39th Battalion (Australia)

On the 9th December 1941, two day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 39th BN was ordered to 'ready to move', they were originally allocated to relieve the Queensland 49th Battalion already on garrison duties at Port Moresby, Papua. After Pearl Harbor, the threat of invasion had now changed Australian Army Chiefs of Staff planning forecasts. A decision was made to create a new scratch brigade from the following elements:

The Move North

Christmas Day 1941 was in camp, then on the 26th the BN was loaded into two trains, for a rapid move north. One train went straight to Albury and the other departed from Spencer Street Station, Melbourne, two hours later. Both trains arriving in Sydney at 1040 hrs, on the 27th December 1941. The BN detrained and by ferry arrived at Woolloomooloo wharf where 1068 Officers, NCO and ORs, [Austin:1988, p19, para 3] of the 39th BN boarded the passenger ship the "RMS Aquitania".

Quotes

"As Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force - I am privileged to be here today to honour the members of the 39th Battalion – men I am proud to describe as amongst Australia’s most gallant soldiers, men to whom our nation is indebted for their heroic service on the Kokoda Track and in the later horrible fighting at Gona and Sanananda. Buna, Gona and Sanananda is a story about many great soldiers, units and Brigades; PTE Kinsbury VC, the 2/14th Battalion, 21 st , 25th , 11th , 16th and 30th Brigades; but today’s service is to honour the battalion that took the initial brunt of the onslaught – the 39th."

His Excellency Major General MICHAEL JEFFERY AC CVO MC

Governor-General Of The Commonwealth Of Australia

2006 [Address by - On the occasion of the raising of the '39Th Personnel Support Battalion' - Shrine Of Remembrance, Melbourne - 8 August 2006 - http://www.governorgeneral.gov.au/php/speeches/htmlto.php?id=141]

See also

*Australian Army
*Australian Imperial Force (AIF)
*Australian 7th Division
*Australian 10th Division
*Kokoda Track
*Kokoda Trail
*LtCol William T. Owen
*Second Australian Imperial Force (1939-45)

Bibliography

* Austin, Victor. "To Kokoda And Beyond - The Story of the 39th Battalion 1941-1943", Melbourne University Press, ISBN 0-522-84374-3, 1988, pp267
* Brune, Peter. "Those Ragged Bloody Heroes - From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942", Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-86373-264-0, 1991, pp309
* Brune, Peter. "A Bastard of a Place - The Australians In Papua", Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-74114-403-5, 2003, pp691
* Edgar, Bill. "Warrior of Kokoda: A biography of Brigadier Arnold Potts", Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-86448-908-1, 1999, pp318
* FitzSimons, Peter. "Kokoda", Hodder Headline Australia, ISBN 0-7336-1962-2, 2005, pp490
* Paterson, A.T. "The Thirty-Ninth: The history of the 39th Battalion Australian Imperial Force", Melbourne, G.W. Green & Sons, 1934, pp371 - (First AIF) - NLA [Call Number: NL 940.3945 PAT - Bib ID: 470422 http://www.nla.gov.au/]
* Paull, Raymond. "Retreat From Kokoda", William Heinemann Ltd, 1958, pp319

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.kokodatrail.com.au/images/kokodamap.gifCross section map of the Kokoda Trail]
* [http://www.39battalion.org/ 39th Battalion Association]
* [http://www.ourspirit.com.au/Kokoda_Maps.htm Original sketch maps of the Kokoda Trail]