The structure of the Australian Army during World War I included a small force of mostly militia which served in Australia and larger expeditionary forces which were raised for deployment overseas following the outbreak of the conflict in August 1914. The home army consisted of the small regular Permanent Forces, the part-time Citizen Forces, and the Australian Garrison Artillery, which were maintained in Australia to defend the country from attack, while expeditionary forces consisted of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) which occupied German New Guinea from September 1914, and the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) which fought at Gallipoli in 1915, and in the Middle East and on the Western Front in Europe from 1916 to 1918. Following an initial precautionary mobilisation following the outbreak of war, by the end of August 1914 those units of the reserve formations of the home army that had been activated began to stand down. From 1915, only skeleton garrisons were maintained at coastal forts. Meanwhile, as the war continued overseas the AIF sustained heavy losses, and although it expanded considerably during the war, with the voluntary recruitment system unable to replace its casualties by 1918 most of its units were significantly undermanned.
Order of battle
1914
| Australian Army Order of Battle, August – October 1914 | |
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Note: By July 1914, there were 52 infantry battalions which had been raised in the Citizen Forces out of a planned 93. Battalions numbered 1, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, 22, 23, 27, 28, 30, 32, 35, 36, 40, 42, 44, 45, 47, 50, 53, 54, 57, 59, 61, 62, 65, 68, 69, 72, 75, 77, 80, 82, 83, 85, 87, 89, and 90 were not assigned. In addition there were 23 regiments of light horse, out of a planned 29. Regiments numbered 8, 10, 12, 14, 18, 21 had not been assigned.
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1918
| Australian Army Order of Battle, August – September 1918 | |
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See also
- World War I defences of Australia
- Australian Army during World War I
- Structure of the Australian Army during World War II
Notes
Footnotes
- No. 1 Flight, Australian Flying Corps was formed in the 3rd Military District on 14 July 1914.
- The Australian Intelligence Corps was disbanded on 30 September 1914 and replaced by Intelligence Sections which were formed in each Military District. It was reformed in 1939.
- The Australian Volunteer Automobile Corps was disbanded in 1915.
- The Central Flying School became part of the AIF on 9 September 1918.
Citations
- Fleming 2012, pp. 3–5.
- Palazzo 2001, pp. 70–76.
- Palazzo 2001, pp. 70.
- Wilcox 1999, p. 177.
- Scott 1941, pp. 196–198.
- Kuring 2004, p. 78.
- Australian Military Forces 1914, pp. 10–34.
- ^ Bou 2010, p. 100.
- ^ Hall 1968, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Palazzo 2001, p. 54.
- Kuring 2004, p. 40.
- ^ Isaacs 1971, p. 11.
- Dennis et al 2008, p. 65.
- Kuring 2004, p. 36.
- Kuring 2004, p. 44.
- MacKenzie 1941, pp. 26–27.
- Stevenson 2013, p. 29.
- ^ Mallett, Ross. "Part A: Formations". First AIF Order of Battle 1914–1918. Australian Defence Force Academy. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- Hall 1968, p. 39.
- Australian Military Forces 1918, pp. 8–31.
- Kuring 2004, pp. 40–42.
- Grey 2008, p. 86.
- MacKenzie 1941, pp. 154–155.
- Palazzo 2001, p. 68.
- ^ Coulthard-Clark 1991, p. 12.
References
- Australian Military Forces (1914). Staff and Regimental Lists of the Australian Military Forces, 1st January 1914. Melbourne, Victoria: Government Printer. OCLC 681165642.
- Australian Military Forces (1918). Officers' List of the Australian Military Forces, 1st August 1918. Melbourne, Victoria: Government Printer. OCLC 48935638.
- Bou, Jean (2010). Light Horse: A History of Australia's Mounted Arm. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521197083.
- Coulthard-Clark, Chris (1991). The Third Brother: The Royal Australian Air Force 1921–39. North Sydney: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-04-442307-1.
- Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey; Morris, Ewan; Prior, Robin; Bou, Jean (2008). The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (Second ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195517842.
- Fleming, Robert (2012). The Australian Army in World War I. Men at Arms. Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey. ISBN 978-1849086325.
- Grey (2008). A Military History of Australia (3rd ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-69791-0.
- Isaacs, Keith (1971). Military Aircraft of Australia 1909–1918. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. ISBN 9780642993748.
- Hall, Richard John (1968). The Australian Light Horse. Blackburn, Victoria: W.D. Joynt & Co. OCLC 59504.
- Kuring, Ian (2004). Red Coats to Cams: A History of Australian Infantry 1788 to 2001. Sydney, New South Wales: Australian Military History Publications. ISBN 1-876439-99-8.
- MacKenzie, Seaforth (1941). The Australians at Rabaul: The Capture and Administration of the German Possessions in the South Pacific. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. X (10th ed.). Sydney, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson. OCLC 12752502.
- Palazzo, Albert (2001). The Australian Army: A History of its Organisation 1901–2001. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195515072.
- Scott, Ernest (1941) . Australia During the War. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Vol. XI (7th ed.). Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Australian War Memorial. OCLC 7466425.
- Stevenson, Robert (2013). To Win the Battle: The 1st Australian Division in the Great War, 1914–1918. Port Melbourne, Victoria: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107028685.
- Wilcox, Craig (1999). "Defending Australia 1914–1918: The Other Australian Army". In Dennis, Peter; Grey, Jeffrey (eds.). 1918 Defining Victory: Proceedings of the Chief of Army's History Conference Held at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, 29 September 1998. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Army History Unit. ISBN 0731705106.
Further reading
- "Australia's Army". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 1 April 1913. p. 9. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- Grey, Jeffrey (2001). The Australian Army. The Australian Centenary History of Defence. Vol. I. Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195541146.
- Horner, David (1995). The Gunners. A History of Australian Artillery. Sydney, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1863739173.
- McNicoll, Ronald (1979). The Royal Australian Engineers 1902 to 1919: Making and Breaking. History of the Royal Australian Engineers. Vol. II. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Corps Committee of the Royal Australian Engineers. ISBN 9780959687125.
- Perry, F.W. (1992). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 5A. The Divisions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and Those in East Africa. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Newport: Ray Westlake Military Books. ISBN 1-871167-25-6.
- Wilson, Graham (2012). Bully Beef and Balderdash: Some Myths of the AIF Examined and Debunked. Newport, New South Wales: Big Sky Publishing. ISBN 9781921941566.