Australian troops of B Company, 30th Battalion crossing a shallow creek between Weber Point and Malalamai during the Battle of Sio in 1944.

With the growing threat of Japan in the pacific the bulk of Australian forces were returned home to manage the threat. Previously the Australian army followed British guidelines, and the changes in establishment, weapons and composition showed a maturing of the Australian army hierarchy as it developed a structure to suit the specific needs it was facing.

The emphasis was on the flexibility, training, and weapons required for jungle warfare. With many battles in the jungle becoming a series of small skirmishes, often at section and platoon level, the emphasis was on the ability to bring the maximum amount of short ranged fire possible.

A single ten man section section with 4 Thompson SMG’s, a Bren gun and five rifles (often snipers), succeeded in doing this.

With the decreasing threat of enemy planes, artillery, and tanks, the need for heavy equipment was not required. In order to increase the effectiveness of infantry units they were stripped of elements which were not necessary in tropical terrain or those that were no longer required due to declining Japanese threats mention above. Equally it served to reduce the size of the Australian Army in order to free up manpower for civilian industry in the face of a growing manpower crisis as the wartime economy expanded.

The six jungle divisions consisting of 3 Militia Divisions 3rd, 5th and 11th and the 6th, 7th and 9th AIF Divisions were trained specifically in jungle warfare. The other divisions retained the old structure and were used for garrison and home defence duties.

The need to locate enemy strong points along the advance meant the need for training scouts to probe enemy defences to achieve this. These were small groups of skilled men whose main task was to locate the enemy not fight them. However they were all armed with Thompson SMG’s to be able to defend themselves with large amounts of firepower should this be required.

Next will be the Jungle Patrol engineer sections.