Second Australian Imperial Force in the United Kingdom

During the Battle of Britain the Australian force formed part of the mobile reserve which would have counter-attacked any German amphibious or airborne landings in southern England.

The Australians were moved to eastern England in October 1940, and departed the country in several convoys between mid-November 1940 and January 1941 to concentrate the AIF in the Middle East.

In August 1944, AIF personnel arrived in the UK and established facilities to accommodate and support the thousands of Australian POWs held by Germany once they were released.

This continued pre-war arrangements, which included an Australian representative to the British War Office and the Imperial General Staff as well as advisers to the High Commissioner.

During his visit to London, he secured the services of two eminent Australian physicians, the surgeon Sir Thomas Dunhill and Neil Hamilton Fairley, to serve as technical advisers to the Army.

These two men provided valuable advice to the Australian Army during the early period of the war, including by passing on copies of medical literature and personal accounts of surgery and treatments.

[26] In November 1939, the Australian War Cabinet agreed to a request from the British Government for the 6th Division, the AIF's first combat formation, to be sent from Australia to the Middle East to complete its training.

[27][28] If the security situation in the Middle East permitted, it was intended to transfer the AIF to either the UK or France once its training was complete to receive its equipment.

[36] The Australian Chiefs of Staff initially supported the proposal to send both convoys to the UK on the grounds that it would result in the brigades being deployed to the main theatre of war, would ease the problems associated with equipping these units and would encourage volunteers for another AIF division which was being formed at the time.

[41] After being advised by the British Government that accommodation and equipment for the troops were not likely to be available in India or South Africa, the War Cabinet agreed on 19 May for Convoy US 3 to proceed to the UK.

The War Cabinet rejected White's proposal, and agreed to remind the British Government of its previous assurances that the AIF would be concentrated in a single location.

[42] A proposal made in late June by the British Medical Directorate for Australian soldiers who were wounded in the Middle East to be sent to the UK to recover for as long as the Mediterranean remained open to Allied shipping was also rejected.

Official historian Gavin Long described the force which arrived on Convoy US 3 as a "hodge-podge" of units, and noted that none of its elements had their full allocation of equipment.

Wynter selected this organisation as he expected that artillery guns and technical equipment would take a long time to be delivered, and there was a high probability that his force would need to go into combat at short notice with what it had.

Eventually a wing containing 360 beds at the King George V Sanitorium in Godalming was allocated to the AIF, and the 2/3rd Australian General Hospital was established on 30 July to operate it.

After a period in which offenders other than those serving long sentences were held by their units, the AIF (UK) Detention Camp was established on 7 August near Salisbury.

[59] To ensure that they could rapidly respond to an invasion, trucks carrying live ammunition accompanied all elements of the brigade when they left camp to undertake training exercises.

The Agents-General for individual Australian states in London offered hospitality to the troops, and facilities for them were established at the Strand Theatre and the Royal Empire Society.

[67] The Australian Government remained committed to concentrating the AIF in the Middle East, and discussions of options to transfer Australforce there commenced in August 1940.

[74] Following the departure of Australforce, a small AIF administrative section remained in the UK as part of the military liaison staff at the High Commission of Australia.

[50] The small numbers of soldiers who were serving lengthy periods of imprisonment in British Army detention facilities or civil prisons also remained in the country until they completed their sentence.

[75] In 1944, 13 members of the AIF were posted to the UK to gain experience in planning and conducting large-scale amphibious operations as part of an effort to improve the army's procedures ahead of Australian landings in the Pacific.

[76] In 1939, the British Government requested that Australia raise three 200-man strong companies of foresters as part of an intended force of thirty such units drawn from Canada, New Zealand and the UK which was to support the BEF in France.

[82] To maximise the Australian foresters' productivity, less skilled forestry workers from Honduras and Italian prisoners of war (POWs) were placed under their control to undertake unskilled work.

A multi-national Prisoner of War Executive (PWX) was established within the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force to co-ordinate these efforts, and contact officers were selected to take charge of POWs after they were liberated.

By this time, the 1st AIF Reception Group had handled 209 Australians released during two POW exchanges, as well as small numbers of soldiers who arrived via Italy, Switzerland and the Soviet Union.

While it had been feared that the former POWs would have to remain in the UK for up to six months due to a shortage of shipping, it proved possible to dispatch them to Australia at regular intervals.

Several members of the team, including its captain Warrant Officer Lindsay Hassett, were seconded to the AIF Reception Group (United Kingdom) and released POWs attended matches.

[112] During their time in the UK, members of the Victory Contingent were encouraged to interact with civilians and be prepared to answer questions about Australia from Britons who were considering emigrating.

[114] Most of the Victory Contingent departed the UK in late June, though two of the Victoria Cross recipients—Private Richard Kelliher and Sergeant Reginald Rattey—remained in London to receive their medals from King George VI during an investiture ceremony on 9 July.