1st Australian Corps Troops Supply Column (AIF)

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Brief History

With the expansion of the AIF to a Corps scale organisation, AASC service units were raised including 1st Australian Corps Troops Supply Column which was raised at Redbank in May 1940. In December 1940 they embarked for the Middle East and in February 1941 they were established at Hill 69 in Palestine servicing Austalian units in southern Palestine. An echelon moved to Ikingi Maryut in Egypt in March to provide a troop carrying company along with workshop elements to service 9th Australian Infantry Division troops that were moving to Syria and returning with 6th Australian Infantry Division troops destined for Greece. A detachment of 21 vehicles also travelled to Greece in April before they were forced to evacuate.

In support of the Syrian campaign, a detachemnt was sent to Jazssaa in June and then to Es Sakiye and Khalde in July, while another detachment operated from Barbara in Palestine. In September the Syrian detachment worked from Beirut. A January 1942 re-organisation of AASC units took place before they were sent home to Australia for service in South East Asia. The unit was renamed 2/1st Australian Corps Troops Supply Column and the 2/1st Australian Troops Petrol Company was formed. Leaving the Middle East in February 1942, they were briefly in South Australia before moving to Queensland in June 1942, then moving to Goodna in November and Chermside in December.

In April 1943 a reorganisation saw them renamed 2/33rd Australian Company AASC with a HQ element, three transport platoons, two workshop sections, and two Relief Driver Increments. In July 1943 they were again re-organised and renamed 2/33rd Australian General Transport Company, which had a HQs element, six transport platoons and a three section workshop. The unit left for Port Moresby in July and in August their HQ moved to Bulldog, and then to Wau in March 1944. With a reduced number of troops in New Guinea, the unit was withdrawn to Australian in June 1944.

Back in North Queensland they reorganised to form five independent transport platoons, each with a small workshop component. They were: 2/22nd; 2/23rd; 2/24th; 2/25th; 2/26th Transport Platoons and the 2/34th Workshop Platoon. In June 1945 the Workshop Platoon moved to Mapee north of Brisbane where the rest of the Company joined them in July. They worked from Mapee for the rest of the war.

Unit Personnel

• Roy Alva Stirling 22 Jan 1942 - 21 Aug 1945

Notes

Content has come from The Unit Guide - Volume 5 - The Australian Army 1939-1945, page 5.039 - Graham R McKenzie-Smith - Big Sky Publishing - 2018.