The Battalion Story 2 / 26th Infantry Battalion 8th Australian Division Compiled by Lt Colonel R Magarry MC
The 2/26th Infantry Battalion was formed in Queensland on the 1st November 1940.
The Battalion was part of the 8th Division AIF which was rushed to the defence of Singapore in August 1941.
They bivouacked near what is now Changi Airport.
They formed part of the defence of the Malayan Peninsula and then the fighting withdrawal from the advancing Japanese.
Just prior to the surrender they defended the causeway area of Singapore.
After the surrender the men suffered three and half years of Japanese torture as POWs. The Battalion was split and men sent to various locations including Thai Burma Railway, Borneo and Japan.
A Force : Thai Burma Railway
B Force : Sandakan and Kuching Borneo
D force : Thai Burma Railway
F force : Thai Burma Railway
H force : Thai Burma Railway
J force : Japan
The Battalion Story 2 / 26th Infantry Battalion 8th Australian Division Compiled by Lt Colonel R Magarry MC
