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Australian 8th Division
The 8th Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army, formed during World War II as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force. The 8th Division was raised from volunteers for overseas service from July 1940 onwards. Consisting of three infantry brigades, the intention had been to deploy the division to the Middle East to join the other Australian divisions, but as war with Japan loomed in 1941, the division was divided into four separate forces, which were deployed in different parts of the Asia-Pacific region. All of these formations were destroyed as fighting forces by the end of February 1942 during the fighting for Singapore, and in Rabaul, Ambon, and Timor. Most members of the division became prisoners of war, waiting until the war ended in late 1945 to be liberated. One in three died in captivity. History Formation The 8th Division began forming in July 1940, with its headquarters being established at Victoria Barracks, in Sydney. The divisio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine infantry. Although disused in modern times, heavy infantry also commonly made up the bulk of many historic armies. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery have traditionally made up the core of the combat arms professions of various armies, with the infantry almost always comprising the largest portion of these forces. Etymology and terminology In English, use of the term ''infantry'' began about the 1570s, describing soldiers who march and fight on foot. The word derives from Middle French ''infanterie'', from older Italian (also Spanish) ''infanteria'' (foot soldiers too inexperienced for cavalry), from Latin '' īnfāns'' (without speech, newborn, foolish), from which English also gets '' infant''. The individual-soldier term ''infantry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands. Definition The term may include countries in North America and South America that are on the coast of the Eastern Pacific Ocean; the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, for example, includes Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. Alternatively, the term sometimes comprises all of Asia and Australasia as well as Pacific island nations (Asia-Pacific and Australian continent)—for example, when dividing the world into large regions for commercial purposes (e.g., into APAC, EMEA, LATAM, and NA). Central Asia and Western Asia are almost never included. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duncan Maxwell
Brigadier Duncan Stuart Maxwell, MC (8 January 1892 – 21 December 1969), also known as Duncan Struan Maxwell, was a medical practitioner and an Australian Army officer who served in the First and the Second World Wars. He was commander of the 27th Brigade during the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the Battle of Singapore in the Second World War. Early life Maxwell was born on 8 January 1892 in Hobart, Tasmania, the son of a bank manager. He and his brother both served in the First World War, volunteering for the Australian Light Horse and participating in the Gallipoli Campaign. He was six feet, three inches, tall and nicknamed "Big" Maxwell, with his brother being two inches taller and known as "Shorty" Maxwell. After Gallipoli, Maxwell transferred to the infantry and fought on the Western Front with the 52nd Battalion. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in 1916 at the Battle of Mouquet Farm. Returning to civilian life after the war, Maxwell studied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
27th Brigade (Australia)
The 27th Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. The brigade was the last Second Australian Imperial Force infantry brigade raised for service during World War II. Initially assigned to the 9th Division, the brigade was transferred to the 8th Division shortly after it was raised. Training was undertaken around Bathurst, New South Wales throughout early 1941, before the brigade was sent to British Malaya in August 1941 to reinforce the 22nd Brigade, which had been dispatched earlier in the year. Following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the brigade went into action in January 1942, taking part in the fighting along the western side of the Malay Peninsula. Its main action during this period came around Muar before the withdrawal to Singapore. In February, the brigade took part in the short lived Battle of Singapore. When the garrison surrendered on 15 February, the majority of the brigade's personnel were taken prisoner. They subsequently spent the remai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
9th Division (Australia)
The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The distinctions of the division include it being: * in front line combat longer, cumulatively, than any other Australian division;Johnston (2002), p. ix. * one of the Australian military's most decorated formations; * the only 2nd AIF division formed in the United Kingdom, from infantry brigades and support units formed in Australia; * praised by both Allied and Axis generals, including Bernard Montgomery and Erwin Rommel, as well as non-Australian military historians, and; * like the 6th and 7th Divisions, being one of only a few Allied army units to serve in both the Mediterranean and Pacific theatres. During 1940, the component units of the 9th Division were sent to the UK to defend it against a possible German invasion. After serving during 1941–1942 in the North African campaign, at the Sieg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in the west, to Egypt's Suez Canal. Varying sources limit it to the countries of Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, a region that was known by the French during colonial times as "''Afrique du Nord''" and is known by Arabs as the Maghreb ("West", ''The western part of Arab World''). The United Nations definition includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, and the Western Sahara, the territory disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi Republic. The African Union definition includes the Western Sahara and Mauritania but not Sudan. When used in the term Middle East and North Africa (MENA), it often refers only to the countries of the Maghreb. North Africa includes the Spanish cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and plazas de s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eric Plant
