The 2nd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was initially raised for service during the First World War as part the Australian Imperial Force and saw action at Gallipoli before being sent to the Western Front in mid-1916, where it spent the next two-and-a-half years taking part in the fighting in the trenches of France and Belgium. Following the conclusion of hostilities, the battalion was disbanded in early 1919 as part of the demobilisation process.
In 1921, the battalion was re-raised as a part-time unit of the Citizens Forces based in Newcastle, New South Wales, drawing lineage from a number of previously existing infantry units. They remained in existence until 1929 when, due to austerity measures during the Great Depression and manpower shortages, the battalion was amalgamated with two other infantry battalions over the course of a number of re-organisations. It was re-formed in 1939 and undertook garrison duty in Australia during the Second World War until 1943 when it was merged once again.
Following the end of the war, the 2nd Battalion was re-raised as part of the Citizens Military Force in 1948. In 1960, it was reduced to a company-level formation but was re-formed as a battalion of the Royal New South Wales Regiment in 1965. It remained on the Australian order of battle until 1987 when it was amalgamated with the 17th Battalion, to form the 2nd/17th Battalion, Royal New South Wales Regiment, a unit which remains part of the Australian Army Reserve today.
History
First World War
Formation and training The 2nd Battalion was raised at Randwick, New South Wales, in August 1914 as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was formed from volunteers for overseas service shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.. Drawing the majority of its personnel from the Maitland, Newcastle and Hunter Valley regions of the state of New South Wales,. the battalion formed part of the 1st Brigade and, along with the 1st, 3rd and 4th Battalions,. it was one of the first infantry units raised by Australia following its entry into the war. Upon formation, the battalion was established with a complement of over 1,000 men organised into a headquarters, a machine-gun section of two heavy Maxim medium machine-guns, and eight rifle companies, each consisting of three officers and 117 other ranks... The battalion's first commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel George Braund, a citizen soldier and Member of Parliament in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, who held the seat of Armidale..
The physical standards under which the first contingent of the AIF was recruited were very strict, nevertheless by the end of August over 20,000 men had been recruited into one infantry division—the 1st Division—and one light horse brigade, the 1st Light Horse Brigade.. Following a brief period of training in Australia, the force set sail for the Middle East, assembling off Albany, Western Australia, in early November 1914 before leaving Australian waters,. with the 2nd Battalion embarked upon the HMAT Suffolk.
Initially it had been planned that the Australians would be sent to the United Kingdom, where they would undertake further training prior to being sent to the Western Front in France and Belgium. However, the Ottoman Empire's entry into the war on Germany's side on 29 October meant that the strategically vital Suez Canal was threatened, and as a result of this and overcrowding in training grounds in the United Kingdom, upon the convoy reaching the Suez at the end of November, plans for the use of the Australian force were changed and they were disembarked in Egypt instead..
The 2nd Battalion arrived in Egypt on 2 December. The following month, it undertook further training along with the rest of the 1st Division. The battalion was also re-organised into four companies,. as the Australian Army converted to the new battalion structure that had been developed by the British Army. Although the battalion's authorised strength remained the same, the eight companies were merged into four, each consisting of six officers and 221 other ranks.
In February 1915, Ottoman Empire forces attacked the Suez Canal,. and although some units of the 1st Division were put into the line, the 2nd Battalion was not required, and in the end the attack was turned back mainly by Indian units. Later, in an effort to open shipping lanes to the Russians and also knock the Turks out of the war, the British high command decided to land a force on the Gallipoli peninsula near the Dardanelles using mainly British, French and Indian troops along with the Australians and New Zealanders..
Gallipoli During the Landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915, the 2nd Battalion, under Braund's command, came ashore in the second and third waves, landing a total of 31 officers and 937 other ranks.. Upon landing, the 2nd Battalion dispatched two companies, 'A' and 'D' to assist the 3rd Brigade who were pushing inland towards a high feature known as "Baby 700", which overlooked the beachhead.. One of the 2nd Battalion's platoons, under Lieutenant Leslie Morshead, advanced further than any other Australian unit, making it to the slopes of Baby 700, before a determined counter-attack by Ottoman forces drove them back in the afternoon..
Meanwhile, the battalion's other two companies, 'B' and 'C', had been held back in reserve. In the early afternoon, Braund led them up the steep terrain under fire to the vital junction between two positions known as "Walker's Ridge" and "Russell's Top". The battalion proceeded to hold this position until reinforcements arrived from the Wellington Battalion two days later, at which time the 2nd Battalion undertook a bayonet charge which cleared the crest of Russell's Top.. A determined enemy counter-attack forced them back to the junction where they remained until 28 April when they were ordered into reserve on the beach.
