Famous Battalion From Desert Wants To Fight Japanese

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1942, Page 5

Famous Battalion From Desert Wants To Fight Japanese

Sydney, August 15. With honours thick upon them from chmpaigns in Libya, Greece, Crete and Syria, a famous Australian battalion has arrived back' in Sydney after having been overseas for two and a half years. Most of the men sailed with the first convoy to the Middle East in 1940, and they reached Sydney in a special military train with several other AJ.F. units— infantry, artillery and ordnance. A colonel who returned with them compared them with the Empire's finest units. "Their individual courage and resourcefulness made them more than equal to any regular battalion of the British Army," he said. "All they want is a sight of their people and a month's leave, and they will be itching to get back into action again. This battalion must be ranked with the best that Australia has ever sent away. Their record proves it. Many Decorations. "Because of their excellent training, arid their individual penchant for getting 'stuck into' the enemy at once, their casualties have been comparatively light. There have been numerous occasions when they have distinguished themselves in battle. One man, Sergeant Copelin, received the M.M. for tackling a tank single-handed. He looked round for hand grenades to stop a tank coming at him, couldn't find any, so seized a pistol from the hand of a dead officer, Then he sprang on to the tank and fired shots v.-ith the pistol through the slits, putting the entire crew out of action. "These chaps have brought back three D.S.O.s, four D.C.M.s, eight M.C.s, 13 M.M.s, an O.B.E., and a British Empire Medal." The colonel himself won the D.S.O. He married an Australian army nursing sister, who has since arrived back in Australia. An Eye to the Japs. Another officer, Major J. N. Abbott, D.S.O., who won his decoration at the capture of Tobruk. said: "You should have seen them going into action. Cool as blazes, never faltering, just as if they were doing manoeuvres, they made us as pleased as hell." He added that the men excelled in bayonet warfare, which was "one of the most valuable weapons in the desert." Many members of the contingent will celebrate their return to Australia by getting married at once. The Rev. W. P. Hart, Church of England padre, who went away with them confessed that he would be spending part of his leave officiating at weddings. Most of the men interviewed had one main idea. "We just want a bit of leave and then to get at those Japs," they said.