ISSUE 14 : Jan/Feb - 1979 - Australian Defence Force Journal

16 DEFENCE FORCE JOURNAL No. 14. JAN/FEB 79and had become quite knowledgeable aboutthe role of the Boer Commandos in the BoerWar and about the Germans' remarkable performancein World War I in East Africa undervon Lettow Vorbeck, in country and circumstancesnot unlike those which might face usin North Australia. Both had a considerableeffect on Stanner's outlook and thinking. Hewas also influenced by Lieutenant ColonelR (i. Henderson, IA, who befriended himwhile in Kenya.Learning of Stanner's interest in soldieringand of his certainty that war was coming,Henderson went to great pains to insist Stannershould 'see' large scale country in terms oftime, space, physical movement and supply.They saw an enormous amount of Africatogether, from Kenya to Uganda and theSudan.Shortly after the Intelligence conference,Stanner was asked by the then Deputy Chiefof the General Staff, Major General Rowell,to fly north to HO NT Force to be interviewedby Major General Herring, who, having returnedto Australia from the Middle East ascommander of the 6th Australian Division,had been appointed on 24 March 1942 asGOC NT Force.Herring and some of his staff officers hadleft Adelaide for Darwin on 27 March, a littleover a week since their return from the MiddleEast. On arrival at Darwin Herring found asomewhat dejected force, mainly deployed onthe coast in the immediate vicinity of Darwinitself. The deployment positions were tacticallyunsound and there was as well a disturbingsupply position.When Stanner arrived at NT Force, GeneralHerring and his BGS, Brigadier R. B. Sutherland,examined him closely on what he knewof the outlying country of Northern Australia.Stanner told Herring that he thought if theJapanese landed, they could gain tacticaladvantages from the use of the back bushcountry of Northern Australia. "WHAT tacticaladvantages?" Stanner was asked. Stannerwas asked to put his views on paper and hestopped up all that night to do so.It was realized that if the Japanese attacked,they would not come in 'by the front door butby the side windows or the back door' as theyhad done in Malaya. What Stanner proposedwas the formation of a new type of unit forthe Army, one so structured as to implementthe requirement of the decision of the Chiefsof Staff, which has already been referred to,and to carry out surveillance, reconnaissanceand scouting for the Commander, NT Force,of all the critical area of the north from theGulf country of Queensland to the north ofWestern Australia.Stanner was put through a grinder on everyaspect of the problem by Herring and Sutherlandand presently Herring said that it was hiswish that Stanner raise and command thespecial unit which he had suggested. "It isyour duty to do this," said Herring, or wordsto that effect. The BGS, Sutherland, told Stannerthat he must "get going", waste no timeand be back with his men in their positionswithin ten weeks. Actually it took Stannertwelve weeks but the aim was achieved.Formation of a Bush CommandoIt is a very rare flower in the history of anyarmy which can blossom in the face of dangeras readily as did Stanner's new unit. He conceivedand invented it, raised and organizedit, manned and equipped it, and put into thefield a unit of regimental size and specializedbeyond the then currents of military thought.It was a unit which fulfilled all the requirementsof the Chiefs of Staff and of the GOCNT Force.If Stanner had had his way, his new unitwould have been called the 'Bush Commando',which is what it was, or else the 'Bush Watch'or the 'Bush Scouts'. (The influence of Stanner'sstudies of the Boer War is apparent here.)Army Headquarters, however, had its way andin May 1942 issued a secret memorandum inconnection with the training of the new unit,which was called the 'North Australia ObserverUnit', The unit was approved by LHQ ashaving AIF status and hence, being an A IFunit raised prior to the cut-off date for AIFregimental titles (which was in September1942), it was entitled to the use of the prefix'2/ '. Quaintly, but correctly, it was the 2/1North Australia Observer Unit or 2/1 NAOU.At this stage the unit was regarded as beingin the nature of a special type of independentcompany and was allocated the coveted doublediamond shaped colour patch of the IndependentCompanies. The original colour patch