In early May, part of the battalion was sent to reinforce the 3rd Battalion. At around midnight on the night of 3/4 May, the 2nd Battalion's commanding officer, Braund, who was partially deaf, was accidentally killed as he attempted to visit 1st Brigade headquarters after failing to hear a challenge from a sentry, who shot him believing that he was an enemy soldier. Following his burial, the battalion second-in-command, Robert Scobie, was promoted to lieutenant colonel and took over as commanding officer.
Following the initial establishment of the beachhead, the campaign moved into a second phase as the Australians began work to consolidate and slowly expand their position around the lodgement.. During this time, the fighting at Anzac evolved into largely static trench warfare.. In mid-May, however, the Turks decided to launch an attack on Anzac. This began late on 18 May with the heaviest artillery bombardment of the campaign to that point, during which the 2nd Battalion's orderly room, located on "MacLaurin's Hill", was hit.. The assault began the following day, during which the 2nd Battalion, established around a position known as the "Pimple", was attacked by elements of the Ottoman 48th Regiment who poured into their forward positions through "Owen's Gulley", which rose as a re-entrant between the 2nd Battalion's position and that of 3rd Battalion which was on their left at the "Jolly".. At risk of having the line split in two and enduring heavy attack in their sap head, the 2nd called for reinforcements which came in the shape of artillerymen from the 8th Battery, who were pressed into the line as infantrymen.. With only limited machine-guns and with bad light hindering the supporting artillery, the job of turning back the Turkish assault fell to the riflemen and by maintaining strict fire discipline, great effect was achieved.. By 24 May, the attack had been decisively defeated and a brief truce was called for both sides to bury the dead. Following this, the Ottoman forces around Anzac adopted a defensive posture.. It was during this time, that one of the 2nd Battalion's soldiers, Lance Corporal (later Sergeant) William Beech, invented the periscope rifle..
In early August, in order to create a diversion to draw Ottoman reserves away from a major attack at Hill 971, which had been conceived as part of an attempt to break the stalemate that had developed around the beachhead, the 1st Brigade conducted an attack at Lone Pine.. The 2nd Battalion was chosen to take part in the initial assault.. After gaining possession of the main enemy line, the Australians were subjected to a series of determined counter-attacks which would last the next three days, which, although successfully repulsed, proved very costly for the Australians.. The 2nd Battalion suffered considerably. Having started the action with 22 officers and 560 other ranks, they lost 21 officers and 409 other ranks killed or wounded.. Among those killed was its commanding officer, Scobie, who was shot dead while attempting to repulse a counter-attack on 7 August.. In Scobie's place, the battalion second-in-command, Major Arthur Stevens, who had been a second lieutenant less than 12 months before, took over as temporary commander..
Elsewhere, the main offensive which had been launched at Hill 971 and Sari Bair, and the fresh landings that had taken place at Suvla Bay, also faltered. Ultimately, the August Offensive, of which the fighting at Lone Pine had been a part, failed to deliver the Sari Bair heights to the British Empire forces and their allies,. nor did it break the deadlock. Following this, stalemate returned to the peninsula during September and October, and although small skirmishes continued, the Australians were mainly involved in defensive actions.. As a result of the setback, many of the strategic goals that had been the basis of the campaign were abandoned and as a bitter winter set-in in November, there was much debate among the British high command about the utility of continuing the campaign.. In the intervening months, some personnel had been shifted away from Gallipoli as other the situation in other theatres became more relevant, and in late November, Lord Kitchener toured the peninsula. Finally, on 8 December, the order to begin the evacuation was given.. The evacuation, which has been described as "more brilliantly conducted ... than any other phase of the campaign",. took place in stages, and with the maintenance of secrecy a key consideration, a series of "ruses" were used to conceal the withdrawal. Each unit left in drafts, maintaining a presence along the line until the very end. Finally, just before dawn on 20 December, the evacuation was complete.. A small element from the 2nd Battalion was among the last Australian troops to leave, with a group of 64 men remaining in possession of the "Black Hand" position until 2:50 am on the final morning..
Egypt Following the withdrawal from Gallipoli, the AIF returned to Egypt where they underwent a period of re-organisation.. Part of this saw the influx of large numbers of reinforcements and the expansion of the AIF. The 2nd Division had been formed in July 1915, and part of this had been dispatched to Gallipoli in the later stages of the campaign, but the large increase in volunteers in Australia meant that further plans for expansion could take place. The 3rd Division was raised in Australia, while two new divisions, the 4th and 5th Divisions, were raised in Egypt from reinforcements in holding depots and experienced cadre personnel which were drawn from the infantry battalions of the 1st Division.. In this regard, the 1st Brigade helped raise the 14th Brigade, with personnel from the 2nd Battalion being transferred to the 54th Battalion;. the split occurring while the battalion was at Tel el Kebir on 14 February. They were quickly brought up to full strength and training began shortly afterwards..