front against the Central Powers. The AIF had four infantry brigades with the first three making up the 1st Division. The 4th Brigade was joined with the sole New Zealand infantry brigade to form the New Zealand and Australian Division.

The combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), commanded by British general William Birdwood, went into action when Allied forces landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on April 25, 1915 (now commemorated as Anzac Day). The Battle of Gallipoli would last for eight months of bloody stalemate. By the end of the campaign, Australian casualties were 8,700 killed and 19,000 wounded or sick. The original AIF contingent had continued to grow with the arrival of the 2nd Division which was formed in Egypt and went to Gallipoli in August.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the infantry underwent a major expansion with the two veteran divisions (1st and 2nd) being split to create an additional two divisions (4th and 5th). The 3rd Division was formed in Australia and sent to the Western Front, in France. The light horse brigades had served as infantry at Gallipoli. In 1916, they were reunited with their horses and formed into cavalry divisions in Egypt to campaign against Turkish forces in the Sinai and Palestine. Australia also supplied the majority of troops for the newly formed Imperial Camel Corps Brigade.

The first Australian division to see action on the Western Front was the 5th Division which was thrown unprepared into the futile Battle of Fromelles, a "diversion" to the Battle of the Somme that cost the division 5,500 casualties for no gain. The 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions, combined as I Anzac Corps, fought the Battle of Pozières and subsequent Battle of Mouquet Farm, part of the Battle of the Somme. In Egypt, the light horse had helped repulse the Turkish attempt capture the Suez Canal in the Battle of Romani.

During 1917, the five divisions in France fought in three Allied offensives: the Battle of Bullecourt (part of the Battle of Arras), the Battle of Messines and the Third Battle of Ypres. Meanwhile the light horse had entered southern Palestine. After two attempts to break through the Turkish defences at Gaza, the decisive victory was achieved in the Third Battle of Gaza in which the Australians captured the town of Beersheba in a dramatic cavalry charge. By the end of the year, British forces had captured Jerusalem.

The German Spring Offensive of early 1918 broke through British lines south of the Somme. The Australians were called on to halt the German advance east of Amiens at the town of Villers-Bretonneux. In preparation for the British counter-offensive, the newly formed Australian Corps commanded by General John Monash, fought the Battle of Hamel, widely regarded as the finest set-piece strategy of the war on the Western Front. The final Allied offensive began with the Battle of Amiens on August 8, and the Australian divisions, along with the Canadian Corps, spearheaded the advance south of the Somme. By the end of September, the Australian divisions were severely depleted, with only the 3rd and the (rebuilt) 5th deemed to be fit for action. On October 5 the Australian Corps was withdrawn to rest and saw no more fighting before the war ended.

In the Middle East, the light horse had endured summer in the Jordan Valley before leading the British offensive in the final Battle of Megiddo. The 10th Light Horse Regiment was the first Allied unit to reach Damascus.

A total of 331,814 Australians were sent overseas to serve as part of the AIF, which represented 13% of the white male population. About 2,100 women served with the 1st AIF, mainly as nurses. 18% (61,859) of those who served in the AIF were killed. The casualty rate (killed or wounded) was 64%, reportedly the highest of any country which took part in World War I. This casualty rate was exacerbated by a perpetual manpower shortage in the AIF due to the fact that it remained a volunteer force for the duration of the war—the only British or Dominion force to do so. Two referendums on conscription had been defeated, preserving the volunteer status, but stretching the reserves towards the end of the war. The AIF also had a desertion rate larger than Britain, mainly because the death penalty was not in force. It is also important to remember with regards to this statistic that the vast majority of deserters returned voluntarily to their units, unlike those of the other armies in the war.

1919–39

After the end of the First World War, the Australian Army dramatically cutback on its standing forces. There was still a large pool of volunteers to choose from, and due to the Great Depression vacancies were quickly filled, as they were steady, relatively well paying jobs.

The contingent of soldiers sent to Britain for the Coronation of King George VI in 1937 became the first Australian soldiers to mount the King's Guard in London.

World War Two

When war broke out between Britain and Germany in 1939, the 2nd AIF was formed, to fight in France. The AIF's main strength would consist of four divisions raised in 1939–40: the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. Maj. Gen. Thomas Blamey was appointed commander of the 2nd AIF.

Compulsory military service was introduced: all men over 21 had to complete three months training with the Militia. However, to ensure home defences, Militia members were barred from joing the AIF.

