2/4th Australian Infantry Battalion

Raised at Victoria Barracks in Sydney, as part of the all-volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). Among the first batch of troops raised as part of the new force, the battalion was initially attached to the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Percival Parsons, a World War I veteran, the battalion began training at Ingleburn. Training included basic soldiering skills such as weapons handling, drill, physical fitness, navigation, anti-gas techniques, and fieldcraft. Many of the initial volunteers had previous military experience in the part-time forces, with the first group of commissioned and non-commissioned officers sourced from New South Wales Militia battalions. By early January 1940, the battalion was deemed ready to deploy overseas and departed Sydney aboard Strathnaver, bound for the Middle East. Sailing via Fremantle and Colombo, the 2/4th arrived at Kantara, Egypt, in mid-February.

While en route to the Middle East, Australian infantry brigades were reorganised along British lines, reducing each brigade from four to three battalions. Consequently, the 2/4th was transferred to the 19th Brigade but remained part of the 6th Division. Arriving in the Middle East, the 2/4th trained in Palestine and Egypt in preparation for its first campaign against the Italians in eastern Libya. The battalion played a small role at Bardia but was more active during the battle for Tobruk and had to fight particularly hard to secure the Wadi Derna, prior to being the first Australian unit to enter Benghazi.

In early April 1941, the 2/4th, with the rest of the 6th Division, deployed to Greece to resist the anticipated German invasion. It fought a fierce battle at Vevi in northern Greece on 11th and 12th April and then withdrew through a series of rearguard positions until evacuated by sea from Megara on 26th April. A small number of the battalion were not evacuated, with most of these being captured, some managed to escape from captivity or make their way back to the battalion. The battalion landed on Crete on 27th April and joined the force defending Heraklion airfield. When German paratroopers landed on 20th May, the 2/4th, along with other Allied troops, successfully defended Heraklion, although due to the German successes at the other end of the island were forced to evacuate.

After a period of training in Palestine, the 2/4th joined the force garrisoning Syria. The battalion completed this duty in mid-January 1942, embarked for home and arrived in Adelaide on 27th March. In June, the 19th Brigade was deployed to defend Darwin, where the 2/4th remained for a year. The brigade rejoined the rest of the 6th Division training in northern Queensland in June 1943 but another 18 months passed before it saw action again.

The 2/4th landed at Aitape in New Guinea on 2 November 1944 to undertake its only campaign against the Japanese. The battalion’s most intense effort took place between April and July. It advanced along the coast, captured Wewak on 10th May, and then swung inland to clear the foothills of the Prince Alexander Range. For his actions during the attack on Wirui Mission on 14th May, Private Edward Kenna was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Following the Japanese surrender the 2/4th returned to Australia, and disbanded at Chermside in Queensland on 12th November 1945. During its service, a total of 2,624 men served with the 2/4th Battalion, of whom 94 were killed, 243 were wounded, and 195 were captured. In addition to the Victoria Cross, members of the battalion received one Distinguished Service Order, nine Military Crosses, six Distinguished Conduct Medals, 11 Military Medals, and 53 Mentions in Despatches. Two members of the 2/4th were invested as Members of the Order of the British Empire.

Men of the 2/4th Australian Infantry Battalion

Captain Eric Smith

Eric Smith was decorated with the Military Cross and Member of the Order of the British Empire, who served in the Greek, Syrian, and Papuan campaigns during the Second World War. In fact, he was the most decorated man of the entire 2/4th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Eric was born in Grafton in 1914. His father was 43 at the time and was not allowed to enlist in the Great War on account of his age. However, he taught Eric “to be very pro-British and proud to be an Australian of British heritage.” It was with this sentiment that Eric enlisted at the very start of the war. What drew him to the army, in particular, was the fact that there he was “front row forward,” Eric remembered. His elder brother did the same and did not survive the Fall of Singapore in 1942.

Eric left Australia onboard HMT Strathnaver as a sergeant. He had a rather pleasant cruise to the Middle East where he continued his training and had his first taste of battle (and victory) at Bardia. After success in North Africa came the Greek campaign.

Eric summed up the situation: “It was a different cup of tea altogether, Greece, because we went up there we went as far as Ioannina, a little place called Samarina. You could see Florina from Ioannina which was in Yugoslavia, and the Germans came down through Yugoslavia and they hit the western side of Greece where we were… and the other troops were on the eastern side… we went up to there and then the Germans broke us, they broke through the 2/8th Battalion there and we lost a full company of blokes there, bar one platoon. They were killed or prisoners and we were up there and I had the mortars and we were in a good position there for defence but they said we had to pull out because they’d broken on our right so we had to pull back.”

The retreat ended at the coast on the southern side of Greece. Eric, being a particularly good swimmer, actually considered swimming from island to island. However, HMS Hastings showed up just in time to render these notions unnecessary. The ship took Eric and his mates to Crete. Here, already a lieutenant, Eric some seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war. He had commanded a platoon besieged by German paratroopers. His unit had a few Bofors anti-air guns and managed to hold its own for as long as possible. German Stukas took out the guns eventually, and Eric’s platoon was evacuated among the other ANZAC troops that managed to elude capture.

From the Middle East, Eric went to Australia before proceeding to Papua New Guinea. During this interlude in Melbourne, he got married. Eric distinguished himself in the Papuan campaign as well. After the war, he helped form the 2/4th Battalion Association and was always proud of his service during the war.

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