Members of the 38th Battalion in Dog Trench near Guillemont Farm, in which they were held by machine gun fire during the attack on the Hindenburg Line, near Bony.

During the inter-war years, the battalion was re-raised as a part-time military unit and during the World War II undertook garrison duties in Australia, but did not see combat.

The 38th Battalion was originally raised in early 1916 for service during World War I, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Davis.

[1] Like the other units of the 3rd Division, which was formed as part of an expansion of the AIF after the Gallipoli Campaign,[2] the battalion was raised in Australia, undertaking rudimentary training in Bendigo, Victoria, before being moved to Campbellfield, Victoria, after an outbreak of cerebro-spinal meningitis resulted in several deaths.

Their first action came in late February 1917, when the battalion contributed a 400-man detachment to a short raid on German-held trenches.

[1] An action that was fought to secure the Wytschaete–Messines Ridge, which was located south of the salient that had formed in the line around Ypres, the battle proved to be a successful, but costly introduction to the European battlefield for the 3rd Division.

[4] The offensive steadily pushed the Allies back towards Paris, and as a result the Australian divisions were brought south from Belgium to the Somme to help restore the situation.

They remained linked until November 1936 when the two battalions were re-raised as separate units again,[10] as part of an expansion of the Australian military in response to increasing tensions in Europe.