7th Brigade (Australia)

7th Brigade is a brigade of the Australian Army. The Brigade was first raised in 1915 and saw action in World War I and World War II. The 7th Brigade remains part of the Army and is based in Brisbane, Queensland and comprises several regular and Army Reserve units located in South-East Queensland.

History

The 7th Brigade was formed in early 1915 and became part of the 2nd Division when the Division was raised in July 1915. During World War I, the Brigade consisted of the following battalions:
* 25th Battalion (Queensland)
* 26th Battalion (Queensland)
* 27th Battalion (South Australia)
* 28th Battalion (Western Australia)

During World War II, the 7th Brigade was a Militia unit made up of 5 battalions. At the beginning of the war the brigade was primarily responsible for the defense of South East Queensland, with battalions located at Chermside, Cabarlah and Maryborough. On 13 December 1941, the brigade received order to partially mobilize; the following day the order for full mobilization was issued. The brigade then only had 2139 men in all ranks. Because of the issue of the mobilization order, by the 20th, this had increased to 3918 men, and by the 27th, the brigade was made up of 4449 men of all ranks.

In May 1942, the 7th Brigade now comprising only the 9th, 25th and 61st battalion relocated to Townsville to act as the cities covering force along with the 11th Brigade and the 29th Brigade. On 9 July 1942, the first elements of the brigade departed Townsville for Milne Bay, arriving there on 11 July. In July, the Brigade took part in the Battle of Milne Bay along with the 7th Division.

During World War II the Brigade was made up of the:
*9th Battalion
*15th Battalion
*25th Battalion
*47th Battalion
*61st Battalion

7th Brigade today

Today, the 7th Brigade is converting from an integrated formation containing both regular army and army reserve units, to a mainly regular formation, based in Queensland as part of the Deployable Joint Force Headquarters/1st Division. The 7th Brigade will operate most of the Australian Army's Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicles, with the Brigade's infantry battalions being motorised. Under plans announced in 2006, a new regular infantry battalion, the 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, will be formed as a motorised battalion to join the 7th Brigade. To facilitate this, two battalions of the Royal Queensland Regiment were transferred to 11 Brigade in July 2007.

Brigade composition

*HQ 7 Brigade
*2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry)
*6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Motorised Infantry)
*8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Motorised Infantry)
*1st Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
*2 Combat Engineer Regiment
*139th Signals Squadron(7 Combat Signal Regiment disbanded 31 Dec 06)
*7 Combat Service Support Battalion

References

* [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/awm52/8/AWM52-8-2-7-001.pdf Official Brigade WWII war diaries]