After British forces withdrew from France in the face of the German Blitzkrieg, the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions, as I Corps, were sent to Egypt. From late 1940, the individual divisions faced Italian and German forces in North Africa. The 6th Division then experienced many casualties in mainland Greece, and on Crete, and 3,000 of its personnel were taken prisoner in this campaign. The 7th Division formed the body of the successful Allied invasion of Vichy French-controlled Lebanon and Syria in 1941. The 9th Division and part of the 7th played a celebrated defensive role at the Siege of Tobruk.

In 1941, a start was made on raising an 1st Armoured Division, as part of the AIF.

As fears of war with Japan mounted, most of the 8th Division was sent to Singapore, to strengthen the British garrison; the remaining battalions were deployed in the islands to Australia's north, at Rabaul, Ambon and Timor. Following short but bloody campaigns in Malaya and the islands, virtually all of the 8th division was lost, when stronger Japanese forces swept through South East Asia, in early 1942. In the Fall of Singapore alone, more than 15,000 Australians were taken prisoner. The 6th and 7th Divisions were recalled to Australia, as the country faced the prospect of invasion. While Winston Churchill had requested that the two AIF divisions be sent to Burma, Australian Prime Minister John Curtin turned down this request, though he did agree to land two brigades of the 6th Division in Ceylon the where they formed part of the island's defences during the early months of 1942.

Blamey was appointed Commander-in-Chief in March 1942; in April a major re-organisation took place: the name First Army —which previously referred to a Militia formation—was re-assigned to I Corps, which was expanded to army size with the inclusion of Militia divisions. The 1st Army's initial area of responsibility was the defence of Queensland and northern New South Wales. The Second Army was responsible for south-eastern Australia; the other components of Australia's defences were III Corps (in Western Australia), the Northern Territory Force and New Guinea Force. Conscription was effectively introduced in mid-1942, when all men 18–35, and single men aged 35–45, were required to join the CMF. In addition, the Army's armoured force was greatly expanded.

In February 1942, a change in regulations meant that if 65% of the official, establishment strength of a Militia unit, or 75 per cent of the actual personnel, volunteered for the AIF, the unit became an AIF unit. At the time, the CMF were often scorned as "chocolate-tin soldiers", or "chockos", because they were barred from fighting overseas. Nevertheless, Militia units distinguished themselves and suffered extremely high casualties during 1942, in New Guinea, which was then an Australian territory. The prime example was the 39th (Militia) Battalion, many of them very young, untrained and poorly equipped, who distinguished themselves and suffered heavy casualties, in the stubborn rearguard action on the Kokoda Trail.

By late 1942, the 7th Division was beginning to relieve the Militia in New Guinea. In August, as the Kokoda battles raged, Militia and 7th Division units formed the bulk of Australian forces at the Battle of Milne Bay, the first outright defeat inflicted on Japanese land forces. The 6th and 7th Divisions, with Militia units and elements of the 1st Armoured, formed a large part of Allied forces which destroyed the major Japanese beachhead in New Guinea, at the Battle of Buna-Gona.

In 1943, the Defence Act was changed to allow Militia units to serve south of the Equator in South East Asia.

The 9th Division remained in North Africa and distinguished itself at the Second Battle of El Alamein, after which victory over Rommel was assured, and returned to Australia in 1943. Later that year it was pitched into battle against Japanese forces in New Guinea.

General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Allied Commander in the South West Pacific, was resented for his treatment of Australian forces. After the surrender of Allied forces in the Philippines, Australian ground forces comprised almost all of MacArthur's ground forces. As US forces re-built, however, he increasingly used Australian units for secondary assignments. The campaign on Bougainville after the departure of US forces is considered to be an example of this.

The 1st Army took responsibility for mopping-up and controlling areas which flanked US forces' "island-hopping" campaign towards Japan. Australian units were also responsible for the last phase of amphibious assaults during the Pacific War: the attacks on Japanese-occupied Borneo, including Tarakan, Brunei, British Borneo, Balikpapan and other targets in Sarawak.

Meanwhile, Australian prisoners of the Japanese, were often held in inhumane conditions, such as Changi prison, or in Japan itself. Some were also subject to severe forced labour, including the Burma Railway, or forced long distance marches, such as on Sandakan. There was a very high death rate among Allied prisoners of the Japanese.

