3rd Division (Australia)
The 3rd Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army. Existing during various periods between 1916 and 1991, it is considered the "longest serving Australian Army division". It was first formed during World War I, as an infantry division of the Australian Imperial Force and saw service on the Western Front in France and Belgium. During this time it fought major battles at Messines, Broodseinde Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and the St Quentin Canal.
The division was demobilised in 1919 before being re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizen Forces, based in central Victoria. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the division's establishment fluctuated due to the effects of the Great Depression and a general apathy towards military matters.
During World War II, the division was mobilised for war in December 1941 and initially undertook defensive duties in Australia before being deployed to New Guinea in 1943 where they took part in the Salamaua–Lae campaign against the Japanese in 1943–1944, before returning to Australia for rest and reorganisation. In late 1944 they were sent to Bougainville to take part in the Bougainville campaign the final campaign of the war. There they undertook a series of advances across the island before the war came to an end in August 1945.
Following the end of hostilities the division was disbanded in December 1945 as part of the demobilisation process, but was it later re-raised in 1948 as part of the Citizens Military Force. It subsequently served through the Cold War as a reserve formation until 1991 when the division was disbanded for a final time as the Australian Army was restructured and the focus of Australian field force operations shifted from the divisions to brigades.
History
World War I
Formation and training
In early 1916, following the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign, the decision was made to expand the size of the Australian Imperial Force. At the time there were two divisions in Egypt—the 1st and 2nd—and of these, one of them was split up to provide a cadre upon which to raise the 4th and 5th Divisions. Around this time the decision to raise a fifth division from fresh volunteers in Australia was also made and as a result the 3rd Division was officially raised on 2 February 1916.Upon formation, the division drew its personnel from all Australian states and consisted of three four-battalion infantry brigades—the 9th, 10th and the 11th—and a number of supporting elements including engineers, artillery and medical personnel. Only rudimentary initial training was undertaken before elements of the division began the embarkation process in May and June 1916 as they were moved to the United Kingdom, where the individual sub units concentrated for the first time, received arms and other equipment and began the task of undertaking further training at Larkhill, in the Salisbury Plain Training Area. In July the division's artillery component was formed, consisting of three batteries of 18-pounders and one 4.5 inch howitzer battery. The process of raising and training took some time and consequently the division was not transferred to France until mid November 1916. Prior to this, however, the division endured proposals to break it up to provide reinforcements to the other four Australian divisions that were already in France. Although these threats passed, in early September 1916, following losses around Pozières, almost 3,000 men from the 3rd Division were transferred. Throughout October it seemed likely that further drafts would be siphoned away from the division, however, this did not occur and in early November two divisional exercises were undertaken. Finally, on 21 November 1916, the 3rd Division crossed the English Channel and arrived in France.
Under the command of Major General John Monash, the division was assigned to II ANZAC Corps. For the next two years they would take part in most of the major battles that the Australians fought on the Western Front. Initially they were deployed around Armentières in a "quiet" sector of the line, where they gained their first experiences of trench warfare, conducting patrols into No Man's Land and minor raids on the German trenches opposite them during the winter months.
Early engagements, 1917
By January 1917 the 3rd Division's artillery had been reorganised so that it consisted of two field artillery brigades, each of which consisted of three six-gun 18-pounder batteries and twelve 4.5 inch howitzers. These brigades were the 7th and the 8th. In April 1917 the division was moved to the Messines–Wytschaete Ridge section of the line in Belgium, taking up a position on the extreme right of II ANZAC Corps, with the New Zealand Division to its left. It was here, in early June 1917, that the division undertook its first major engagement of the war when it was committed to the fighting during the Battle of Messines. Monash tasked the 9th and 10th Brigades to provide the assault force for the 3rd Division's part of the operation, while the 11th Brigade was to act as the divisional reserve.As the division's assault units began their approach march towards the Line of Departure late on the evening of 6 June, the German artillery opened up with a gas bombardment that severely hindered the march, breaking up the assaulting units as men became lost. Suffering over 2,000 casualties before the battle even began, many of the division's assault units reached their assembly points with less than 200 men, nevertheless they arrived on time and at the appointed hour, after a number of mines were exploded in front of their positions, the assault began. The exploding mines had destroyed a large part of the German line and as a result initial resistance was quickly overcome by the division's lead battalions—the 33rd, 34th, 38th and 39th—and by 5 am, the division had gained the crest of the Messines ridge and began digging in to defend against a possible counter-attack. In the engagements that followed the division largely played only a supporting role.
