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IllustrationsII Australian Corps area of operations Bougainville, 1944–1945..............77th Brigade area of operations, south Bougainville, January–May 1945 .......21PlatesPlate 1: Brigadier J. Field ..............................................33Plate 2: Key officers of the 61st Battalion .................................33Plate 3: Lieutenant Colonel G.R. Matthews. ..............................34Plate 4: Lieutenant Colonel J.G. McKinna ................................34Plate 5: A jeep train negotiating a section of road floodedby the Hupai River. ...................................................35Plate 6: Matilda tanks moving forward to support the 25th Battalionat Slater’s Knoll. ......................................................35Plate 7: Lieutenant Colonel McKinna briefs Brigadier Field andMajor General W. Bridgeford on the fighting at Slater’s Knoll ...............36Plate 8: Japanese dead being buried in a mass grave .......................36viii — A tale of three battalions
IntroductionTo those who have known the firing line, it would scarcely be necessaryto point out that morale in combat is never a steady current of forcebut a rapidly oscillating wave whose variations are both immeasurableand unpredictable.S.L.A. Marshall1Men wear out in war like clothes.Lord Moran2On 9 May 1945, Brigadier John Field, commander of the 7th AustralianInfantry Brigade on Bougainville, released a special order of the day. Hestated that ‘On completion of the recent period of operations, I desireto extend to all ranks my sincere congratulations and thanks for the splendidwork in which they have upheld the reputation of the Brigade’.3 He noted thatin three months the brigade had cleared 220 square miles of jungle and killed1500 Japanese. The Corps Commander, Lieutenant General Stanley Savige, alsoproclaimed that ‘It is my considered opinion that never before in this war has thegallantry of Australian troops, directed with skill and determination by Brigadeand Battalion Commanders, been higher than displayed by 7 Aust Inf Bde duringrecent weeks’.4 These sentiments, and most of the official records covering this1 S.L.A. Marshall, Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War,Peter Smith, Gloucester, 1978, p. 179.2 Lord Moran, The Anatomy of Courage, Constable, London, 1966, p. 64.3 ‘Special Order of the Day by Comd 7 Aust Inf Bde’, 6 May 1945, AWM 3DRL6937,Item 32.4 ‘Special Order of the Day by Comd 7 Aust Inf Bde’, 6 May 1945, AWM 3DRL6937,Item 32.A tale of three battalions — 1
Page 1 and 2: A tale of three battalions:combat m
Page 3 and 4: About the AuthorMajor Gavin Keating
Page 5 and 6: Land Warfare Studies CentreThe Aust
Page 7: ContentsAbout the Author ..........
Page 11 and 12: limitations of military efficiency
Page 13 and 14: operations in the most expeditious
Page 15 and 16: II Australian Corps area of operati
Page 17 and 18: AIF. Only two of the battalion 2ICs
Page 19 and 20: Swank and Marchland’s study of Al
Page 21 and 22: for giving meaning to the efforts o
Page 23 and 24: Part One7th Brigade’s Campaign on
Page 25 and 26: attle experience’.81 Matthews lat
Page 27 and 28: Southern Sector—January to May 19
Page 29 and 30: 7th Brigade area of operations, sou
Page 31 and 32: a series of patrol clashes with sma
Page 33 and 34: his officers and men are saying ope
Page 35 and 36: ‘We have been in contact for seve
Page 37 and 38: BM says 61 Bn in bad state, troops
Page 39 and 40: to endeavour to open the LOC with t
Page 41 and 42: Plate 1: Brigadier J. Field, comman
Page 43 and 44: Plate 5: A jeep train, in support o
Page 45 and 46: The brigadier visited a 61st compan
Page 47 and 48: Part TwoExplanations of Morale and
Page 49 and 50: Table 3: 7th Brigade Incidence of D
Page 51 and 52: It has been argued that Dexter’s
Page 53 and 54: Many adverse reports on officers we
Page 55 and 56: There was also irony in Field’s c
Page 57 and 58: That is 60 men they will never see
Page 59 and 60:
just over a week after it commenced
Page 61 and 62:
In many ways the 25th Battalion’s
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elieved that his instructions to th
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‘A number of refusals to go on pa
Page 67 and 68:
higher proportion of forceful leade
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ConclusionPrevious studies of the c
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and return to Torokina supports thi
Page 73 and 74:
BibliographyUnpublished RecordsAust
Page 75 and 76:
Denham, Peter, The Blue Diamonds: H
Page 77 and 78:
Land Warfare Studies CentrePublicat
Page 79 and 80:
118 Blaxland, John, Information-era
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