Second Australian Imperial Force Wikipedia. The Second Australian Imperial Force Second, or 2nd, AIF was the name given to the volunteer personnel of the Australian Army in World War II. Under the Defence Act 1. Militia nor the full time Permanent Military Force PMF could serve outside Australia or its territories unless they volunteered to do so. The Second AIF fought against Nazi Germany, the Kingdom of Italy, Vichy France and the Empire of Japan. After the war, Australias wartime military structures were demobilised and the 2nd AIF was subsequently disbanded, although a small cadre of its personnel became part of the Interim Army that was established in 1. Division Aif Colour Patches HairAustralian Regular Army was eventually formed in 1. Formationedit. A Second AIF recruiting poster. At the outset of World War II, there was controversy over whether Australia should concentrate on forming an expeditionary force for overseas service to fight Germany in Europe or a home defence force to fight Japan. Prime Minister. Robert Menzies decided to do both, although the experience of the Great War indicated that Australia did not have the resources to do either. ConscriptioneditOn 1. Division Aif Colour Patches In Crt' title='2nd Division Aif Colour Patches In Crt' />September 1. Menzies announced the formation of the Second AIF, an expeditionary force of 2. Australian Army could fit into it. On 1. 5 November 1. Menzies announced the reintroduction of conscription for home defence service effective 1 January 1. Unmarried men turning 2. June 1. 94. 0 would be drafted into the Militia. Because of this, the AIF could not accept personnel who were in reserved occupations. Public opinion and the Australian MilitiaeditAlthough the AIF had priority for scarce personnel and equipment over the Militia, many Militia commanders were understandably reluctant to release any to the AIF. Although the government had hoped that half of the new force would be drawn from the Militia, it was soon clear that this would not be achieved. The public was similarly torn between the dangers presented by Germany and Japan. After an initial rush, enlistments quickly tapered off. For these reasons, the Second AIF possessed only one division, the 6th Division, for nearly a year. Effect of the fall of France on enlistmenteditThe fall of France shocked both the government and the people into action. A huge surge of enlistmentssome 4. Dear Jondo, we are using the PIPS for several years already and I have to admit that we cleaned the inner surface of the work chamber only in verylong. June 1. 94. 0provided enough personnel to fill not only the recently formed 7th Division, but to form the 8th Division and 9th Division as well, and the government ordered units to the United Kingdom to assist in its defence. OrganisationeditCommandedit. Sims 4 Deluxe Edition Skidrow Crack there. Armoured Division M3 Grant tanks in June 1. Lieutenant General. Thomas Blamey was given command of the Second AIF on 1. October 1. 93. 9 and retained it throughout the war. As such, he was answerable directly to the Minister of Defence, rather than to the Military Board. He was given a charter based on that given to Major General. William Throsby Bridges in 1. Part of his charter required the Second AIF to be kept together, but a series of political and military crises resulted in the divisions rarely fighting together, with individual divisions, brigades and even battalions deployed in different sectors or even different theatres. This resulted in conflicts with British commanders, particularly the Commander in Chief Middle East, General Sir Claude Auchinleck, most notably over the relief of Tobruk. The 6th and 7th Divisions departed for the Far East in January 1. Division in February 1. The last AIF units, three forestry companies, returned via the United States in late 1. All units of the Second AIF were thereafter deployed to the South West Pacific theatre, although some individuals remained in other theatres on exchange or liaison duty, such as Vernon Sturdee, who was head of the Australian Military Mission in Washington, D. C. from 1. 94. 2 to 1. The Ninth Division, Second AIF. The 9th Division was the fourth new infantry division raised by the Australian army after the outbreak of World War Two. A controversial decision of the Menzies government was that senior commands in Blameys 6th Division would be restricted to Militia officers. This greatly upset many PMF officers. However, when the 7th Division was formed in May 1. Lieutenant General. John Lavarack was appointed to command it. Blamey appointed two regulars, Major Generals Vernon Sturdee and Henry Wynter to command the 8th and 9th Divisions, but Wynter became ill and Sturdee was appointed Chief of the General Staff following the death of General Sir Brudenell White in the 1. Canberra air disaster. The commands then went to two CMF soldiers, Major Generals Gordon Bennett and Leslie Morshead. StructureeditThe Second AIFs main strength consisted of a Corps Headquarters and five divisions 1. Divisions numbered 1st to 5th were Militia divisions, which had been raised during the inter war years and perpetuated the numerical designations of the First AIF units that had fought during the First World War. In addition, the 1. Armoured Divisions were also Militia formations. Organization at the outset of World War 2. There were three brigades in each division. Brigades were numbered from 1. Militia brigades. There were initially four infantry battalions per brigade but this was soon reduced to three. Units of the Second AIF prefixed their numbers with a 2 pronounced second to distinguish themselves from Militia units. Where such a unit did not exist in the First AIF or the Militia, the 2 was not initially used, but later it was generally adopted as identifying a unit of the Second AIF. After the war with Japan began, large numbers of experienced AIF officers were posted to Militia units. As a consequence, units in which more than 7. AIF volunteers were permitted to call themselves AIF units. By November 1. 94. Militias 3. 3 infantry battalions were entitled to call themselves AIF. At this time the Army was 4. AIF. 1. 9In the South West Pacific, the Army found that its force structure was completely unbalanced, with a preponderance of operational units and a grave shortage of logistical units. The Army was also faced with government requests to release manpower to industry, and later to discharge long serving personnel. This was remedied by disbanding operational units. From 1 May 1. 94. Armys monthly quota was only 4. As its wastage was greater than this, units were disbanded for reinforcements. Weaponry and equipmenteditUnlike in 1. Australia did not possess a stock of modern weapons and equipment at the outbreak of the war. As in 1. 91. 4, the British Army was unable to help much in the initial stages, as it was preoccupied with its own mobilisation. The Treasury Department strenuously opposed the diversion of large numbers of men and women from industry, the conversion of industries to production of weapons, and the expenditure of large sums on defence. It took time for the Army to overcome its objections, and modern weapons, such as the 2. Australia. In the meantime, the AIF, like the Militia, made do with the weapons that the First AIF had brought back from the Great War. The 1st Armoured Division was formed at Puckapunyal in 1. German blitzkrieg had demonstrated the value of armour in modern warfare. Personneledit. Infantrymen from the 6th Division at Tobruk, January 1. Personnel were required to be between 2. A suspiciously large number of personnel were aged 2. First AIF joined up, a practice encouraged by some unit commanders, who liked to have some old hands around. Although volunteer militiamen were paid 8s per day, an unmarried private in the AIF was paid 5s per day in Australia, with an extra 2s per day after embarkation for overseas. This was less than the 8s 6d per day dole, not to mention the average basic wage of 2 1. Serial numberseditAll members of the Second AIF were allocated a serial number. The first letter represented the state of enlistment N New South Wales V Victoria Q Queensland S South Australia W Western Australia T Tasmania D Northern Territory. The serial numbers of female soldiers followed this with an F. AIF serial numbers then had an X. Gallipoli 1. 00 by Faircount Media Asia Pacific.