Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

25 and 25/33 Garrison Battalion - WW2

The VWMA has adopted a naming convention (absent in WW2 Army practice) in an attempt to minimise confusion between unit titles, because there were so many that were similar and event the same across different parts of the Army, and with WW1 units.

On the VWMA, only AIF (WW1) and 2nd AIF (WW2) units have superscript text in their titles (eg, 2nd/27th, 3rd etc).  Militia, Volunteer Defence Corps and Garrison Battalions just have a plain numeric designation; eg 2 Battalion 27 Battalion, etc.

Please Note: This unit encompasses all members who served with either 25 Garrison Battalion, 33 Garrison Battalion, or the merged 25/33 Garrison Battalion and all Loveday Internment Group personnel. 

Readers are encourgaed to follow the link to the Lovesay Internment Group website link in the sidebar which features an excellent video about the facility.

The Loveday Internment Group was a large complex located at Loveday in South Australia's Riverland, during World War Two.  It was built and operated to house internees and PoW.  It was garrisoned by the 25/33 Garrison Battalion,  a CMF / Militia unit.

Construction began on 2 August 1940, a the Battle of Britain was raging in Europe. Opened in 1941, Loveday Internment Camp comprised the largest group of internment and Prisoner of War (PoW) camps in Australia. At its peak in 1943 the Loveday Group had 6 operational Internment and PoW Camps and 3 'Wood Camps' catering for just under 6000 Internees and Prisoners of War. The Loveday camps were also the only self-sufficient and even profitable internment camps in Australia and in every aspect of their operation, revolutionary.  Their success was largely the result of the visonary approach taken by the Camp Commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Dean, who commanded the camps for the duration of the war.

Garrison Battalions were part of the Australian 'Army Reserve' within the CMF Militia structure for Homeland Defence tasks, with the role of manning fixed defences and vulnerable points including POW and Internemtn camps. The staff personnel were 'Class B men', those between 48 and 55 who had seen war service before September 1939, and therefore comprised mostly WW1 veterans.

The first seven Garrison battalions were raised in October 1939. A total of 33 were raised across the States, numbered 1-33 and where more than three battalions were raised, they were grouped in State-based Brigades, numbered in accordance with the relevant Military District Headquarters in which they were embedded; 1 Garrison Brigade in Queensland, 2 in New South Wales, 3 in Victoria, 4 in South Australia and 5 in Western Australia.  A number of Battalions were merged and others reduced to a single company which retained the original Battalion number.

Prisoner-of-War and Internment Camp units were part of the Garrison Battalion organisation but were on a special establishment where the need for prior war service was waived. AWAS (female) personnel were subsequently often posted in for clerical and administrative roles.

From early on some battalions had adopted a secondary title indicating their specific role, such as (Internal Security). In 1942 this was formalised and most battalions were given an appropriate secondary title.

Initially, all Garrison Battalions wore the same shoulder patch, a black square on a green square. Numerous requests were made by battalions to individualise their patches and in late 1942 the system was adopted of geometric shapes, green on black in a reversal of the original design, approval for which was dated 11 December 1942.

Compiled by Steve Larkins from a range of sources:

1. McKenzie-Smith Graham, 2018,  "The Unit Guide' Volume 2 of 6. Headquarters, Infantry, Cavalry, Armoured & Intelligence Units" Big Sky Publishing ISBN 978-1-925675-14-6 

2. Loveday Intenrment Camp website https://lovedayinternmentcamp.au/#aboutsee link in sidebar.