Major General Eric Clive Pegus Plant, (23 April 1890 – 17 May 1950) was an officer in the Australian Army who served during the First and Second World Wars. Plant served in the pre-war part-time military from 1908, before joining the permanent forces in 1912. During the First World War, he volunteered for the First Australian Imperial Force and served at Gallipoli in 1915 as the adjutant of an infantry battalion. Later, he served as a staff officer at both brigade and divisional levels on the Western Front between 1916 and 1918, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. Plant remained in the military during the interwar years and undertook various staff and training positions. He completed the staff course at Camberley, and by the start of the Second World War had assumed the role of commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, a position that he held as a brigadier. In July 1940, Plant assumed command of the 24th Brigade and deployed to the Middle East with the Sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Lind (medical Officer)
Brigadier Edmund Frank Lind, (23 December 1888 – 2 May 1944) was an Australian medical practitioner and soldier. Early life and First World War Lind was born in South Yarra to bank manager Edmund Frank Lind and Emily Margaret, ''née'' Harris, and educated at Camberwell Grammar School. He attended the University of Melbourne and received a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery in 1914, subsequently practising in Williamstown. On 20 August 1914 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, retaining the rank of captain he had achieved in the Melbourne University Rifles in 1910. He was posted as regimental medical officer to the 5th Battalion, and his criticisms of training conditions in Egypt were heeded. He arrived at Gallipoli on 28 May 1915, having been delayed by a fractured skull from a fall in April. Following the 5th Battalion's extensive campaign in Turkey, it was sent to Egypt on 11 December. Lind, who transferred to the 8th Field Ambulance on 2 April 1916, was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Burfield Taylor
Brigadier Harold Burfield Taylor, (10 August 1890 – 15 March 1966) was an analytical chemist and an Australian Army officer who served in the First and the Second World Wars. A junior officer in the First World War, during the Second World War he was commander of the 22nd Infantry Brigade during the invasion of Malaya. Captured along with many of his fellow soldiers following the fall of Singapore, he spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war. In civilian life, he was an analyst for the government and an expert in poisons, often called upon to give evidence in criminal trials involving poisoning. Early life and scientific career Taylor was born on 10 August 1890 in Enfield, Sydney to Ernest Taylor, a civil servant originally from England, and his Australian wife, Louisa Chowne. He was educated at Sydney Boys' High School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated Bachelor of Science in 1912. Interested in chemistry and military science, he served with the Sy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
24th Brigade (Australia)
The 24th Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. Formed on 1 July 1940 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, the unit was raised for service during World War II. Originally formed as part of the 8th Australian Division the brigade was subsequently transferred to the newly created 9th Australian Division in December. The brigade served during the Western Desert Campaign, forming part of the Allied garrison during the Siege of Tobruk. Later, the brigade was withdrawn to Syria for occupation duties, but then later took part in the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. In early 1943, the brigade was returned to Australia to fight against the Japanese in the Pacific. In 1943–1944, the brigade fought in New Guinea, taking part in the landing at Lae and the Huon Peninsula campaign. Its final campaign came late in the war, when it took part in the Labuan landings and the Battle of North Borneo in mid-1945. After the war, the brigade was disband ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
23rd Brigade (Australia)
The 23rd Brigade was a brigade of the Australian Army. It was briefly raised in 1912 as a Australian Army Reserve, Militia formation providing training as part of the Conscription in Australia, compulsory training scheme. Later, it was re-formed in July 1940 for service during the Second World War, the brigade was initially a formation of the Second Australian Imperial Force assigned to the 8th Division (Australia), 8th Division; however, after its sub units were captured by the Japanese in 1942 it was reformed with Citizens Military Force, Militia battalions and was mainly used in a garrison role around Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, in the Northern Territory, until late in the war when it was committed to the fighting against the Japanese on Bougainville campaign, Bougainville. It was disbanded in 1946. History Early formation The 23rd Brigade briefly existed as Australian Army Reserve, Militia brigade that was partially formed in 1912, following the introduction of the C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
22nd Brigade (Australia)
The 22nd Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. It was briefly raised in 1912 as a Militia formation providing training as part of the compulsory training scheme. Later, during World War II, the brigade was raised as part of the all volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force in April 1940. Assigned to the 8th Division, in early 1941 the brigade was deployed to British Malaya where it formed part of the defensive garrison that was established there by the British, eventually establishing its headquarters in the Mersing– Endau area. In early 1942, following the Japanese invasion of Malaya, the brigade participated in the Malayan Campaign, fighting along the eastern coast before being forced to withdraw to Singapore as the Japanese advanced along the Malayan peninsula. The brigade later fought in the Battle of Singapore. Occupying the north-western sector of the island, the brigade was subjected to the weight of the main Japanese assault on 8/9 February ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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