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2/118 Australian Brigade Workshop

From Our Contribution

2-118th AB Workshop.jpg
30 Aug 1945 Jeep Overhaul underway Kuala Belait Nth Borneo AWM 117193
2-118th AB Workshop 2.jpg
30 Aug 1945 Motor Transport Section at Kuala Belait AWM photo 117178


Brief History

With the return of the 2nd AIF to Australia in early 1942, re-organisation of units was needed to fight an entirely different form of warfare, including non combat units. The 2/1st Army Field Workshop which had seen then participate in the operations against the Italians, be caught up in the siege of Tobruk, and the fight to save Egypt against the Germans, now had to prepare to support units fighting in a jungle environment. Following their leave after arriving back in Australia, the unit was split up in Harristown in Queensland to form 2/7th Advanced Workshop, 2/118th Australian Brigade Workshop, the 2/122 Brigade Workshop, and the 2/123 Brigade Workshop. They moved to Kairi in north Queensland during July and then to Milne Bay in New Guinea in August, with a detachment going to Buna. In September the workshop landed on the beach east of Lae, and fater a spell in Lae in October they were shifted to Finschhafen and worked at Pino Hill until relieved in January 1944.


Later in January they left New Guinea for Ravenshoe in north Queensland where they gathered in March, with the 20th Infantry Brigade Group to await their next role, which in time was revealed to be a landing on mainland Brunei before moving into Sarawak. In April the workshop moved to the staging area on Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies, and in June landed with the 20th Australian Infantry Brigade at Brooketon in June, before moving to Kuala Belait in July where they remained for the rest of the war. One of their men died from injuries received while at Morotai Island.

Individua Awards

  • 7 x mentioned in Despatches


Unit Personnel

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, pages 5.569 & 5.570 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018


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