Following this, the division's next major engagement came on 4 October 1917 when it took part in the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge. This time the 9th Brigade was held back in reserve, while the 10th and 11th Brigades led the division forward. Attacking on the left of the Australian 2nd Division and the right of the New Zealand Division, early on the morning of the scheduled start of the attack the German artillery opened up on the division's eight assaulting infantry battalions as they stood to in the open ready to step off. Conserving their artillery for the main attack, the supporting Allied artillery only provided limited counter-battery fire and the division suffered heavily as they were forced to endure an hour-long barrage before zero hour came at 6 am. As the 37th and 43rd Battalions led the advance towards the German lines, supported by small teams of mortarmen and machine gunners, the Germans launched their own attack, however, the Australian assault had taken them by surprise and after some initial resistance, the German assault troops began to fall back or surrender. As the follow-on battalions exploited the ground gained in the initial assault the advance continued and by 9:15 am the 3rd Division had carried the ridge and begun to dig in, having advanced. A counterattack late in the day on the 11th Brigade's position was turned back, sealing a stunning success for the 3rd Division. Nevertheless, the division's casualties were high, with over 1,800 men killed or wounded. For his actions during the attack, Walter Peeler, a Lewis-gunner from the 3rd Pioneer Battalion who was attached to 37th Battalion for anti-aircraft duties received the Victoria Cross after he personally led the assault on a number of German positions.
They held the line for a further three days before being withdrawn for rest and reorganisation. On 10 October 1917 the division returned to the front and began to make preparations to assault Passchendaele Ridge, an advance of over. Heavy rain, however, had turned the battlefield into a thick, muddy morass and as a result transportation and resupply efforts were hampered as were attempts to reposition the supporting artillery and as a consequence when the attack went in at 5:25 am on 12 October the 9th and 10th Brigades had only limited fire support. With only a fraction of the guns required and limited ammunition, the artillery that was supposed to provide a creeping barrage behind which the infantry were to advance could only provide a thin bombardment. Nevertheless, the mud was so thick that the infantry were unable to keep up with the barrage and, unable to maintain the required rate of advance, they eventually they fell behind the barrage and lost any cover that it might otherwise have provided.
Upon reaching the Bellevue Spur, the assaulting infantry, caught in the open upon the barbed wire in front of the German positions, suffered heavily at the hands of the German artillery that was able to fire without answer from the British batteries that had run out of ammunition. Nevertheless, the 10th Brigade managed to reach its first objective, as did the 9th which even pushed on to its second, however, as they began to receive enfilade fire from their left flank where the New Zealand Division's attack had ground to a halt, the Germans began massing for a counterattack and the Australian positions quickly became untenable. On the division's right flank another gap had begun to develop as they lost contact with the Australian 4th Division and as a result the order to retire was passed. As they returned to the start line, the assault units were relieved by the 11th Brigade, which had formed the divisional reserve. By the end of the day, the division had lost almost 3,200 men killed or wounded. They played no further offensive role in the battle and were eventually removed from the line on 22 October as the Canadians took over from them.
The fighting around Passchendaele proved to be the division's last offensive actions for 1917 and they spent the winter months in the rear training, or undertaking defensive duties in reasonably quiet sectors of the line as they were reformed and brought back up to strength. Around this time also, the five Australian divisions on the Western Front were reorganised into a unified command structure under the Australian Corps.