2/2nd Battalion (Australia)
The 2/2nd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army raised for service as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force during World War II. Raised in October 1939, the battalion was deployed to the Middle East and in early 1941 took part in the first ground action undertaken by Australian troops during the war during the Battle of Bardia before helping to capture Tobruk. In April, the battalion briefly fought in Greece, before being evacuated after the Allied forces were overwhelmed by German forces. Some members of the battalion took part in the Battle of Crete, after which the battalion undertook garrison duties in Syria. In mid-1942, the 2/2nd undertook defensive duties in Ceylon before returning to Australia. They subsequently took part in the fighting against the Japanese along the Kokoda Track and then around Buna–Gona. After a period of reorganisation and training in Australia throughout 1943–44, late in the war the battalion was committed to the Aitape–Wewak campaign before being disbanded in early 1946 after the war.
Members of the 2/2nd Battalion in 1941
Troops from the 2/2nd enter Bardia.
The Battle of Bardia was fought between 3 and 5 January 1941, as part of Operation Compass, the first British military operation of the Western Desert campaign of the Second World War. It was the first battle of the war in which an Australian Army formation took part, the first to be commanded by an Australian general and the first to be planned by an Australian staff. The 6th Australian Division assaulted the strongly held Italian fortress of Bardia, Libya, assisted by air support and naval gunfire and under the cover of an artillery barrage. The 16th Australian Infantry Brigade attacked at dawn from the west, where the defences were known to be weak. Sappers blew gaps in the barbed wire with Bangalore torpedoes and filled in and broke down the sides of the anti-tank ditch with picks and shovels. This allowed the infantry and 23 Matilda II tanks of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment to enter the fortress and capture all their objectives, along with 8,000 prisoners.
Australian troops enter Bardia, 4 January 1941
Captured Italian L3 tankettes. In the background is the township of Bardia and its small harbour. Lower Bardia is in the middle distance; upper Bardia is atop the cliffs in the background.
Senior officers of the 6th Division. Front row, left to right: Brigadier Arthur Allen, 16th Infantry Brigade; Major General Iven Mackay; Brigadier Horace Robertson, 19th Infantry Brigade. Back row, left to right: Colonel Frank Berryman, GSO1; Brigadier Stanley Savige, 17th Infantry Brigade; Colonel Alan Vasey, AA&QMG. All six had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the Great War.
Gloster Gladiator biplane aircraft from No. 3 Squadron RAAF, returning to a landing ground near Sallum, after a patrol over Bardia.