First Australian Imperial Force - Infantry Divisions

Infantry Divisions

• 1st Division
• 2nd Division
• 3rd Division
• 4th Division
• 5th Division
• New Zealand and Australian Division (1915)

Each division comprised three infantry brigades and each brigade contained four battalions. A battalion contained about 1000 men.

At the start of the Battle of Gallipoli the AIF had four infantry brigades with the first three making up the 1st Division. The 4th Brigade was joined with the sole New Zealand infantry brigade to form the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 2nd Division had been formed in Egypt in 1915 and was sent to Gallipoli in August. After Gallipoli, the infantry underwent a major expansion. The 3rd Division was formed in Australia and sent to France. The original infantry brigades (1st to 4th) were split in half to create 16 new battalions to form another four brigades of infantry. These new brigades (12th to 15th) were used to form the 4th and 5th Divisions. This ensured the battalions of the two new divisions had a core of experienced soldiers.

A 6th Division commenced forming in England in February 1917 but was never deployed to France and was broken up in September of that year.

The Australian infantry did not have regiments in the British sense, only battalions identified by ordinal number (1st to 60th). Each battalion originated from a geographical region. New South Wales and Victoria, the most populous states, filled their own battalions (and even whole brigades) while the "Outer States" often combined to assemble a battalion. These regional associations remained throughout the war and each battalion developed its own strong regimental identity.

In the manpower crisis following the Third Battle of Ypres, in which the five divisions sustained 38,000 casualties, there were plans to follow the British reorganisation and reduce all brigades from four battalions to three. In the British regimental system this was traumatic enough; however, the regimental identity survived the disbanding of a single battalion. In the Australian system, disbanding a battalion meant the extinction of the unit. In September 1918, when the call was made to disband eight battalions, there followed a series of "mutinies over disbandment" where the ranks refused to report to their new battalions. In the AIF, mutiny was one of two charges that carried the death penalty, the other being desertion to the enemy. Instead of being charged with mutiny, the instigators were charged as being AWOL and the doomed battalions were eventually permitted to remain together for the forthcoming battle, following which the survivors voluntarily disbanded.