19th Australian Infantry Battalion: 2013

DARWIN INFANTRY BATTALION/19TH BATTALION ASSOCIATION

BRISBANE BRANCH

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE D.I.B. /19th. INF.BN (A.I.F.)

By Bill Ashton, an original member,

Because in this year of 2004 and the numbers of those who served in either or both units have dwindled, I feel it is time to record our experiences during World War 2.

On the first of November 1940, 240 members of the Queensland Militia marched into the Brisbane Exhibition Grounds. They were the Queensland detachment of what was to become the D.I.B. At the same time the NSW or the remainder of the unit was assembling in Sydney. We came together on board the S.S. Zealandia, also known as Altmark on route to Darwin in late January 1941

Upon arrival in Darwin, we learnt that there had been industrial problems and our camp was still a few weeks behind schedule. So some were temporarily quartered at Larrakeyah Barracks and the rest into the dilapidated Vesty's Meat Works, vacated by the 2/25* on their way back to civilisation on the Zealandia,

At last our camp was ready and we were housed in "nice warm" galvanised iron huts surrounding a Parade Ground, come sports oval. Real intense training began and continued throughout our stay in Darwin. To relieve boredom, a lot of sport was played, with inter-Company competitions. Battalion teams either won or put on a good display hi Rugby League, Hockey and Athletes. Our boxers also put up some good performances.

With the dry season, life became pleasant, with guard duties of vital areas including the wharves, bond store, oil tanks and the magazine containing munitions for the three services. Guarding the wharves and bond store proved extremely popular. Food stores were unloaded at the wharves onto a train to go to the store. A portion of that train line, which passed the guard hut, was "faulty" for often a keg or some hard-to-get food (hams etc) actually fell off right outside the hut, despite careful attention from the soldier on board the wagon.

As the year progressed and International Scene worsened, Tokyo Rose ran a great session of music, over the airways from

Japan

. This was designed to make the Yanks homesick. To the D.I.B. in particular "Your bones will bleach on Mindil Beach."

At 0957 on February 19,1942 suddenly and brutally World War 2 came to

Australia

. The Japanese bombed the city of Darwin with many casualties, merchant marine, wharf labourers and civilians. This was the first ever attack on Australian soil and HMAS Warrego the first ship to fire at the Japanese war planes over Darwin. Despite the loss of

Singapore

only days before, Darwin was unprepared, for anti-aircraft defences were woefully inadequate. The devastation was immense, great craters in roadways and vacant blocks. Wrecked and smoking ships lay in the harbour, the wharf smashed and unusable oil tanks were ablaze and amid twisted iron and shattered timbers rescuers recovered dead and wounded Bodies were swept up onto beaches for days later.

The D.I.B. was also deployed to counter possible paradrop assault on the area while guarding the aerodrome; the Japanese had plastered with "Daisycutters" (fragmentation bombs). Many more raids were to come and in the next 21 months Japanese warplanes raided the northern parts of Australia 64 more times, from Broome in the west to Townsville in the east It was indeed the Battle of Australia that Military High Command intended to keep

quite. Nobody had heeded a warning that the Japs were on their way when the Government announced over radio, that only 17 people had been killed and 24 wounded,

Prime Minister John Curtin said, "Nothing has been hidden, there is no ground for any rumour".

It is worth mentioning, the units of the Japanese airforce and navy, were the same that attacked Pearl Harbour. The only difference, a greater tonnage of bombs rained on Darwin.

In early September, we received the good news that our tour of duty had come to an end. The D.I.B. became the 19^th Aust. Inf. Bn. (A.I.F.). We had been in Darwin 21 months, with no leave and we survived 50 raids. There was a strong rumour, our next destination was to be

New Guinea

, in the meantime, we had some well-earned leave.

The unit moved to Narellan, dropping the Queenslanders off in Brisbane for leave. On their return our next task was to locate in Gan-Gan out of Newcastle. We were to be used by the Americans, to perfect their beach landing techniques prior to their operations in Gaudalcanal

In March 1943, we moved to Gateshead, a Newcastle suburb — it was too good to ^last. A couple of weeks later we went by train to Woodford for intensive jungle training (the previous rumour about

New Guinea

was looking ominous). Six or eight weeks later we were on a train bound for Gordonvale, Nth Queensland for more training with two American Parachute Battalions. Mid June saw us at a staging camp at Kuranda awaiting a ship to Moresby. We sailed out in early July '43 and our ultimate destination was Lae. As the 7^th and 9^th Divisions moved on we performed typical garrison duties -coast defence, generally setting the place up as a base for further operation, doing numerous up country patrols when ever groups of Japs were sighted and setting up a semi permanent camp. We were now part of the 6^th Brigade - 5^th Aust. Div. The same pattern of activity continued, with the battalion performing well in Brigade Sports, Athletics, Football, Hockey, Cricket and we also had entrants in Boxing Tournaments.

Late in '44 the word was that the Brigade would be taking up an offensive role in New Britain. In November the 36^th left for Open Bay, the 14/32 Bn. and ourselves went to Jacquinot Bay and Christmas was in New Britain, making it the fourth in succession we had been away from home. The objective of the Brigade on our side of the island was to recapture Waitavalo Plantation, the scene of Japanese atrocities early in the war and the 19^th Battalion played an important role in achieving this objective.

Early in May 1945, the Battalion boarded the AS¹ Duntroon and sailed for Sydney.

As a result of the Waitavalo campaign, two of our Officers received a Military Cross. Two Military Medals and three M.I.D's were also awarded and the Battalion itself accorded the Battle Honour as a result of the action.

I quote from Gavin Long's book, "The Final Campaign".

"Thus the achievements of the 5^th Division and the A.LB. parties on New Britain were remarkable. On the one hand was a Japanese army of over 53,000 most of them in veteran fighting formations and over 16,000 naval men. On the other, a division of relatively raw troops, although commanded down to unite level by widely experienced officers, employing only one brigade in severe fighting. General Ramsay had secured (and General Robinson maintained) a grasp on the central part on New Britain. Already virtually cleared of the enemy by the A.LB. parties, captured the enemies forward stronghold round Waitavalo and had established an ascendancy over the Japanese so complete, that they offered no great resistance to fairly deep patrols in the last four months of the war. This was done at a cost of 53 killed, 21 who died of other causes and 140 wounded."

(Certain passages were taken with permission, from Kath Ballard's book Geebung Story... the next 50years)

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