After training in Egypt, the battalion took part in the fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Belgium, including major battles at Mouquet Farm, Messines, Polygon Wood, Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux.

The 52nd Battalion was originally raised in Egypt on 1 March 1916 as part of the reorganisation and expansion of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following the Gallipoli campaign.

Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Miles Fitzroy Beevor, the veterans were bolstered by a large number of new recruits, who were mainly drawn from Queensland.

[4] Sailing on the transport ship HMT Ivernia, the battalion departed Alexandria and landed in Marseilles on 11 June 1916, and was then moved by rail to northern France where they undertook gas training and received new equipment to prepare them for trench warfare.

Assigned to the centre of the 13th Brigade's attack, the majority of 52nd Battalion was tasked with capturing the Fabeck Graben, while two platoons assisted with the drive towards Mouquet Farm.

Later, after they were moved to the Ypres salient in Belgium they fought around Messines in early June and then, in late September, during the Battle of Polygon Wood.

As the Allies were pushed back in the direction of Paris, the units of the Australian 4th Division were rushed south from Belgium where they had spent the winter.

[13] Later that month, as the German offensive approached the vital railhead at Amiens, the battalion took part in an Allied counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux, commencing late in the evening of 24 April 1918.

[23] At this time, the battalion was assigned a recruitment area between Caulfield, Dandenong and Gippsland, and was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George Knox.

[29] During the early years of World War II, the battalion remained in Australia undertaking garrison duties as part of the 10th Brigade, assigned to the 3rd Division.

[33] In early 1942, when concerns about a Japanese invasion of Australia heightened, the battalion, consisting of 44 officers and 890 other ranks, was moved to Jimboomba, in Queensland, from Bonegilla.

[34] The invasion did not eventuate and the government decided to demobilise part of the military to rectify a manpower shortage that developed in the Australian economy.