39th Battalion

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The second 39th Australian Infantry Battalion, Australian Military Forces (39th BN) was raised on 1st of October 1941. Manned by 18 and 19 year old volunteers, and designated for garrison duty at Port Moresby (Fortress Moresby), Papua. By August 1942, against a tenacious and battle hardened foe of 7000,^[1] this poorly equipped, poorly trained and poorly supported group of 409 men,^[2] under deplorable odds and conditions on the Kokoda Trail, provided extraordinary courage, tenacity, devotion and results. Thanks to the 39th BN and the local Papuans (fuzzy-wuzzy angels)^[3] early resistance, they provided the first proof to the Allies, that the Imperial Japanese Army soldier on land was not invincible, this action helped turn a threat on Australia into a victory. Such was their duty, and spirit to counter their foe, that by January 1943, 5 months after the commencement of combat, they could only muster 32 men,^[4] the 39th BN were disbanded. Today Australians acknowledges the 'Kokoda Trail Campaign' and the 39th BN's courage and commitment, as an example of one of Australia’s finest moments in its collective spirit^[5] and modern nationhood.^[6]

[edit] History

[edit] World War I

[edit] Formation

The first 39th Battalion, First Australian Imperial Force (39 BN 1 AIF) was formed on the 21st February 1916 at the Ballarat Showgrounds, Victoria. The BN manpower came from the Victorias Western District. It was an element of the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division.^[7]

[edit] Deployment

The BN departed from Melbourne on 27 May 1916, arrived in Britain on 18 July 1916 and commenced four months of training. It was then deployed in France in November 1916 and to the Western Front on 9 December 1916.The 39th BN first major battle at Messines, Belgium, 7th - 9th June 1917. During its march to the start-line for this operation the battalion suffered heavily from a German gas bombardment and less than a third of the troops earmarked to attack actually did so. The battalion, however, captured all of its objectives. The BN also saw action with two major attacks in its front line sector – The “Battle of Broodseinde”, 4th October 1917, and the “Battle of Passchendaele” 12th October 1917. It was assigned, to the plan to capture the village of Proyart on 10th August 1916, this action failed. The BN continued to play an active role throughout August and early September in the 3rd Division's advance along the Somme Valley. In its last key action of the war 29th September and 2nd October 1918, it was part of the Australian-American operation that breached the formidable defences of the Hindenburg Line along the St Quentin Canal. The 39 BN was then disbanded in March 1919.^[8][9]

[edit] World War II

[edit] Formation

The Australian Military Board issued an order re-raising the 39th Battalion, Australian Military Forces (39 BN) on 1st October 1941. It was composed from men from the 24th/39th Battalion, which existed at the time and was deployed at Nagambie Road, Seymour, Victoria with elements from the militia 2nd Cavalry Division, and the 3rd and 4th Infantry Divisions.

Lieut-Colonel H.M. Conran became the 39th BN first CO. Conran served in the 1st AIF 23rd Inf BN with the rank of Lieutenant, and after the war became a farmer in the Red Cliffs district, joining the militia he rose in rank. Major Findlay, the Adjutant, was a school teacher and also a WWI veteran.

By the 8th October 1941 a nucleus of WWI officers and Senior NCOs prepared the BN for other ranks (ORs).^[10] The first of 520 ORs from the 3rd Inf Division assembled at Caulfield Racecourse Transit Camp and were transported by rail to Darley Camp, Bacchus Marsh. Then on the 12th October 1941, numbers increased with the arrival of 400 ORs from the 2nd Cavalry Division, and the 4th Infantry Divisions. A call for volunteers was circulated through the 3rd Military District, and from that the numbers started to fill the new BN.

On the 21st of November 1941, the 39th BN did an all ranks parade through Melbourne City with weapons. It had taken 52 days to form the BN, still down on men; they were now said to be ready for training. However, the training was short and the BN was only able to get one large scale three day training exercise (Code Name: Battle of Corangamite) in the Victorian Western District, at the end of October.

[edit] A Scratch Brigade

On the 9th December 1941, two day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the 39th BN was ordered to 'ready to move', they were originally allocated to relieve the Queensland 49th Battalion already on garrison duties at Port Moresby, Papua. After Pearl Harbor, the threat of invasion had now changed Australian Army Chiefs of Staff planning forecasts. A decision was made to create a new scratch brigade from the following elements:

[edit] The Move North

Christmas Day 1941 was in camp, then on the 26th the BN was loaded into two trains, for a rapid move north. One train went straight to Albury and the other departed from Spencer Street Station, Melbourne, two hours later. Both trains arriving in Sydney at 1040 hrs, on the 27th December 1941. The BN detrained and by ferry arrived at Woolloomooloo wharf where 1068 Officers, NCO and ORs,^[11] of the 39th BN boarded the passenger ship the RMS Aquitania.

L-->R: KESSELS, PORTER, FLEAY, OWEN, FINDLAY - LtCol Owen, CO of the 39th BN with his 2IC Major Findlay – July 1942

Soldiers of the 39th Battalion following their relief in September 1942

[edit] Quotes

"As Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force - I am privileged to be here today to honour the members of the 39th Battalion – men I am proud to describe as amongst Australia’s most gallant soldiers, men to whom our nation is indebted for their heroic service on the Kokoda Track and in the later horrible fighting at Gona and Sanananda. Buna, Gona and Sanananda is a story about many great soldiers, units and Brigades; PTE Kinsbury VC, the 2/14th Battalion, 21 st , 25th , 11th , 16th and 30th Brigades; but today’s service is to honour the battalion that took the initial brunt of the onslaught – the 39th."

His Excellency Major General MICHAEL JEFFERY AC CVO MC

Governor-General Of The Commonwealth Of Australia

2006^[12]

[edit] See also

• Australian Army
• Australian Imperial Force (AIF)
• Australian 7th Division
• Australian 10th Division
• Kokoda Track
• Kokoda Trail
• LtCol William T. Owen
• Second Australian Imperial Force (1939-45)

[edit] Bibliography

• Austin, Victor. To Kokoda And Beyond - The Story of the 39th Battalion 1941-1943, Melbourne University Press, ISBN 0-522-84374-3, 1988, pp267
• Brune, Peter. Those Ragged Bloody Heroes - From the Kokoda Trail to Gona Beach 1942, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-86373-264-0, 1991, pp309
• Brune, Peter. A Bastard of a Place - The Australians In Papua, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-74114-403-5, 2003, pp691
• Edgar, Bill. Warrior of Kokoda: A biography of Brigadier Arnold Potts, Allen & Unwin, ISBN 1-86448-908-1, 1999, pp318
• FitzSimons, Peter. Kokoda, Hodder Headline Australia, ISBN 0-7336-1962-2, 2005, pp490
• Paterson, A.T. The Thirty-Ninth: The history of the 39th Battalion Australian Imperial Force, Melbourne, G.W. Green & Sons, 1934, pp371 - (First AIF) - NLA^[13]
• Paull, Raymond. Retreat From Kokoda, William Heinemann Ltd, 1958, pp319

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Cross section map of the Kokoda Trail
• 39th Battalion Association