Australian Army infantry battalion
Military unit
The 10th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that served as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force during World War I. Among the first units raised in Australia during the war, the battalion was recruited from South Australia in August 1914 and formed part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. After basic training, the battalion embarked for Egypt where further training was undertaken until the battalion was committed to the Gallipoli campaign. During the landing at Anzac Cove, it came ashore as part of the initial covering force. Members of the 10th Battalion penetrated the furthest inland of any Australian troops during the initial fighting, before the Allied advance inland was checked. After this, the battalion helped defend the beachhead against a heavy counter-attack in May, before joining the failed August Offensive. Casualties were heavy throughout the campaign and in November 1915, the surviving members were withdrawn from the peninsula. In early 1916, the battalion was reorganised in Egypt at which time it provided a cadre staff to the newly formed 50th Battalion. It was transferred to the Western Front in March 1916, and for the next two-and-a-half years took part in trench warfare in France and Belgium until the Armistice in 1918. The last detachment of men from the 10th Battalion returned to Australia in September 1919.
Following the war, the battalion was re-raised as a part-time unit based in South Australia, drawing personnel and lineage from a number of previously existing militia units. The unit served briefly during the inter-war years, before being merged with the 50th Battalion in 1930 as the size of Australia's part-time military forces was decreased following the conclusion of the compulsory service scheme. It was re-raised in its own right in the mid-1930s as the Australian military was reorganised as part of the country's war preparations. During World War II the 10th was mobilised for full-time service. Following Japan's entry into the war, the battalion was assigned to defend the New South Wales southern coast before being reassigned to the defence of Darwin and being amalgamated with the 48th Battalion in August 1942. In the post-war period, the 10th Battalion was re-raised in 1948 as part of the Citizens Military Force and throughout the 1950s served as a training unit for national servicemen. In 1960, it became part of the Royal South Australia Regiment (RSAR) and was reduced to several company-sized elements within that regiment's 1st Battalion, before being reformed as a full battalion within the RSAR in 1965. It remained on the Australian Army's order of battle until 1987, when it was amalgamated with the 27th Battalion to form the 10th/27th Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment.
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History.
World War I.
The 10th Battalion was raised shortly after the outbreak of World War I as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), an all-volunteer force established for overseas service. Recruited in South Australia, the battalion came into being on 17 August 1914 at the Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, drawing volunteers mainly from the local population as well as some from Broken Hill in outback New South Wales. Volunteers included men who had previously served in the part-time forces before the war, coming from a variety of units including the 10th Australian Infantry Regiment, which had formerly been known as the "Adelaide Rifles". Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Price Weir, after formation the battalion was attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, along with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions, and was one of the first units of the AIF raised for the war. With an establishment of 31 officers and 974 other ranks spread across eight companies, the battalion's personnel received a short period of individual basic training, culminating in the presentation of the regimental colours on 17 September and a march past the state Parliament House on 21 September. The following month, collective training at company and battalion level took place at Belair National Park and at Glenelg, South Australia. On 20 October, the battalion embarked on the ex-passenger liner, HMAT "Ascanius", bound for the Middle East; it was the first South Australian infantry unit to leave Australia during the war.
After briefly stopping in Albany, where its convoy was delayed due to concerns over the presence of German warships en route, the 10th Battalion departed Australian waters in November and proceeded towards Egypt. Initially, the plan had been for the battalion to continue on the United Kingdom from where it would subsequently move to the Western Front. Poor conditions and overcrowding in training camps in the United Kingdom resulted in the decision to disembark the Australians in Alexandria instead. Arriving there on 4 December 1914, the battalion was sent into camp at Mena, near Cairo.
The 10th Battalion underwent desert training in January and February 1915, during which time it was reorganised around the four-company structure that had been adopted by the British. Designated 'A' to 'D', each company consisted of 228 men that were spread across four platoons. In late February, the 3rd Brigade received orders that it was being committed to an operation to seize the Dardanelles Strait near where it enters the Mediterranean Sea, to secure passage through to the Black Sea via the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara in the wake of a failed naval operation to force the straits. After moving by rail to Alexandria, on 1 March the battalion boarded the "Ionian", a Greek steamer. After reaching Lemnos, a shortage of fresh water on the island meant that the battalion was accommodated on the ship for the next seven weeks, although they spent their days ashore conducting exercises and mounting guard duty. Planning for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula began in early April; while this proceeded, on 15 April the battalion was issued its distinctive blue and purple unit colour patch.
Gallipoli campaign.
