The 40th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Raised in 1916 as part of the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, the battalion was recruited completely from Tasmania as part of the 10th Brigade, 3rd Division. During the war the battalion served in the trenches along the Western Front and had the distinction of having two of its members awarded the Victoria Cross. The battalion was disbanded in 1919, however was re-raised in 1921 as part of the Citizens Force, serving as a part-time unit in Tasmania throughout the inter-war years. During the Second World War, the 40th remained in Australia until it was amalgamated with the 12th Battalion. It was disbanded in 1946, but was later re-raised in the 1950s before being subsumed into the Royal Tasmania Regiment in 1960. In 1987, it was merged into the 12th/40th Battalion, Royal Tasmania Regiment.
History
First World War
The 40th Battalion was formed in Tasmania in early 1916 as part of an expansion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) that took place after the Gallipoli Campaign. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel John Lord, the battalion was assigned to the 10th Brigade along with the 37th, 38th and 39th Battalions, and formed part of the 3rd Division, which was formed in Australia before being dispatched to Europe to join the other four divisions that had been transferred from Egypt. Initially it had been planned to only raise two companies in Tasmania, and two in Victoria, but it was later determined that all four companies would be provided by Tasmania due to the public relations value it would have. After a period of training at Claremont, Tasmania, the battalion embarked aboard HMAT Berrima on 1 July 1916 from Hobart, arriving in England on 22 August, where it encamped at Lark Hill for training. Upon arrival on Salisbury Plain, about 200 men were transferred from the 40th Battalion as reinforcements for Australian units that were already in France; these losses were subsequently made up by a batch of reinforcements from South Australia. A period of intense training followed as the battalion was prepared for trench warfare on the Western Front. Finally, in November 1916 the 3rd Division, including the 40th Battalion, was transferred to France.
With an authorised strength of 1,023 men, the 40th Battalion arrived at the front in December, but its first major battle did not come until June 1917 when it fought in the Battle of Messines. The introduction to war proved costly, with the battalion losing over 350 men killed or wounded. Its next major effort came four months later during the Battle of Broodseinde Ridge on 4 October, where one of the battalion's soldiers, Sergeant Lewis McGee of 'B' Company, performed the deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. As McGee's platoon advanced, it began taking heavy machine gun fire from a German pillbox. Alone, McGee ran over open ground and, with only his service revolver, he killed the machine-gun's crew and captured the remainder of the pillbox's garrison. Later, he returned to his platoon and gathered a group of men to take another machine gun post; the battalion was subsequently able to take its objective. A week later, the battalion took part in a follow-up attack as the Battle of Passchendaele continued. Advancing across muddy ground, the battalion came under machine gun fire from their front and flanks, and the attack ultimately failed due to the weather. Combined with their losses at Broodseinde Ridge, the 40th Battalion suffered 248 casualties during the fighting around Passchendaele, including McGee who was killed in action trying to silence a machine-gun post during the failed follow-up attack.