Part 4 - Nominal Roll All AIF POW "Evades" in Switzerland Chapter 4 - The Ninth Division C. 26th Brigade Owing to the entry of Italy into the war as the second Axis power, one brigade of the 7th Division then on their way to the Middle East was diverted to England. The commander of the 7th Division at that time was Major-General Sir John Lavarack and he called upon Brigadier R.W. Tovell to form the 26th Infantry Brigade. This consisted of the 2/23rd, 2/24th, and 2/48th Battalions, known respectively as "Albury's Own", "Wangaratta's Own" and, to the Victorians of those two battalions, the 2/48th "That Mad Mob from the West". The 18th and 25th Brigades were transferred to the 6th Division in exchange for their 20th and 26th Brigades. Thus the 9th Division was to take over operations in Cyrenaica, to release the 6th Division to go to Greece and Crete. This re-organisation caused some confusion and some resentment among the Brigades who had been shuffled around, and lost their original Divisional "esprit de corps". The 26th Brigade was commanded by 9th Division Headquarters throughout the war and remained in the Middle East after the 6th and 7th Divisions had been recalled to defend Australia from the Japanese. 2/23rd Australian Infantry Battalion B30 "Mud and Blood - Albury's Own, 2/23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, Ninth Division", Pat Share Editor, Frankston, Vic., 1978, reprinted John Burridge Military Antiques, Perth, 1991.
2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion
"The Second Twenty-Fourth - a History”, prepared by A. Amiet, D. Cunning, A. Macfarlane, R.P. Serle and E.J. Shattock, Jacaranda Press, Brisbane, 1963.
2/48th Australian Infantry Battalion B35 "Tobruk to Tarakan" - The Story of the 2/48th Battalion AIF", John G. Glenn, Rigby Limited, Adelaide, 1960. George McKenzie
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