8th Australian Anti Aircraft & Fortress Company

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Brief History

5th Fortress Company RAE (P) was the pre war fortress engineers unit based at Kingston Barracks on Rottnest Island with a detachment on the mainland at Fremantle Artillery Barracks. During 1941 it merged with the militia 35th Fortress Company RAE (M) to form the Fortress Engineers, Fremantle Fixed Defences with a separate unit at Albany. During the December 1943 re-organisation the unit was renamed HQ Fortress Engineers, WA Line of Communication Area, which in addition to the two Fremantle based fortress companies (15 & 16), now also included the 14th Fortress Company at Albany and two detachments that were raised to provide defences for a proposed submarine base at Exmouth.

In May 1943 some RAE functions transferred to the RAA units, with the remaining engineering troops now known as Fortress Engineers Fremantle which contained 38, 39 and 40 Works Sections, a water transport section and a water and power supply section. In September the unit's name was changed to 8th Australian Anti-Aircraft & Fortress Company which now included a new 8th Anti-Aircraft Works Section. From April 1944 the unit was increasingly used for general works projects in the Fremantle and Perth areas. In June 1945 the unit moved to the Queen street Drill Hall in Fremantle where thy saw out the rest of the war.

Unit Personnel

• Frederick Martin Wilton 3 Mar 1944 - 26 Mar 1945

1st Water & Power Supply Section

• Frederick Martin Wilton 26 Mar - 11 Apr 1945

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 3 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 3.526 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018