Structure of Australia's forces in World War I

Forces for wartime service

Australia responded quickly to the early telegram warnings from the United Kingdom (UK), by:

• placing Australian ships under British control
• recruiting volunteers to serve in the armed forces overseas
• mobilising a volunteer unit to occupy German New Guinea

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was placed under the command of the British Admiralty almost immediately.

General Sir William Bridges was instructed to raise an Australian military force to serve in Europe. Building on a defence scheme that he created in 1908, Bridges wanted Australian troops to fight together, separate from the British army units.

Military organisation

Bridges was appointed to command the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in August 1914.

With Chief of Military Staff, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Cyril Brudenell White, Bridges planned the Order of Battle for the AIF. Initially, they aimed to:

• recruit members of the citizen army and men with experience in militia units and rifle clubs
• form military units with territorial connections, with men drawn from the same regions

The infantry battalions and light horse regiments recruited men from their own states throughout the war. Only specialty units, such as the artillery, medical corps and engineers, drew men from all over Australia.

Order of Battle

At the start of the war, the military structure included 12 battalions organised into 3 brigades within 1 division. The structure was similar to Lord Kitchener's defence scheme for Britain.

1st Division

1st Infantry Brigade

Supplied by New South Wales (NSW):

• 1st Infantry Battalion AIF
• 2nd Infantry Battalion AIF
• 3rd Infantry Battalion AIF
• 4th Infantry Battalion AIF

2nd Infantry Brigade

Supplied by Victoria:

• 5th Infantry Battalion AIF
• 6th Infantry Battalion AIF
• 7th Infantry Battalion AIF
• 8th Infantry Battalion AIF

3rd Infantry Brigade

Supplied by the least populous states of Australia:

• 9th Infantry Battalion AIF - Queensland
• 10th Infantry Battalion AIF - South Australia (SA)
• 11th Infantry Battalion AIF - Western Australia (WA)
• 12th Infantry Battalion AIF - half from Tasmania and half from both SA and WA

Later in the war, the 2nd, 3rd and 5th Australian Divisions each contained one brigade from NSW, one from Victoria and one from the other four states. In the 3rd Australian Division, the Tasmanian battalion was in the Victorian brigade.

Towards the end of the war, some Australian battalions were so depleted of men through injury, illness and loss that they were lucky to have enough people for a full-strength company.

The 4th and 8th Infantry Brigades were exceptions to the general system. They each contained units of men from all the Australian states because less populous states could not field enough complete battalions.

Capturing a territorial spirit

To create a strong bond within each unit, recruitment offices tried to recruit men and officers from the same region, not just from the same state.

The units were to be connected with the different States in Australia; they were to be definitely local and territorial.

[Charles Bean, 1935]

For example, the brigadier of 1st Infantry Brigade allotted the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th training areas to the 2nd Battalion. These areas were in the northern parts of NSW. The men of 2nd Battalion were mostly drawn from the coal fields of NSW, and its first two commanding officers came from that area too.

The Australian Military Forces continued with the recruitment directives first designed by Bridges. But action later in the war affected these plans. For example, the Australian 6th Division was only briefly in existence. After tragic casualties at the Battle of Bullecourt in 1917, the division broke up to reinforce the surviving divisions.