The Armies of The Great War 1914 1918 Australia

Order of Battle of the Australian Imperial Forces in France, "Last 100 Days"

Explanatory Notes

This order of battle shows the structure of the AIF during the final stages of the war on the Western Front.
By this time, a British infantry division comprised 10 battalions of infantry - 3 in each of three brigades, with an additional battalion serving as "pioneers". Australian divisions, however, had retained the original 4 battalion brigade structure, giving it a total strength of 13 battalions. Whilst every battalion had a theoretical strength of 1,000 men, by this time, many were operating at well below this figure. It was not uncommon for battalions to be reduced to less than 500 effectives and often it was considerably less than that, whilst some battalions were broken up to provide reinforcements, leaving some brigades one battalion short of the proper complement.
A "Field Artillery Brigade" comprised 3 batteries of six 18 pounder field guns and one battery of six 4.5 inch howitzers.
At full strength a "Light Trench Mortar Battery" included eight three inch "Stokes mortars"; there were twelve 6 inch "Newton mortars" in a "Medium Trench Mortar Battery".
There were 64 Vickers machine guns in each "Machine Gun Battalion", 16 in each of the four constituent "Machine Gun Companies".
Each division included support arms such as engineers, signals and medical personnel.

Division	Brigades	Battalions & attached Units
First	1st	1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales) , 1st Light Trench Mortar Battery
	2nd	5th, 6th,7th & 8th Infantry Battalions (Victoria), 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery
	3rd	9th,10th,11th,12th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; Tasmania; South Australia; and Western Australia), 3rd Light Trench Mortar Battery
	1st Field Artillery Brigade	1st, 2nd, 3rd Batteries, 101st (Howitzer) Battery
	2nd Field Artillery Brigade	4th, 5th, 6th Batteries, 102nd (Howitzer) Battery
		1st Division Ammunition Column
	1st Division Trench Mortars	1st & 2nd Medium Trench Mortar Batteries
	1st Division Engineers	1st (New South Wales), 2nd (Victoria), 3rd (Outer States) Field Companies
		1st Signal Company
	1st Machine Gun Battalion	1st, 2nd, 3rd & 21st Machine Gun Companies
		1st Pioneer Battalion
	1st Division Medical Services	1st (New South Wales), 2nd (Victoria) & 3rd (Outer States) Field Ambulances
		2nd Sanitary Section
		1st Salvage Section
	1st Division Train	1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Australian Army Service Corps Companies
		1st Mobile Veterinary Section
*******	***********	*********************************************
Second	5th	17th, 18th, 19th & 20th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales), 5th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	6th	21st, 22nd, 23rd & 24th Infantry Battalions (Victoria), 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	7th
		25th, 26th, 27th & 28th Infantry Battalions (Queensland; Queensland and Tasmania; South Australia; Western Australia), 7th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	4th Field Artillery Brigade	10th, 11th & 12th Field Artillery Batteries, 104th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
	5th Field Artillery Brigade	13th, 14th & 15th Field Artillery Batteries, 105th (Howitzer) Field Artillery Battery
		2nd Division Ammunition Column
	2nd Division Trench Mortar	3rd & 4th Medium Trench Mortar Batteries
	2nd Division Engineers	5th, 6th & 7th Field Companies (Victoria; Outer States; New South Wales)
		2nd Signal Company
	2nd Machine Gun Battalion	5th, 6th, 7th & 22nd Machine Gun Companies
		2nd Pioneer Battalion
	2nd Division Medical Services	5th, 6th & 7th Field Ambulances
		1st Sanitary Section
		2nd Salvage Company
	2nd Divisional Train	15th, 16th, 17th & 20th Australian Army Service Corps Companies
		2nd Mobile Veterinary Section
*******	***********	*********************************************
Third	9th	33rd, 34th, 35th & 36^th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales), 9th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	10th	37th, 38th, 39th & 40^th Infantry Battalions (Victoria; Victoria; Victoria; Tasmania), 10th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	11th	41st, 42nd & 43rd Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia), 11th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	7th Field Artillery Brigade	25th, 26th & 27th Field Artillery Batteries, 107th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
	8th Field Artillery Brigade	29th, 30th & 31st Field Artillery Batteries, 108th (Howitzer) Field Artillery Battery
		3rd Division Ammunition Column
	3rd Division Trench Mortars	5th & 6th Medium Trench Mortar Batteries
	3rd Division Engineers	9th, 10th & 11th Field Companies (New South Wales; Victoria; Outer States)
		3rd Signal Company
	3rd Machine Gun Battalion	9th, 10th, 11th & 23rd Machine Gun Companies
		3rd Pioneer Battalion
	3rd Division Medical Services	9th, 10th & 11th Field Ambulances
		3rd Sanitary Section
		3rd Salvage Company
	3rd Divisional Train	22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th Australian Army Service Corps Companies
		3rd Mobile Veterinary Section
*******	***********	*********************************************
Fourth	4th	13th, 14th,15th & 16th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales; Victoria; Queensland and Tasmania; Western Australia and South Australia), 4th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	12th	45th, 46th & 48th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales; Victoria; Western Australia and South Australia), 12th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	13th	49th, 50th & 51st Infantry Battalions (Queensland; South Australia; Western Australia; South Australia), 13th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	10th Field Artillery Brigade	37th, 38th & 39th Field Artillery Batteries, 110th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
	11th Field Artillery Brigade	41st, 42nd & 43rd Field Artillery Batteries, 111th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
		4th Division Ammunition Column
	4th Division Trench Mortars	7th & 8th Medium Trench Mortar Batteries
	4th Division Engineers	4th,12th & 13th Field Companies
		4th Signal Company
	4th Machine Gun Battalion	4th, 12th, 13th & 24th Machine Gun Companies
		4th Pioneer Battalion
	4th Division Medical Services	4th, 12th & 13th Field Ambulances
		4th Sanitary Section
		4th Salvage Company
	4th Divisional Train:	7th, 14th, 26th & 27th Australian Army Service Corps Companies
		4th Mobile Veterinary Section
*******	***********	*********************************************
Fifth	8th	29th, 30th, 31st & 32nd Infantry Battalions (New South Wales; Queensland and Victoria; Western Australia and South Australia), 8th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	14th	53rd, 54th, 55th & 56th Infantry Battalions (New South Wales), 14th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	15th	57th, 58th, 59th & 60th Infantry Battalions (Victoria), 15th Light Trench Mortar Battery
	13th Field Artillery Brigade	49th, 50th & 51st Field Artillery Batteries, 113th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
	14th Field Artillery Brigade	53rd, 54th & 55th Field Artillery Batteries, 114th Field Artillery (Howitzer) Battery
		5th Division Ammunition Column
	5th Division Trench Mortars	9th & 10th Medium Trench Mortar Batteries
	5th Division Engineers	8th, 14th & 15th Field Companies
		5th Signals Company
	5th Machine Gun Battalion	8th,14th,15th & 25th Machine Gun Companies
		5th Pioneer Battalion
	5th Division Medical Services	8th, 14th & 15th Field Ambulances
		5th Sanitary Section
		5th Salvage Company
	5th Division Train	10th, 18th, 28th & 29th Australian Army Service Corps Companies
		5th Mobile Veterinary Section
		5th Pioneer Battalion
	5th Division Medical Services	8th, 14th & 15th Field Ambulances

Although greatly reduced in numbers, the Australian infantry proved themselves again and again to be formidable soldiers, amongst the best on any side. Their achievements during the "Last 100 Days", especially their role in the breakthrough at Amiens, added to that reputation.

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