2/33rd Battalion (Australia)

2/33rd Battalion
Burnt out vehicles at Jackson's Airfield, where the 2/33rd suffered one third of its wartime casualties
Active	1940–1946
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	~800–900 men
Part of	25th Brigade, 7th Division
Engagements	Second World War Syria–Lebanon campaign New Guinea campaign Borneo campaign

The 2/33rd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army during the Second World War. Formed as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force in the United Kingdom on 27 June 1940 as the 72nd Battalion to create the 25th Brigade. The battalion took part in the invasion of Syria and Lebanon, the Kokoda Track campaign, Salamaua–Lae campaign, Ramu Valley–Finisterre Range campaign and lastly the Borneo campaign. The battalion was disbanded at Brisbane, Australia on the 12 March 1946.^[1]

During the war, the battalion lost 200 men killed and 363 wounded; a third of these casualties were suffered in an accident at Jackson's Airfield at Port Moresby on 7 September 1943, while they waited to fly out to Nadzab, when a heavily laden B-24 Liberator bomber crashed into trucks carrying the battalion, killing 60 and injuring a further 92.^[1][2]

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