A planned invasion of the Japanese home island of Honshū in 1946, Operation Coronet, would probably have included a proposed Australian 10th Division, formed from existing AIF personnel. However, the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan to surrender before the invasion became necessary.

Compulsory military service ended in 1945, and most Australian personnel had been demobilised by the end of 1946.

Out of more than 724,000 army personnel during World War Two, almost 400,000 served outside Australia. More than 18,000 died; 22,000 were wounded and more than 20,000 became prisoners of war.

Occupation of Japan

The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), was the name of the joint Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from February 21, 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952.

Overall, Australians made up by far the biggest proportion of BCOF, and the army made up of most of the Australians. At its peak, BCOF comprised 40,000 personnel, equal to about 10% of the US military personnel in Japan.

The army contingent was centred around Australia's first ever standing infantry unit, the 34th Infantry Brigade, which had been formed from 2nd AIF and Militia personnel on Morotai in late 1945. The three battalions in the Brigade were redesignated to form the Royal Australian Regiment in 1947. The position of GOC BCOF was always filled by an Australian Army officer.

While US forces were responsible for military government, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarisation and the disposal of Japan's war industries. [http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/bcof.htm] BCOF was also responsible for occupation of the western prefectures of Shimane, Yamaguchi, Tottori, Okayama, Hiroshima and Shikoku Island. BCOF headquarters was at Kure. According to the AWM::Australian army .... personnel were involved in the location and securing of military stores and installations. The Intelligence Sections of the Australian battalions were given targets to investigate by BCOF Headquarters, in the form of grid references for dumps of Japanese military equipment. Warlike materials were destroyed and other equipment was kept for use by BCOF or returned to the Japanese. The destruction or conversion to civilian use of military equipment was carried out by Japanese civilians under Australian supervision. Regular patrols and road reconnaissances were initiated and carried out in the Australian area of responsibility as part of BCOF's general surveillance duties. [http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/bcof.htm] The Australian component of BCOF was responsible for over 20 million Japanese citizens, within a 57,000 square kilometre area.

During 1947, the BCOF began to wind down its presence in Japan. However, BCOF bases provided staging posts for Australian and other Commonwealth forces deployed to the Korean War, from 1949 onwards. BCOF was effectively wound-up in 1951, as control of Commonwealth forces in Japan was transferred to British Commonwealth Forces Korea.

The modern army, 1947–

In 1953, a contingent of the army was again sent to the coronation, this time of Queen Elizabeth II. Again it mounted the Queen's Guard alongside the Canadian Army contingent.

Malayan Emergency

Korean War

1960–65

In 1960 the Army was restructured onto the Pentropic organisation in an attempt to improve its combat power and align it with the US Army. This organisation proved unsuccessful, however, and it reverted to its previous unit organisations in 1965.

Vietnam War

Australian Army's commitment into Vietnam commenced with a contingent of a specialist group called AATTV (Australian Army Training Team VietNam) which commenced in 1962. Later Australian troops and their supports arrived and were assigned the Phuoc Tuy province. The 1st Australian Task Force was based in the province between 1966 and 1971 and consisted of infantry battalions, a Special Air Service Squadron, an artillery regiment and supporting engineer, armoured and armoured personnel carrier squadrons.

The Australian Army performed well in Vietnam and inflicted losses on the enemy. While the Army fought few major battles, Australian soldiers fought and destroyed large Vietnamese Communist forces during the Battle of Long Tan 1966 and the fighting around Firebase Coral and the heavy operations in the Long Hai hills (1970). The Australian Army was highly trained at jungle warfare as all infantry and combat units completed a gruelling jungle training course at Canungra in Queensland pre-posting into Vietnam.

In all, some 50,000 Australians served in Vietnam of which 520 were killed in battles and many due to mines and hidden traps.

The Australians style of warfare differed to that used by the United States Army. The Australians were masters of stealth, patrolling, tracking, searching & ambushing and hitting the enemy's flanks. (see Hall) In 1970, Hall said, the Australians Task Force in Phoc Tuoy Province was 'the most potent allied military force...yet was frequently tied up with reconnaissance-in-force operations' (p. 58)

1972–90

In 1988, as part of the celebrations for Australia's bicentennial, a detachment of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment became the first Australian troops in a generation to mount the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace in London.

