Elements of the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were located in the United Kingdom (UK) throughout World War II. For most of the war, these comprised only a small number of liaison officers. However, between June and December 1940 around 8,000 Australian soldiers organised into two infantry brigades and supporting units were stationed in the country. Several small engineer units were also sent to the UK, and up to 600 forestry troops were active there between July 1940 and mid-1943. A prisoner of war (POW) repatriation unit arrived in the UK in August 1944, and over 5,600 released AIF prisoners eventually passed through the country. Following the war, small numbers of Australian soldiers formed part of a military cricket team which toured England, and the Army contributed most members of the Australian contingent to the June 1946 victory parade in London.
Although the UK had accommodated the main rear base for the First Australian Imperial Force during most of World War I, the deployment during 1940 was the only time significant numbers of Australian combat soldiers were stationed in the country during World War II. These soldiers arrived in mid-June on a convoy which had been diverted from its original destination in the Middle East. During the Battle of Britain the Australian force formed part of the mobile reserve which would have counter-attacked any German amphibious or airborne landings in southern England. The Australians were moved to eastern England in October 1940, and departed the country in several convoys between mid-November 1940 and January 1941 to concentrate the AIF in the Middle East.
In August 1944, AIF personnel arrived in the UK and established facilities to accommodate and support the thousands of Australian POWs held by Germany once they were released. Significant numbers of released AIF POWs arrived in the UK during the last weeks of the war in Europe and after the German surrender in May 1945. After being granted a period of leave, these men were accommodated at reception camps located in and around the coastal town of Eastbourne until they could be repatriated to Australia. Almost all of the released prisoners had departed the UK by August 1945.
Background
At the time of the two world wars, Australia and the United Kingdom (UK) had a very close relationship. Australia was a self-governing dominion within the British Empire, and its foreign and defence policies were strongly influenced by those of the British Government. Most Australians were either descended from Britons or had been born in the UK, leading to a widespread perception that Britain was the "Mother Country".
The UK accommodated the rear base for the First Australian Imperial Force for most of World War I. The AIF had been formed in 1914 and comprised soldiers who had volunteered for service outside Australia. From 1916 until the end of the war in 1918, the majority of the AIF fought on the Western Front in France. The force's administrative headquarters was in London, and large numbers of Australian training, medical and other support facilities were in the UK. Australian soldiers also frequently took leave in the country. As a result, virtually all members of the AIF who served in France passed through the UK. Historian Roger Beckett has written that "from summer 1916 to the end of the war there were never fewer than 50,000 Australian troops in Britain". Following the war's conclusion in November 1918, all AIF personnel in France were gradually transferred to the UK, from where they embarked on ships bound for Australia. In May 1919, the remaining elements of the AIF in France were moved to the UK, leading to the number of Australians there peaking at 70,000. By the end of 1919, almost all AIF personnel had departed the UK, and the force was formally disbanded on 1 April 1921.
Following the outbreak of World War II, the Australian Government established a Second Australian Imperial Force on 15 September 1939. Volunteers for the AIF were liable for service in Australia or overseas. Four AIF infantry divisions were eventually established, of which three were deployed to the Middle East and one to Malaya between 1940 and 1941.
Elements of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) were stationed in the UK during World War II. Several flying squadrons and more than 10,000 RAAF airmen who had been trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme served in the country. A small number of RAN warships operated from the UK at various times between 1940 and 1942, and by 1943 over a thousand Australians were posted from RAN to Royal Navy vessels.
Liaison officers
The Australian Army, RAN and RAAF had liaison teams in London throughout the war. These officers were based at the High Commission of Australia in London. This continued pre-war arrangements, which included an Australian representative to the British War Office and the Imperial General Staff as well as advisers to the High Commissioner. Lieutenant General Edward Smart was appointed the head of the Australian Military Mission to the UK in October 1942. His role included representing Australia on senior decision-making bodies located in the UK. An Army officer also served on the staff of Australia's representative to the British War Cabinet. In March 1945 they were joined by RAN and RAAF officers. As of April 1944, the Australian Military Mission's offices were located at Sloane Gardens in Chelsea. Smart remained the head of the Australian Army Staff (UK) until his retirement in July 1946.
