Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

John Field, (10 April 1899 – 12 May 1974) was a senior officer in the

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 ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

. He commanded the 2/12th Battalion in the Middle East and

Milne Force Milne Force was a garrison Australian Army force formed in July 1942 during the World War II which controlled allied naval, land and air units in the region of Milne Bay, in the Territory of Papua. The force was responsible for constructing airstr ...

and the 7th Brigade in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. He later went on to work with the

State Electricity Commission of Victoria The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV, ECV or SEC) is a government-owned electricity supplier in Victoria, Australia. It was set up in 1918, and by 1972 it was the sole agency in the state for electricity generation, transmission, ...

in large projects at

Yallourn Yallourn, Victoria was a company town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia built between the 1920s and 1950s to house employees of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, who operated the nearby Yallourn Power Station, Victoria, Yal ...

and the

La Trobe Valley The Latrobe Valley is an inland geographical district and urban area of the Gippsland region in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The traditional owners are the Braiakaulung people, Brayakaulung of the Gunai language, Gun ...

.Londey, pp. 159–160.

Early life

Born on 10 April 1899 at

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , Variation in Australian English, non-locally also ) is a small city in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Goldfields region about 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest by road from ...

, the only son of John Woodhouse Barnett Field and his wife Emily, née Bennett. His father was a colonel in the

Citizens Military Force The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citizens Forces, the Citizen ...

, and in 1910 he became a boy bugler of his father's regiment, the 8th Australian Infantry Regiment. He attended Castlemaine High School and went on to further studies at the Castlemaine Technical School. He was an apprentice to the engineering firm Thompson & Co. Pty Ltd when he was 15 years old, and he went on to become the senior designing draughtsman. He specialised in centrifugal pumps and pumping-plants. On 11 October 1922, he married Kate Corlett at Castlemaine. On 1 April 1923, he was commissioned in the 7th Battalion, Citizens Military Force as a lieutenant. He was promoted to captain on 10 July 1925. He was successful in an appointment to the faculty of engineering at the

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College, one of the university's residential colleges, first pro ...

in 1926. He lectured in engineering, drawing and design and also studied part-time for his Bachelor of Education. He continued in the Citizen Military Forces with the 40th Battalion, and was assigned from time to time to the

6th Military District 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

or the 6th District Base. In 1932 he won the army's gold-medal essay competition with his paper, "The New Warfare", in which he wrote about the influence of modern technology on tactics. He was promoted to major on 30 November 1936.

Second World War

With hostilities in Europe, he worked with the 6th Military District on mobilisation plans for

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

before joining the

Second Australian Imperial Force The Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF, or Second AIF) was the name given to the volunteer expeditionary force of the Australian Army in the Second World War. It was formed following the declaration of war on Nazi Germany, with an initial ...

on 13 October 1939 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was placed in command of the 2/12th Battalion and while en route to the Middle East as part of the 18th Brigade he with his battalion was diverted to the United Kingdom to provide additional defences against a feared German invasion, following the

fall of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second World ...

. He disembarked at

Gourock Gourock ( ; gd, Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is as a r ...

, Scotland, on 17 June 1940, before moving to Lopcombe Corner, England. The battalion was relocated to

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

in October 1940 and left the United Kingdom on 17 November. Disembarking in Egypt on 31 December 1940, he set about training his troops for desert warfare. In February 1941, the 2/12th Battalion was transferred to the 9th Division. The 2/12th Battalion moved in early April to help bolster the defence of Tobruk and fought until it was withdrawn on the night of 26 and 27 August. After Tobruk, the 2/12th Battalion trained in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

before joining the forces garrisoning

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in late September. He was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

on 30 December 1941. His battalion rejoined the 7th Division in early January 1942 and sailed for Australia from

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

on 12 February arriving at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

on 28 March. After returning to Australia, he was promoted temporary brigadier on 8 May 1942 and was given command of the 7th Brigade, Citizens Military Force. He was sent to

Territory of Papua The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the a ...

as the commander of

consisting of 7th Brigade and all naval, land and air units in the region of

Milne Bay Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to t ...

, Papua. He and the brigade arrived 11 July embarked in the Dutch ship . He used his engineering experience to help with the tasks of constructing airstrips, roads and camps. He was replaced by Major General

Cyril Clowes Lieutenant General Cyril Albert Clowes, (11 March 1892 – 19 May 1968) was an Australian soldier. He won the first land victory against the Japanese in the Second World War, at the Battle of Milne Bay, New Guinea. Like many other senior offic ...

and returned to command the 7th Brigade. During the

battle of Milne Bay The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi (ラビの戦い) by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines, known as ''Kaigun Tokubet ...

he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

, which also acknowledged his leadership of Milne Force. He was also awarded the

Efficiency Decoration The Efficiency Decoration, post-nominal letters TD for recipients serving in the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom or ED for those serving in the Auxiliary Military Forces, was instituted in 1930 for award to part-time officers after twe ...

on 2 September 1943. In November 1943, the 7th Brigade returned to Australia where it undertook a period of reorganisation and training on the

Atherton Tablelands The Atherton Tableland is a fertile plateau which is part of the Great Dividing Range in Queensland, Australia. The principal river flowing across the plateau is the Barron River. It was dammed to form an irrigation reservoir named Lake Tinar ...

.Belham & Denham 2009, p. 112. In early 1944, he and the 7th Brigade were deployed overseas again to

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histor ...

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an administrative union by the nam ...

. While being transported in an aircraft in September, the aircraft crashed while en route from Lae to Madang, he and his party trekked for nine days before reaching safety. Transferred to

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...

in November as part of Lieutenant General

Stanley Savige Lieutenant General Sir Stanley George Savige, (26 June 1890 – 15 May 1954) was an Australian Army soldier and officer who served in the First World War and Second World War. In March 1915, after the outbreak of the First World War, Savi ...

II Corps 2nd Corps, Second Corps, or II Corps may refer to: France * 2nd Army Corps (France) * II Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * II Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French ...

. He led the brigade during a number of significant battles until the end of the war including the

battle of Pearl Ridge The Battle of Pearl Ridge (30–31 December 1944) was an engagement of the Second World War fought between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville Island. Part of the wider Bougainville Campaign, the battle took place in the central ...

and

battle of Slater's Knoll The Battle of Slater's Knoll (28 March – 6 April 1945) was a battle fought between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville Island during the Second World War. Part of the Bougainville campaign, the battle occurred as a force of ab ...

. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 21 February 1946 and mentioned in despatches on 15 April 1947 for his part in the

Bougainville campaign The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied ...

Later life

After the cessation of hostilities, he arrived back in Australia, where he assisted the demobilisation and disposal from October 1945. He was appointed aide de camp to the Governor-General from 11 January 1946 serving in this role until 10 January 1949. He transferred to the Reserve of Officers on 27 November 1949. He took up a position with the

in December as assistant general superintendent for

and later became general superintendent in 1951. He retired from the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1964. Field died on 12 May 1974 at St Kilda and was cremated. He was survived by his wife and three daughters.

Citations

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, John 1899 births 1974 deaths Military personnel from Victoria (Australia) Australian brigadiers Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order 20th-century Australian engineers Australian Army personnel of World War II People from Castlemaine, Victoria Public servants of Victoria (Australia) University of Tasmania alumni University of Tasmania faculty