| The 2/10th Battalion was
the first South Australian battalion formed for the Second AIF. It
formally came into being with the appointment of its first commanding
officer, Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Verrier, on 13 October 1939 but over
a week would elapse before the battalion began to take shape at
Adelaide’s Wayville Showgrounds. It trained first at Woodside in the
Adelaide hills, and then at Greta and Ingleburn in New South Wales. The
2/10th embarked for the Middle East on 5 May 1940 as part of the 18th
Brigade, of the 6th Australian Division.
En route to the Middle East, the 18th
Brigade was diverted to the United Kingdom to bolster its defences
following the fall of France. The 2/10th disembarked at Gourock in
Scotland on 18 June and was subsequently based at Lopcombe Corner, near
Salisbury, in England. On 8 July the 2/10th suffered the Second AIF’s
first casualty due to enemy action – Private Albert Webb, who was
wounded in a strafing attack by a German aircraft. The battalion
relocated to Colchester in October and left the United Kingdom on 17
November.
The 2/10th arrived in Egypt on 31
December 1940. In the United Kingdom the 18th Brigade had become part of
the newly-formed 9th Australian Division, but in Egypt, in February
1941, it was transferred to the 7th Division. D Company of the 2/10th
reinforced the 2/9th Battalion for its attack on Giarabub on 21 March
1941, but the whole battalion was not committed to active operations
until it moved, with the rest of the brigade, to Tobruk in the first
week of April. The 18th Brigade took part in the defence of Tobruk until
it was withdrawn at the end of August. After Tobruk, the 2/10th trained
in Palestine and between late September 1941 and early January 1942
formed part of the force garrisoning Syria. It sailed for Australia on
11 February, disembarking in Adelaide on 29 March.
Papua was the 2/10th’s next
battleground and the battles it fought there were its most bitter and
costly. It arrived at Milne Bay on 12 August and on the night of 27
August was overwhelmed by Japanese marines in a confused battle. The
battalion fared even worse in its next engagement – Buna. Between 23
December and 2 January the 2/10th lost 113 men killed and 205 wounded in
often ill-conceived attacks against Japanese bunkers around the old
airstrip. The 2/10th’s final engagement in Papua was at Sanananda
between 9 and 24 January 1943. It returned home on 12 March 1943.
The 2/10th returned to Papua in early
August 1943. It trained around Port Moresby until deployed to the
Finisterre Mountains in New Guinea on 31 December, where it participated
in the operations to secure Shaggy Ridge between 4 January and 1
February 1944. Arriving back in Australia on 8 May, the 2/10th spent a
year training before undertaking its final operation of the war. On 1
July 1945 the battalion landed at Balikpapan in Borneo and stormed the
heights of Parramatta Ridge.
In ensuing days it cleared the
Japanese from in and around Balikpapan town, and was withdrawn into
reserve on 6 July. It did not carry out another active role before the
war ended on 15 August 1945. 2/10th personnel were progressively
returned to Australia for discharge and with a cadre of only 42
remaining, the battalion disbanded at Balikpapan on 29 December 1945. AWM
text
Battle honours
Decorations
- 2 DSO
- 1 MBE
- 7 MC
- 6 DCM
- 14 MM
- 51 MID
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