About This Unit
13 and 33 Infantry Batttalions AMF
Units which began the war as Militia Battalions have the numeric superscript dropped from their titles on the VWMA in order to distinguish between numerous units in the Army with similar designations across the Militia, the 2nd AIF and the Volunteer Defence Corps.
In mid-1942, as a result of serious manpower shortages in the Australian economy that occurred because of an over mobilisation of its military forces, the Australian government decided to wind back the number of service personnel to free up manpower to return to the civilian workforce. The Army was 'over-recruited, particlarly the Home Defence / CMF / Militia into which men of eligible age had been drafted. It needed to be 'thinned out'.
In order to achieve this outcome, a number of Militia (CMF) infantry battalions were disbanded while others were merged.
This listing incorporates both the 13 and the 33 Battalions from the otbreak of WW2, to their merger in 1942 and disbandment in 1943.
The 13/33 Infantry Battalion was formed on 27 August 1942, when the pre-war 13th and 33rd Militia Infantry Battalions were amalgamated. Each had been separate Militia units in NSW, in the Hunter and New England regions until that point. The amalgamated unit served as part of the local defence network, but as the Japanese threat receded, and manpower was diverted back to industry and agriculture, 13/33 Battalion was officially disbanded on 25 November 1943.
Many of its men were stood down from full time duty and others transferred to the 2nd AIF and served in the SW Pacific.