The 2/43rd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. Raised in July 1940 in South Australia as part of the 24th Brigade, the battalion was initially part of the 8th Division, until the 24th Brigade was re-allocated to the 9th Division in late 1940. It was with this formation that the 2/43rd saw service in the Middle East in 1941–1942, taking part in the fighting at Tobruk and in the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. It also undertook garrison duties in Syria, before returning to Australia early in 1943 to fight against the Japanese in the Pacific.
In 1943–1944, after re-organisation and training to prepare for jungle warfare, the 2/43rd fought in New Guinea, as part of operations to capture Lae and secure the Huon Peninsula. After returning to Australia in early 1944, a long period of training followed on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland, before the battalion undertook its final campaign of the war, taking part in Allied operations to re-take Borneo from the Japanese in June 1945. Following the end of the war, the battalion was disbanded in February 1946. One member of the battalion, Private Tom Starcevich, was awarded the Victoria Cross.
History
Formation and training
The 2/43rd Battalion was raised at Woodside, South Australia, on 17 July 1940 from Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF) volunteers. It was one of three infantry battalions assigned to the 24th Brigade – the other two being the 2/25th and 2/28th Battalions – which was initially assigned to the 8th Division. Like other Australian infantry battalions of the time, the 2/43rd had an authorised strength of around 900 personnel, and was organised into four rifle companies – designated 'A' through to 'D' – each consisting of three platoons; these were supported by a battalion headquarters and a headquarters company with six specialist platoons: signals, pioneer, anti-aircraft, transport, carriers and mortars.
Upon formation, the 2/15th was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Crellin, an Australian Staff Corps officer and Duntroon graduate of the Permanent Military Forces who arrived on promotion from major, having previously served in World War I with the 14th Battalion. The colours initially chosen for the battalion's unit colour patch (UCP) were chocolate and dark blue in an oval shape, inside a circle of grey. These were the same as those of the 43rd Battalion, a South Australian unit that was part of the First Australian Imperial Force during World War I. That unit had been re-raised in South Australia in 1921 as a Militia formation, eventually adopting the designation of the Hindmarsh Regiment. The 2/43rd's unit colour patch was later changed, following the unit's involvement in the fighting at Tobruk, when it adopted a 'T'-shaped UCP consisting of red and white.
The battalion's personnel during the early stages of its existence were volunteers who enlisted within the 4th Military District, which encompassed South Australia and Broken Hill, New South Wales. Many of the commissioned officers and some of the non-commissioned officers had previous military experience in the Militia, while the bulk of the enlisted personnel had no prior military service. Rudimentary individual soldier training was conducted along with sports meets throughout August, followed by skill-at-arms training and range shoots in September, while key appointment holders were sent away on various promotion and other specialist training courses. In early October, the battalion was presented with its battle flag by veterans who had served in the 43rd Battalion during World War I, and a short time later it was announced that the 24th Brigade would be transferred to join the 9th Division in the Middle East. More intense training, including company and battalion-level field training was conducted in the weeks that followed. In late November, the 2/43rd received their Unit colour patches in preparation for deployment and the battalion marched through the centre of Adelaide. Finally, on 28 December 1940, the men entrained at Oakbank, and were transported by rail to Melbourne, where they embarked on the transport Mauretania.