United Nations Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) 1989-90

In 1979, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 435 which called for a peace keeping force to be deployed into the then South West Africa to provide assistance with its transition to the independent nation of Namibia. The multi-national force was to comprise of approximately 8,000 military personnel and a large contingent of Civilian Police. However, due to significant difficulties within the UN and in having South African forces withdrawn, the UN force did not deploy until 1989.

Australia deployed a combat engineer force of approximately 310 all ranks as part of the military force. The Australian contingent provided engineering support to the UN Force throughout its deployment. Tasks included numerous major construction projects including road and airfield construction, buildings, barracks, schools and other infrastructure to support the UN. The Australians also provided a wide range of assistance to the Namibian people by constructing a variety of civil projects.

Of note was the task of battlefield clearance after twenty years of warfare. Much of Namibia was in conflict and resulted in millions of land mines being laid around civilian communities and areas along the northern land border. The removal of these land mines was left to the South African Army, however, tens of thousands remained when RSA forces finally withdrew in 1990. The task then fell to the Australians. Despite the significant danger of this task, a 98% success rate was achieved with many civil communities becoming safe for the first time in decades.

The Australia force rotated once after six months deployment and provided continuous engineer support to the UN and Namibia. The force achieved its mission without sustaining any fatalities, making it one of the few military units in UNTAG to do so. Australia's contribution to UNTAG was a success and, as the first deployment of troops to a war zone since the Vietnam War, paved the way for future deployments.

Gulf War

The Australian Army's contribution to the 1991 Gulf War was limited to a small detachment from the 16th Air Defence Regiment. This detachment provided point defence for the Royal Australian Navy ships HMAS "Success" and HMAS "Westralia". A small number of Australian officers on exchange to the British and United States armies served as part of the units they had been posted to. While the Special Air Service Regiment was placed on heightened alert during the war, reports that elements of the SAS were deployed to the Gulf are incorrect. Fact|date=February 2007

Following the end of the war an Australian Medical Unit of 75 personnel drawn mostly from the Army's 2nd Field Ambulance was briefly deployed to northern Iraq as Australian's contribution to Operation Provide Comfort (designated 'Operation Habitat' by the Australian Defence Force). The Australian Medical Unit operated in Northern Iraq between 16 May and 30 June 1991.

1991–date

In 2000, the Federation Guard was formed - this was a tri-service unit consisting of personnel from the army, RAN and RAAF to serve as ceremonial guards during the celebrations of Australia's Centenary of Federation the following year. In July 2000, a detachment mounted the Queen's Guard in London for three weeks; this included four women, under the command of Captain Cynthia Anderson. These were the first women ever to serve as guards at Buckingham Palace.

Peacekeeping in East Timor

US-Afghan War

Australia, as one of the many countries who sent troops to Afghanistan, provided specialist SAS teams for use against Taliban/Al Qaeda forces.

Iraq War

Australia was one of the countries to provide combat forces for the US-led invasion of Iraq. In Australia it was known as Operation Falconer. In all Australia contributed some 2,000 personnel. The Army contribution to this was 500 soldiers, including:
* 3 CH-47 Chinook helicopters from the 5th Aviation Regiment for troop-lift
* An SAS Squadron
* Specialist troops from the Incident Response Regiment
* A quick reaction support force from 4RAR (Commando)

Following the end of major combat operations, Australia announced a withdrawal of most of its forces in Iraq. It left behind approximately 950 troops in the theatre. These included naval forces, support troops (such as air traffic controllers) and a security detachment of about 75 soldiers in strength to defend key Australian interests. The security detachment included:
* A troop of 3 ASLAVs (Australian Light Armoured Vehicles) and 15 soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment
* An infantry platoon of 35 soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment
* Communications and logistics element from the 3rd Brigade
* Soldiers from the 1st Military Police Battalion

In February 2005, Prime Minister John Howard announced an increase in the Australian presence by about 450 in order to provide protection for Japanese troops and assist in training Iraqi troops. This force, designated the Al Muthanna Task Group, was deployed to Southern Iraq in May 2005.

References

Boer War
*Abbott, J.M. "Tommy Cornstalk" Longmans, London, 1902.
*Wilcox, Craig. "Australia's Boer War: The War in South Africa 1899-1902", Oxford, South Melbourne, 2002.
*Michael Tyquin, Neville Howse, Australia's First Victoria Cross Winner, Oxford Univerostiy Press, Melbourne, 1999.

Vietnam War
*Hall, Robert A. "Combat Battalion: The Eight Battalion in VietNam", Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2000.