Major General Noel Simpson, CB, CBE, DSO & Bar, ED (22 February 1907 – 18 November 1971) was an Australian Army officer who served during the Second World War, commanding at both battalion and brigade level.

He was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1926 and served in a number of infantry battalions – the 17th, 25th/33rd,[2] 34th and 45th[1] – during the inter-war years,[1] rising to the rank of major by the time the Second World War broke out.

Volunteering for overseas service, Simpson was appointed to the Second Australian Imperial Force and posted to the 2/13th Battalion as second-in-command.

[4] Simpson deployed to the Middle East with them in late 1940, but shortly after arrival, he was seconded to the headquarters staff of the 7th Division, and later in the Syria–Lebanon campaign against the Vichy French in mid-1941.

[5] Throughout September and October, despite being wounded, Simpson led the battalion in heavy fighting around Kumawa, and then Jivevaneng, where they held off a Japanese force that had threatened to encircle them.

However, he would not see action with them;[6] instead, Simpson was promoted to brigadier in March 1945 and placed in command of the 29th Brigade, a Militia formation tasked with joining II Corps' 3rd Division on Bougainville,[4] where the Australians had begun a limited offensive after taking over from US forces in late 1944.

[8] Simpson arrived on Bougainville on 28 March,[1] and the following month the brigade began defensive operations protecting the supply lines that were maintaining the Australian thrust towards the Japanese stronghold around Buin.