2/12th Australian Field Company RAE

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Brief History

Formed at Bathurst in July 1940, it was initially attached to the 22nd Infantry Brigade Group. However when the 22nd Brigade Group left for Singapore they were undertaking constructions work, and their place was taken by the 2/10 Australian Field Company. Transferred to the 27th Brigade Group, in May 1941 they moved to Sydney to work on fixed defences.

In August 1941 the Field Company departed for Singapore, and on arrival were sent into Malaya to build up defences at Johore Bahru area. When the Japanese invaded in December 1941 there was initially little impact on the unit. However, in mid January it moved to Segamat where it now had to prepare key points for demolition, and from here they progressively moved south to Singapore. By late January they were at Bukit Timah on Singapore Island, and they were tasked with building strong defences in the Causway Sector before being outflanked by the Japanese landing in the North West Sector. They moved with the 27th Infantry brigade Group to MacRitchie Reservoir before being forced back into the final AIF perimeter where they surrendered on 15 Jan 1942.

As POWs, the engineers were sent to camps in Thailand, Borneo, Sumatra and Japan before being liberated in August 1945.

Unit Personnel

• Macalister Adair Blain 23 Oct 1941 - 16 Sep 1945 - POW