Farida Force was the name given to an ad hoc composite

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

unit formed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Largely consisting of

Australian commandos The name commando has been applied to a variety of Australian special forces and light infantry units that have been formed since 1941–42. The first Australian "commando" units were formed during the Second World War, where they mainly performed ...

, the force was established for the purpose for conducting an amphibious landing at Dove Bay, east of Wewak during the Aitape-Wewak campaign. Coming ashore in mid-May 1945, the force quickly established a beachhead and pushed inland, cutting the Wewak road. Afterwards, the commandos conducted patrolling operations before Farida Force was dissolved and its constituent units placed under the command of the 19th Brigade for further operations around Wewak.

Composition

The force consisted of 623 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Eric Hennessy, commanding officer of the 2/6th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment. On 11 May 1945, the force conducted an amphibious landing at Dove Bay, east of Wewak during the Aitape-Wewak campaign. It was made up of troops drawn from the 2/9th and 2/10th Commando Squadrons, two 75 mm mountain guns of the 1st Anti-Tank Battery (detached from the 2/1st Anti-Tank Regiment), one company from the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion serving as infantry as well as a platoon of machine-gunners from that unit, two detachments of mortars and other support elements.

History

The force was transported to the form up point off the landing beach in three vessels, the ''Swan'', ''Dubbo'' and ''Colac'', and from there they transferred to assault craft. The first wave went in to the beach at 08:34, landing slightly to the west of their assigned beach, and experienced no effective opposition. Minutes later the second wave arrived, carrying the rest of the commando assault force. Advancing inland to establish a beach-head, the squadrons encountered very little resistance, although there were signs of recent enemy departure. By 10:24 the beach-head was established and stores began flowing from the transports off shore. Over the course of the next week and a half, the elements of Farida Force began patrol operations around the surrounding area and cut the Wewak road, before being placed under the command of the 19th Brigade under Brigadier James Martin on 20 May 1945.Long 1963, p. 351.

Composition

History

See also

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Further reading