279th Light Aid Detachment

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Brief History

A Light Aide Detachment was a small unit o1 officer and between 19 and 29 men which was attached to a unit to provide 1st line maintenance capacity. Their structure varied according to the nature of the unit that they were attached to and most stayed with their parent unit for the duration of the war. They carried out minor repairs and servicing that could be done in less than four hours and only needed the tools in a tradesman's toolbox.

279 LAD was mobilised at Melville in December 1941 as part of the 13th Infantry Brigade Group before moving to Chidlows in April 1942, then Moora in May, Bellevue in June and Dandaragan in July. It moved again in September to Midland before being back in Chidlows in January 1943 preparing to move to the Northern Territory, which it did in February. In March 1943 it was established about 85 kilometers south of Darwin. In late 1944 the 13th Australian Infantry Brigade was brought up to strength, and it left Darwin in November 1944 for Jacquinot Bay on New Britain. The 279thLAD established themselves a the Tol Plantation in April and operated from there until the conclusion of the war when they moved to Rabaul after the Japanese surrender.

Unit Personnel

• Joseph Huntley Ball

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945 - pages 5.457 and 5.523 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018