Red Platypus: A Record of Achievements of the 24th Australian Infantry Brigade, Ninth Division 1940-1945

SCARCE A summarised record of campaigns fought by 24th Infantry Brigade with anecdotes, verse and drawings.
84 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 28 cm. #250322
The 24th Brigade was a brigade-sized infantry unit of the Australian Army. Formed on 1 July 1940 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, the unit was raised for service during World War II. Originally formed as part of the 8th Australian Division the brigade was subsequently transferred to the newly created 9th Australian Division in December. The brigade served during the Western Desert Campaign, forming part of the Allied garrison during the Siege of Tobruk. Later, the brigade was withdrawn to Syria for occupation duties, but then later took part in the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. In early 1943, the brigade was returned to Australia to fight against the Japanese in the Pacific. In 1943–1944, the brigade fought in New Guinea, taking part in the landing at Lae and the Huon Peninsula campaign. Its final campaign came late in the war, when it took part in the Labuan landings and the Battle of North Borneo in mid-1945. After the war, the brigade was disbanded in early 1946.
The brigade was formed on 1 July 1940 as part of the all volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). Consisting of three infantry battalions – the 2/25th, 2/28th and 2/43rd – the brigade was recruited from Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia. It opened its headquarters at Grovely, but moved to Enoggera a month later; its constituent units completed their training in their home locations, though. Upon establishment, the brigade was assigned to the 8th Division. The brigade’s Queensland based battalion, the 2/25th, was detached in October 1940 and sent to garrison Darwin, Northern Territory;[1] the same month, the 24th Brigade was transferred to the newly formed 9th Division. This was part of a reorganisation of the 2nd AIF, which saw the less experienced units moved to the 9th Division, while those that were ready for combat were moved to the 7th Division.[2] The 2/25th Battalion was later transferred to the 25th Brigade, while it was replaced by the 2/32nd Battalion, which had been formed in the United Kingdom and would marry up with the brigade in the Middle East.[3] In December 1940, the 24th Brigade embarked for the Middle East, arriving in Palestine in February 1941, where the brigade concentrated, bringing together all three of its battalions for the first time.[4] The brigade’s first commander was Brigadier Eric Plant.[5]

Australia. Army. Infantry Brigade, 24th — History. | Australia. Army. Infantry Brigade, 24th — Anecdotes . | World War, 1939-1945 — Regimental histories — Australia.