No. 3 Command Depot

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Brief History

The command and convalescent depots were the final stages in the return of a wounded soldier either to front-line duty or being invalided back to Australia. They processed large numbers of men, and 134,104 soldiers passed through the four Australian command depots in the UK over a 16-month period from July 1917 and November 1918. Of that number, 46,871 were invalided back to Australia.

Command Depots received men from the Australian auxiliary hospitals, as the last step in moving the soldiers from being convalescents to be 'effective'. Once soldiers were 'hardened', they went to the Australian Overseas Training Brigade and were eventually returned to the front in France.

No 1, No 3 and No 4 Australian Command Depots dealt with the soldiers deemed able to return to duty. No. 3 Command Depot was raised at Hurdcott in mid 1917. Withthe end of the war its role became less convalescent and more a holding one untilthe men could be repatriated home.

Unit Personnel

Passing through

• † Gilbert Henry Balinswella 1 - 5 Jul 1917