Australian and New Zealand Army Corps

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"ANZAC" and "Anzac" redirect here. For other uses, see ANZAC (disambiguation).

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
New Zealand soldiers' encampment at ANZAC Cove in 1915
Active1914–1916; 1941
Countries
Branch
Second World War
Vietnam War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		William Birdwood

The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was originally a

Battle of Greece
in 1941. The term 'ANZAC' has been used since for joint Australian–New Zealand units of different sizes.

History

Original formation

Popular illustration of Anzac troops after the fighting at Gallipoli

Plans for the formation began in November 1914 while the first contingent of Australian and New Zealand troops were still in convoy bound for, as they thought, Europe. However, following the experiences of the

Horatio Kitchener, appointed General William Birdwood, an officer of the British Indian Army, to the command of the corps and he furnished most of the corps staff from the Indian Army as well. Birdwood arrived in Cairo on 21 December 1914 to assume command of the corps.[3]

It was originally intended to name the corps the Australasian Army Corps, this title being used in the unit diary in line with the common practice of the time which often saw New Zealanders and Australians compete together as Australasia in sporting events.[4] [5] [6] However, complaints from New Zealand recruits led to adoption of the name Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The administration clerks found the title too cumbersome so quickly adopted the abbreviation A. & N.Z.A.C. or simply ANZAC.[4] Shortly afterwards it was officially adopted as the codename for the corps, but it did not enter common usage amongst the troops until after the Gallipoli landings.[7]

At the outset, the corps comprised two divisions; the

New Zealand Infantry Brigade, New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade and 4th Australian Infantry Brigade.[8] The 2nd and 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigades were assigned as corps level troops, belonging to neither division.[8]

Despite being synonymous with Australia and New Zealand, ANZAC was a multi-national body: in addition to the many British officers in the corps and division staffs, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps contained, at various points, the 7th Brigade of the

British 10th (Irish) Division and the 29th Indian Brigade.[12]

Later formations

World War I

Following the evacuation of the

Australian 3rd Division was forming in Australia and would be sent directly to England and then to France.) These divisions were reformed into two corps: I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps.[13] I ANZAC Corps, under the command of General Birdwood, departed for France in early 1916. II ANZAC Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander Godley, followed soon after.[14]

In January 1916, the 4th (ANZAC) Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps, was formed with Australian and New Zealand troops. The 1st and 3rd Battalions were Australian, while the 2nd Battalion was British.[15] Then in March 1916, the ANZAC Mounted Division with three Australian and one New Zealand brigade, was formed for service in Egypt and Palestine.[13] There was also the 1st (ANZAC) Wireless Signal Squadron, which served with the British expeditionary force in Mesopotamia in 1916–1917.[13]

In early 1916, the Australian and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand governments sought the creation of an

Australian and New Zealand Army, which would have included the New Zealand Division and all of the Australian infantry divisions, but this did not occur.[16]

World War II

Monument in Sfakia commemorating the evacuation of British and ANZAC forces from Crete in late May 1941.

During World War II, the Australian

Battle of Greece was over in weeks and the corps HQ evacuated mainland Greece on 23–24 April, with the name ANZAC Corps no longer being used.[18]

Some troops evacuated to Alexandria, but the majority were sent to the Greek island of Crete to reinforce its garrison against an expected German invasion from air and sea. Australians and New Zealanders were respectively deployed around the cities of Rethymno and Chania in western Crete with a smaller Australian force being positioned in Heraklion. The invasion began the morning of 20 May and, after the fierce Battle of Crete, which lasted ten days, Crete fell to the Germans. Most of the defenders of Chania withdrew across the island to the south coast and were evacuated by the Royal Navy from Sfakia. Many others evaded capture for several months, hiding in the mountains with generous assistance from the local Cretan population.[19] Others who were captured and transported to Axis POW camps in mainland Europe were able to escape en route via Yugoslavia. Those who escaped found refuge with Chetniks and Yugoslav Partisans until they were either repatriated or recaptured by Axis forces.[20][21]

Other conflicts

Be'er Sheva Anzac Memorial Centre, Israel

During the Vietnam War, two companies from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment were integrated into Royal Australian Regiment battalions. These integrated battalions had the suffix (ANZAC) added to their name (for example, 4 RAR became the 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion).[13] An ANZAC battalion served as one of the infantry battalions of the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) from early March 1968 until its withdrawal in December 1971. Due to the rotation of forces, there were a total of five combined battalions of this period.[22]

The

Timor Leste as part of Operation Astute. The battle group was established in September 2006.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ Beckett, Ian (2012). The Making of the First World War. Yale University Press.
  2. ^ Grey, Jeffrey (2008). A Military History of Australia. Cambridge University Press. p. 92.
  3. ^ Bean, Charles (1941a). The Story of ANZAC from the outbreak of war to the end of the first phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, May 4, 1915. Angus and Robertson. p. 117.
  4. ^ a b Davidson, Leon (2005). Scarecrow Army: The Anzacs at Gallipoli. Black Dog Books. p. 24.
  5. ^ "Blog | Macquarie Dictionary". 23 October 2023.
  6. ^ "The Anzacs".
  7. ^ Bean, Charles (1941a). The Story of ANZAC from the outbreak of war to the end of the first phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, May 4, 1915. Angus and Robertson. pp. 124–125.
  8. ^ a b Davidson, Leon (2005). Scarecrow Army: The Anzacs at Gallipoli. Black Dog Books. p. 25.
  9. ^ Bean, Charles (1941a). The Story of ANZAC from the outbreak of war to the end of the first phase of the Gallipoli Campaign, May 4, 1915. Angus and Robertson. pp. 214–215.
  10. ^ Waite, Fred (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Official History of New Zealand's Effort in the Great War. Auckland, New Zealand: Whitcombe & Tombs. p. 165.
  11. ^ Broadbent, Harvey (2005). Gallipoli: The Fatal Shore. Camberwell, Victoria: Viking/Penguin. p. 128.
  12. ^ Bean, Charles (1941b). The Story of ANZAC from 4 May 1915, to the Evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Angus and Robertson. pp. 454–455.
  13. ^ a b c d e "The ANZAC Acronym". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  14. ^ Grey, Jeffrey (2008). A Military History of Australia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 100–102.
  15. ^ "Imperial Camel Corps". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  16. ^ Bean, Charles (1941c). The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1916. Angus and Robertson. p. 148.
  17. ISBN 1921215291
    .
  18. Melbourne University Press
    , 1993, pp 196–201.
  19. ^ "Crete, Kreta: the battles of May 1941". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  20. ^ Lawrence, Christie (1946). Irregular Adventure. London: Faber and Faber.
  21. ^ Churches, Ralph (1999). 100 Miles as the Crow Flies. Sydney: AMPH.
  22. ^ McGibbon, Ian (2010). New Zealand's Vietnam War: A History of Combat, Commitment and Controversy. Exisle. p. 550.
  23. ^ "ANZAC Battle Group". 24 August 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2019.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

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