This is a website that is dedicated to the memory of the 2/15th Battalion
Second AIF.

Last Communication from the 2/13th Battalion Association can be downloaded here:

2-13_Bn_last_magazine (2.28 MB)

Rats' tales left for the history books as diggers disband.

December 15, 2007

MEN of the 2/13th Infantry Battalion hold the honour of enduring the eight-month Siege of Tobruk from start to finish in 1941. They were among the men the German propagandist Lord Haw Haw taunted as the "Rats of Tobruk" because of the way they dug in to survive - and they adopted the name with pride.

Their fallen comrades on the barren coast of North Africa grow not old, but those who are left grow old. No rat cunning can avoid the way the years condemn and yesterday another chapter in Australia's military history came to an end.

Thirty-two surviving members of the battalion - called "The Devil's Own" - gathered at the Masonic Centre in Sydney for the last ever function of the 2/13th Battalion Association.

Because members are no longer numerous enough or fit enough to organise events or publish the journal that has kept them in touch, the association opted to disband after starting up in 1942.

Nearly 3000 served in the 2/13th between 1940 and 1945, but battalion members numbered just 141 in the last edition of the association journal, The Devil's Own Despatch.

On the stage at yesterday's function, the battalion's banner told its tale of glory: Er Regima, Tobruk and El Alamein in North Africa; Lae, Scarlet Beach and Borneo in the Pacific war.

Despite two strokes and four heart bypass operations, 86-year-old Harold Taylor came down from Lismore to play the Last Post. He served with the battalion in the Pacific in 1944-45.

A "sad" Joe Madeley presided over yesterday's function as the last acting president of the 2/13th association.

The 87-year-old recently travelled back to Tobruk, and the harsh desert landscape again left him marvelling at how he survived there for so long against the might of the German army. Mateship had a lot to do with it, he said, and the association had been "absolutely marvellous" for catching up with those mates who "were closer than family".

Edith Close lost her husband, Cyril, 22 years ago and the association had been "everything to me … We have had a wives and widows group for 33 years. I don't know how I would have managed without it."

The 2/13 was formed in April 1940 at Ingleburn army camp, in Sydney's south-west, and went on to make history when Australian troops gave the all-conquering Germans their first setback of World War II. During the siege, the Australians would crawl out at night and harass the enemy.

The president of the Australian Industry and Defence Network, Michael Turner, said: "The … tactics they used are still being used by our soldiers in Afghanistan. We took the fight up to [the enemy]. We didn't wait for them to come to us. The boys learnt the hard way and they passed the lesson down."

The 2/17th Battalion Association also disbanded this week after a meeting in Sydney. Like the 2/13th, it was formed at Ingleburn in April 1940 and the two fought side by side at Tobruk.

The final edition of the 2/13th's Despatch has a story about Bert Venness, of Coffs Harbour, who on August 27 became the first devil to reach 100. Members' news is full of tales about respite care, pneumonia, hip replacements and heart problems.

The "Last Post" section marks the passing in 2007 of a further 15 members and "at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them".

From AWM History

2/13th Battalion

The 2/13th Infantry Battalion (also known as the “Devil’s Own”) was formed in April 1940 at Ingleburn army camp, south-west of Liverpool. The battalion was part of the 20th Brigade of the newly formed 7th Division. It completed basic training at Ingleburn before marching to Bathurst army camp to undergo subunit field training. In October the 20th Brigade, comprising the 2/13th, 2/15th, and 2/17th Battalions, sailed from Sydney Harbour for the Middle East. The brigade transferred to the newly formed 9th Division en route to Egypt. Arriving in November the battalion travelled by train to Palestine and went into camp at Kilo 89. Early in March 1941 the 9th Division moved into Cyrenaica replacing the 6th Division going to Greece.

The Axis were also reorganising their forces. German forces landed at Tripoli, bolstering the Italians, and advanced east. The British were forced to evacuate Benghazi and fall back to Tobruk, referred to as the “Benghazi handicap”. The 2/13th covered the division’s withdrawal.

The 2/13th was first complete Australian unit to fight German troops during the Second World War. The battle took place at Er Regima on 4 April 1940. The battalion was thinly spread along an 11 kilometre front against a German force of about 3,000 men. The battle began mid-afternoon and continued into the night. Outnumbered and vulnerable the battalion fought on until 10 pm before withdrawing. They initially moved of on foot but were soon picked up by trucks and driven 16 km east of Barce to rest.

By 9 April the 2/13th joined the rest of the division at Tobruk. It helped defend the “fortress” for eight months, being the only Australian battalion to see out the siege. It planned to evacuate in October but was delayed when their convey was forced to turn back from enemy air attack. The battalion remained in Tobruk until the siege was lifted in December.

The 9th Division returned to Palestine before going to Syria to perform garrison duties. The 2/13th rejoined the division at Lattakia.

By July 1942 the war in North Africa was critical for the British Eighth Army. German and Italian forces had reached El Alamein, about seventy miles from Alexandria. The 9th Division rushed to Alamein and held the northern sector for almost four months while the Eighth Army reinforced under new a commander. The 2/13th reached the forward British defences in mid-July and moved to Tel El Eisa in early-August. It fought in the Alamein battle from 23 October to 5 November 1942.

The 9th Division was recalled to Australia to face a new enemy – the Japanese. The 2/13th left Egypt in January 1943 and disembarked at Sydney in February. After leave and jungle training on the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland in August the battalion embarked for Milne Bay in Papua.

On 4 September the battalion departed Milne Bay on landing craft and landed on Red Beach, north-west of Lae, without casualties. It carried out subsequent jungle operations until Lae fell 12 days later. The battalion also landed at Scarlet Beach near Finschhafen on 22 September, helping defend the area against Japanese counter-attack.

The 2/13th returned to Australia in March 1944, disembarking in Brisbane. After leave, it reformed at Ravenshoe and did not return to action until the final months of the war.

Towards the end of April the 9th Division was transported to Morotai to prepare for amphibious landings on Borneo as part of the OBOE operations. The 2/13th landed at Brunei on 10 June before making another landing in the Miri–Lutong area ten days later. The battalion captured the Lutong airfield and oil tanks and moved inland along the Pujut Road to the Pujut oilfields. It then moved along Canada Hill to Lobang, where it remained until the end of the war.

Following Japan’s surrender, the 2/13th’s ranks thinned, as men were discharged or transferred. The battalion moved to Luban in November and in December sailed to Australia to “wind up” in preparation for disbandment.