The Army's medical branch also maintained specialist liaison staff in the UK. Major General Rupert Downes, who as the Director General of Medical Services was the Army's senior medical officer, arrived in the country shortly before the outbreak of war in 1939. During his visit to London, he secured the services of two eminent Australian physicians, the surgeon Sir Thomas Dunhill and Neil Hamilton Fairley, to serve as technical advisers to the Army. These two men provided valuable advice to the Australian Army during the early period of the war, including by passing on copies of medical literature and personal accounts of surgery and treatments. Dunhill also mentored Australian surgeons who were either working in the UK or were sent there during the war to gain experience. Shortly after the outbreak of war in September 1939, a medical liaison officer was posted to the High Commission. This officer reported on new developments in medical treatments, and helped to facilitate orders of medical equipment for the Army.
Other Australian soldiers served in specialist and staff roles in the UK. For example, Major General Sydney Rowell was the Director of Tactical Investigation at the War Office from March 1944 until the end of the war. In April 1944, two majors from the Army's Directorate of Research, W.E.H Stanner and John Kerr, were also temporarily attached to the Australian Army Staff in London. These officers remained in the UK for eight months, during which time they reported on British civil affairs practices, post-war planning and the War Office's financial and research arrangements.
In addition to their military functions, the AIF personnel in the UK publicised the force's achievements. In April 1944, the Department of Information and the Australian Army Staff in London jointly arranged for a series of pamphlets describing the AIF's campaigns to be distributed in the UK by the British Army Bureau of Current Affairs. In November that year, 250,000 copies of the booklet The Australian Army at War were printed by His Majesty's Stationery Office on behalf of the Australian Army Staff and distributed in the UK.
Combat forces Arrival in the UK In November 1939, the Australian War Cabinet agreed to a request from the British Government for the 6th Division, the AIF's first combat formation, to be sent from Australia to the Middle East to complete its training. If the security situation in the Middle East permitted, it was intended to transfer the AIF to either the UK or France once its training was complete to receive its equipment. When fully trained and equipped, the AIF was to become part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France.
The first of the division's three brigades to deploy, the 16th, sailed from Fremantle, Western Australia on 20 January 1940 and arrived in Egypt on 12 February. In late April, the British Government became concerned that Italy was about to enter the war alongside Germany following the successful German invasion of Norway. At this time, the two convoys transporting the 6th Division's other brigades to the Middle East were en route. Convoy US 2, which was transporting the 17th Brigade, was in the Indian Ocean and Convoy US 3 was off the Australian coast. Convoy US 3 was carrying 8,000 Australian soldiers assigned to the 18th Brigade and other units as well as 6,000 New Zealanders.
On 1 May, Anthony Eden, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, sent the Australian Government a cable proposing that both convoys be diverted to the UK. Eden justified his proposal on the grounds of the undesirability of sending convoys past Italian naval bases in the Red Sea due to the risk of attack, and the possibility of it becoming difficult to send supplies from the UK to equip units in the Middle East. In response, the Australian Government directed that Convoy US 2 be held at Colombo and US 3 at Fremantle until it received advice on the war situation from the British and Australian Chiefs of Staff. The government had a strong preference for the AIF to be concentrated in one place, so it could fight under Australian command. The Australian Chiefs of Staff initially supported the proposal to send both convoys to the UK on the grounds that it would result in the brigades being deployed to the main theatre of war, would ease the problems associated with equipping these units and would encourage volunteers for another AIF division which was being formed at the time. However, on 4 May the British Chiefs of Staff recommended that both convoys proceed to the Middle East. The Australian Chiefs of Staff subsequently endorsed this position. As a result, on 8 May the Australian Government directed the convoys to continue to the Middle East. Convoy US 2 arrived in Egypt on 18 May.
Convoy US 3's destination changed following the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, which further increased the probability that Italy would enter the war. On 15 May, the British Government proposed again that Convoy US 3 be diverted to the UK. The Australian Chiefs of Staff endorsed this proposal, but the War Cabinet remained reluctant to split the AIF. Instead, the War Cabinet asked whether the troops could be sent to either South Africa or North-West India to complete their training before joining the 6th Division in Egypt. Several ministers believed that the British Government was seeking to divide the AIF into separate elements which would operate under direct British command. After being advised by the British Government that accommodation and equipment for the troops were not likely to be available in India or South Africa, the War Cabinet agreed on 19 May for Convoy US 3 to proceed to the UK. At this time the Allied forces in France were rapidly retreating. The New Zealand Government had agreed in April for its soldiers on Convoy US 3 to be sent to the UK in the event that the ships were unable to enter the Red Sea.