 Complete the following phrase:  Armoured units made a relatively small, but important, contribution to Australias war effort during World War II. While Australia formed three armoured divisions and two independent armoured brigades during the war, Australian armoured units only saw action as independent regiments and companies supporting larger infantry formations. Early actions were fought in the Middle East by the divisional carrier regiments that supported the 6th, 7th and 9th Divisions, fighting in Libya, Egypt and Syria in 194142, before the Australian divisions returned to Australia in 194243. During the early fighting in the Pacific, there was a limited role for armoured formations, although one armoured regiment  the a href26th20Armoured20Regiment2028Australia2926tha  took part in the fighting around BunaGona in late 1942. Later in the war, though, during the 