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• 27th Battalion AIF (South Australia) [7th Infantry Brigade]
  Formed South Australia 1 April 1915. Departed Adelaide Geelong 31 May 1915. 
  • 1st Reinforcements departed Adelaide Geelong 31 May 1915, 
  • 2nd Reinforcements departed Adelaide Kanowna 24 June 1915, 
  • 3rd Reinforcements departed Adelaide Morea 26 August 1915, 
  • 4th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Star of England 21 September 1915, 
  • 5th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Themistocles 13 October 1915, 
  • 6th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Benalla 27 October 1915, 
  • 7th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Medic 12 January 1916, 
  • 8th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Borda 11 January 1916, 
  • 9th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Miltiades 7 February 1916, 
  • 10th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Mongolia 9 March 1916, 
  • 11th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Shropshire 25 March 1916, 
  • 12th Reinforcements departed Adelaide  Aeneas 11 April 1916 and Bulla 24 June 1916, 
  • 13th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Barambah 27 June 1916, 
  • 14th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Ballarat 12 August 1916, 
  • 15th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Anchises 28 August 1916, 
  • 16th Reinforcements departed Fremantle Port Melbourne 30 October 1916, 
  • 17th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Afric 7 April 1916, 
  • 18th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Berrima 23 December 1916, 
  • 19th Reinforcements departed Adelaide Miltiades 24 January 1917, 
  • 20th Reinforcements departed Melbourne Aeneas 30 October 1917,
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  Battle Honours: Suvla, Gallipoli 1915,  Egypt 1915-16, Somme 1916-18, Pozieres, Bapaume 1917, Bullecourt, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood,  Broodeseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Ancre 1918, Amiens, Albert 1918, Mont St Quentin, Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, France and Flanders 1916-18
• 
  Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

by Ross Mallett (ADFA)

27th Battalion The 27th Battalion was raised in South Australia in March 1915, from recruits previously earmarked for the 24th Battalion, a large number of whom hailed from the suburbs of Adelaide. The battalion left Australia in June, and, after two months spent training in Egypt, landed at Gallipoli on 12 September. At Gallipoli, the 7th Brigade, which included the 27th Battalion, reinforced the weary New Zealand and Australian Division. The 27th had a relatively quiet time at Gallipoli and the battalion departed the peninsula in December, having suffered only light casualties. After another stint in Egypt, the 7th Brigade proceeded to France as part of the 2nd Australian Division. The 27th Battalion entered the front-line trenches for the first time on 7 April 1916 and took part in its first major battle at Pozières between 28 July and 5 August. After a spell in a quieter sector of the front in Belgium, the 2nd Division returned to the south in October. The 27th Battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers in the Somme Valley, both of which floundered in the mud. Although it participated in minor attacks during the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in early 1917, the 27th Battalion did not carry out a major attack again until 20 September 1917. On this occasion, it was part of the 2nd Division’s first wave at the battle of Menin Road. Victory here was followed up with the capture of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October, in which the 27th Battalion also played a role. Like most AIF battalions, the 27th fought to turn back the German spring offensive in April 1918, and later in the year participated in a string of offensive battles as Germany was pushed ever closer to defeat. It attacked around Morlancourt on the night of 10 June; acted in a supporting role during the battle of Hamel on 4 July; and was in the first wave at the battle of Amiens on 8 August. On 8 August, the battalion captured 9 artillery pieces, 25 machine guns and over 200 prisoners. The Battalion’s last actions of the war were fought as part of the effort to break through the Beaurevoir Line in the first week of October 1918, but it was not disbanded until 4 June 1919. Text from AWM 906 killed, 2543 wounded (including gassed) Decorations 1 CMG 5 DSO 20 MC, 2 bars 14 DCM 69 MM, 2 bars 5 MSM 21 MID 6 foreign awards