Overwatch Battle Group (West)

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Australian soldiers and a Bushmaster IMV outside the Provincial Joint Operations Centre in Al Khidr in August 2006.

Overwatch Battle Group (West) was an Australian Army battlegroup that represented Australia's largest contribution to the Multinational force in Iraq. The Battle Group was established in July 2006 and is based at Tallil Airbase in Dhi Qar Governorate.

As the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd pledged in the 2007 election, Australian combat forces began withdrawing from Iraq on 1 June 2008.^[1] and the Overwatch Battle Group (West) and Australian Army Training Team formally ceased combat operations on the 2 June 2008.^[2]^[3] No Australian military personnel were killed in the course of the deployment, during which the Australian contingent helped train 33,000 Iraqi soldiers. Approximately 200 Australian personnel will remain in Iraq on logistical and air surveillance duties.^[4]

1 Role
2 Rotations
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] Role

Overwatch Battle Group (West)'s main role was to provide support to Iraqi Security Forces in a crisis if requested by the Iraqi Government and the Multi-National Force - Iraq. The Battle Group's training team was responsible for providing basic training to Iraqi Army personnel at the Basic Training Centre in Tallil.

Upon its formation Overwatch Battle Group (West) consisted of units which were previously assigned to the third, and final, rotation of the Al Muthanna Task Group. The Battle Group formed part of Multi-National Division (South-East). An additional 38 personnel and four Bushmaster infantry mobility vehicles were deployed in late 2006 to increase the size of the force to over 550 soldiers supported by 40 ASLAVs and 19 Bushmasters.[1] Overwatch Battle Group (West) formally ceased operations on 2 June 2008.^[5]