Ibid - Australian Army

15
Study Paper No. 301
momentum was generated by Training Command to begin the task
of producing new doctrine throughout 1976 and 1977. In January
1976 interim doctrine in the form of Training and Information
Bulletin Number 28 (TIB 28), The Infantry Division (Provisional)
1975, was issued. 51
TIB 28 was the Australian Army’s first major doctrinal publication
following withdrawal from Vietnam. It was also significant in that
it marked a movement away from the borrowed doctrine that had
tended to predominate in Regular Army doctrinal publications
between 1947 and 1972. The TIB 28 division was described as an
organisation ‘for which the Army would develop doctrine and
which would be used as a vehicle for the testing and teaching of
tactics’. 52 In developing the new organisation, the Army placed
emphasis on the ability to commit light, highly mobile forces,
quickly followed by heavier formations for operations in open
terrain with a temperate climate. 53
At nearly 18 000 personnel, the TIB 28 division was a heavier
fighting organisation than the Tropical Warfare division it replaced.
The new division’s operational concept was designed for fighting
limited war on the Australian continent with a capacity to operate in
lower levels of conflict. The new organisation was designed to try
to maximise three capabilities. First, the division required the
capability of deploying a formation up to task force strength in
independent operations for limited periods. Second, the division
needed to be able to function independently for limited periods,
with task forces operating over a wide frontage. Third, the division
had to be able to concentrate its capabilities by constituting itself as
part of an Australian corps of two divisions. 54
51
52
53
54
Australian Army, The Infantry Division (Provisional) 1975, Training
Information Bulletin No. 28, Headquarters Training Command,
Sydney, January 1976.
Ibid., para. 104.
Ibid., paras 106–7.
Ibid., para. 108.