by Malcolm G Wright

BASIC ORGANISATION OF AN INFANTRY BATTALION.

This was commanded by a Lt. Colonel. It comprised a HQ company and four Infantry companies, each commanded by a Captain although the HQ Coy was often commanded by a Major. At full war strength a Battalion was of 36 officers and 812 other ranks.

The HQ Coy had 6 Platoons. A mortar Platoon with two 3" Mortars and 4 Universal Carriers. A "Carrier Platoon" with 10 Universal Carriers each armed with a Brengun. A Signals Platoon. Usually with a Radio truck & two or more Universal Carriers. A Pioneer Platoon. An Anti Aircraft Platoon. (Armed with Bren Guns) A Transport, HQ and administrative platoon.

Each of the Four Infantry Companies had three platoons. A Platoon comprised a small HQ with a 2" Mortar and a .5" Boyes Anti Tank Rifle. It also had three Infantry sections. Each section was of ten men. They were armed with a Bren Gun, an Owen, Submachinegun , and eight rifles.

***NOTE*** Because of the huge amount of captured Italian equipment a section often had up to two or three Italian ’Breda’ Light Machineguns and a few Italian sub Machineguns. Italian rifles were never used as they were inferior to the British .303 Short Lee Enfield.

ORGANISATION OF BRIGADES AND 9th DIVISION.

Each Brigade comprised 3 battalions. A Brigade usually had a small HQ which often included an anti tank section with one or two 2pdr guns. Because of the large number of Italian 47mm guns captured, there were usually more of these available than 2pdrs and all battalions had several times the number of guns they were supposed to have.

The 9TH DIVISION was charged with the defence of Tobruk. It was commanded by Major General Sir Leslie Morshead. His ’nick name’ was "Ming the Merciless". This was a famous Chinese character in a stage play and noted for being very hard and tough. He was never the less, very much liked by the troops. In WW1 he had served at Gallipoli as a Captain of the 2nd Battalion AIF. Later in France he went on to command the 33rd Battalion, was wounded twice and became a Lt. Colonel before the war ended. He won the DSO, the Legion d’Honneur and was mentioned in dispatches on six occasions.

 20th BRIGADE Was commanded by Brigadier John Murray. It comprised the following battalions. 2/13th, 2/15th and 2/17th.
 26th BRIGADE Was commanded by Brigadier Ray Tovell. It comprised the following battalions. 2/23rd, 2/24th and 2/48th
 24th BRIGADE Was commanded by Brigadier Arthur Godfrey. It comprised the following battalions. 2/28th and 2/43rd

NOTE. The 2/32nd was in Egypt and did not arrive (by ship) until May 4th.1941.

ATTACHED.

 18th BRIGADE of the 7th Australian Division. It comprised the following battalions. 2/9th, 2/10th and 2/12th

 18th INDIAN CAVALRY REGIMENT. (Actually motorised infantry) 2/3rd (Australian) Anti Tank Gun Regiment. (Minus the 12th Battery) 2/1st (Australian) Pioneer Battalion. 1st (British) Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. A Machinegun Battalion. (Armed with Vickers Machineguns). 1st (British) Kings Dragoon Guards, with 30 Marmon Harrington Armoured Cars. One battery of the 3rd Royal Horse Artillery. (British) Anti tank gun unit with 2pdrs. 4 British 25pdr artillery Regiments. 1st Royal Horse Artillery. ’Bush Artillery’. This was a group of cooks, supply troops, HQ staff etc. who manned a whole range of captured Italian field artillery, anti tank and AA guns. They carried out their normal duties, but manned their guns during attacks. Their weapons included an old Italian 149mm gun in a coastal emplacement.

 3rd ARMOURED BRIGADE. 5th Royal Tank Regiment. Colonel H.D.Drew. 1st Royal Tank Regiment. 4 Matilda Tanks, 23 A9 Cruiser Tanks, 20 Vickers Mk. VI tanks. More Matilda tanks were later shipped in and many Italian Tanks were also used. The Australians operated both the Italian M11/3 and M13/40 Medium tanks, making them the third Commonwealth nation (Britain and South Africa being the others) to put these captured vehicles to good use.

**NOTE**

Large amounts of equipment captured from the enemy was used. The ammunition bunkers at Tobruk were full of Italian ammunition. None the less, many raids were carried out on the Italian troops to gain more equipment. For example many of the captured Italian guns lacked sights, so the troops raided the Italian lines, took some of their batteries, removed the sights and destroyed the guns. Also the majority of anti tank mines were obtained by digging up Italian and German mines by night. On one night alone they dug up 500 such mines and re-located them.

The reason most Australian units are referred to as 2/14th etc. was in honour of the WW1 battalions, which were always known as the 1st. All the battalions of WW2 were therefore known as the 2nd AIF, the WW1 AIF being known as the 1st AIF.

Today many of the battalions that still exist are known as 3/9th etc. as a mark of respect for both the First and Second World War troops.