On 24 April 1915, the 10th Battalion embarked for Gallipoli along with the rest of the 1st Division. Two companies and the battalion headquarters were allocated to the battleship , while the other two companies embarked on two destroyers, and . At approximately 4:30 am on 25 April, the 10th Battalion was one of the first units to come ashore at Anzac Cove as part of the covering force – drawn from Colonel Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan's 3rd Brigade – for the main Anzac landing. Troops from the battalion landed near the centre of the cove and, ascending the Ariburnu Ridge, attempted to push inland towards the Sari Bair Range. According to the Australian War Memorial, scouts from the battalion are "believed to have penetrated further inland than any other Australians". Amidst the chaos of the landing, they quickly found themselves isolated and had to withdraw back to the main concentration of Australian troops around the 400 Plateau. Following the initial landing, the battalion was in action for the next four days, holding the line until relieved by a battalion of Royal Marines. The rest was brief, as the 10th were recommitted to the fighting on 1 May. Casualties in the first weeks of the campaign were heavy, with the battalion losing 397 men killed or wounded between 25 April and 9 May. The advance stalled as Turkish resistance grew, and the Turks launched a heavy counter-attack on 19 May. By this time, the 3rd Brigade was located around Bolton's Ridge, with the brigade's four battalions occupying the line abreast; the 10th Battalion occupying a position south of Lone Pine, overlooking a wheat field through which the Turkish attack came. Caught in deadly crossfire, the attack was turned back with heavy losses. Following this, as both sides dug in, the campaign ground to a stalemate, and the battalion undertook mainly defensive duties along the perimeter around Anzac Cove. On 8 July, the remnants of the battalion, which now consisted of just over 500 personnel, was withdrawn to Imbros Island for a brief rest period out of the line, before returning to Anzac Cove on 11 July; after this, the 10th Battalion relieved the 11th, occupying a position around Silt Spur, opposite Lone Pine.
In early August, the Allies attempted to break out from the beach, launching an offensive around Anzac Cove in the centre of the Allied position, as well as Suvla Bay to the north, and Cape Helles to the south; the 10th Battalion played a support role during the offensive, providing reinforcement parties and machine-gun crews to support the 1st Brigade during the Battle of Lone Pine. The offensive was a costly failure and afterwards stalemate returned to the battlefield. As winter approached, conditions on the peninsula grew harsher and a large number of personnel had to be evacuated sick as a wave of dysentery swept through the battalion. In September, the 2nd Division arrived to reinforce the forces at Anzac. In mid-November, as the Allied commanders debated the future of the campaign, the 3rd Brigade received orders to pull back from the frontline, so that it could be withdrawn to Lemnos for rest. On 16 November, the 10th Battalion took up reserve positions on the beach, before embarking on the transport . It landed at Mudros, and spent the rest of November and December there. Meanwhile, the main Allied force was evacuated from the peninsula, with the last Australian troops withdrawing on 20 December. On Boxing Day 1915, the 10th Battalion sailed for Egypt, arriving in Alexandria on 29 December. Losses on Gallipoli had been heavy – 711 casualties were reported in the battalion between April and September 1915 – and the AIF underwent a period of reorganisation as it was expanded in preparation for its deployment to the European battlefield. As a part of this process, the 10th Battalion provided a cadre of experienced personnel to the newly raised 50th Battalion, which was assigned to the 13th Brigade, 4th Division, and was brought up to strength with fresh recruits from Australia.
Western Front.
In March 1916, the 10th Battalion sailed to France along with the rest of the 1st Division and deployed to the Somme. Arriving at Marseilles in early April, the battalion undertook training at Strazeele before moving by train to Godewaersvelde and then Sailly-sur-la-Lys. In mid-May, the battalion occupied billets in the Petillon Sector; on 19 May the billets were shelled resulting in losses amounting to three killed and seven wounded. On 6 June, the battalion entered the front line for the first time on the Western Front, occupying positions around Fleurbaix. The battalion's first significant action on the Western Front came in late July 1916 when it was involved in the Battle of Pozières, an effort to secure the village of Pozières and the high ground beyond it as part of the wider Battle of the Somme; the battalion's casualties during this battle were around 350. For his actions during this battle, Second Lieutenant Arthur Blackburn, an original member of the battalion who had served with it during the Gallipoli campaign, was awarded the Victoria Cross. A month later, the 10th took part in the fighting around Mouquet Farm, incurring over 100 more casualties. Later, the 10th Battalion fought around Ypres, in Belgium, in front of Hill 60, before being transferred back to the Somme trenches in the winter, during which time they occupied positions around Guedecourt, Cardonette and Bazentin.
After the German withdrawal towards the Hindenburg Line in early 1917, the battalion took part in several actions as the Allied line was advanced. The first came around the railway switch at Le Barque in late February. Another attack was made at Lourverval on 8 and 9 April, before undertaking a defensive role during the German attack on Lagnicourt on 15 April. This was followed in early May by the Second Battle of Bullecourt. Later, it was again moved to Belgium to take part in the Third Battle of Ypres, where it was committed to fighting around the Menin Road in September. During an attack around Polygon Wood, Private Roy Inwood's actions resulted in him being awarded the battalion's second Victoria Cross. The battalion suffered heavily during its early involvement in the Ypres fighting and was briefly withdrawn before being recommitted to support operations around Broodseinde at the beginning of October. In the early hours of 9 October 1917, a force of 88 men from the 10th Battalion carried out a raid on German positions in