Australia WW2 Colour Patch

2/15th Battalion 1940 -1941 issue.

Rare early Middle East issue.

The 2/15th Infantry Battalion was raised at Redbank army camp in Brisbane on 1 May 1940, as part of the 20th Brigade. The battalion did its basic training at Redbank and went to Darwin to undertake three months of garrison duty in July. It moved to Sydney in November and at the end of the year sailed aboard the Queen Mary with the 20th Brigade to Palestine via India, transhipping to the Rohna at Bombay.

The 20th Brigade transferred from the 7th to the 9th Division en route to the Middle East. It arrived at El Kantara in Egypt at the start of February 1941 and moved to Kilo 89 in Palestine for desert training. At the end of the month the 2/15th travelled through the Libyan Desert to the front line at Kilo 789 near Mersa Brega, including Mersa Matruh, Bug Bug, Tobruk, Derna, Tocra, Benghazi, and Agedabia. The battalion relieved elements of 6th Division, becoming the most advanced part of the line.

The 2/15th moved to Gabel El Gira on 27 March and then Barce. German forces had landed at Tripoli and were advancing east. It was involved in the withdrawal of British forces to Tobruk, referred to as the "Benghazi handicap". The withdrawal cost the battalion heavily: the commanding officer, second in command, and 154 men were captured at El Gazala.

The battalion moved to Hill 69 near Gaza where it remained into 1942, before undertaking training and garrison duties in Lebanon and Syria.

Code: 2938