ANZAC
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ANZAC army formations and units include both Australian and New Zealand troops. The term ANZAC originated as an acronym for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, an army corps of Australian and New Zealand troops who fought against the Turks in 1915 at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was disbanded in 1916 and other ANZAC formations were then formed and fought during that war in the Middle East and on the Western Front.
The term ANZAC was used again during the Vietnam War as part of the name of battalions comprising Australian and New Zealand troops.
Within Australasia, ANZAC came to stand not just for the troops in World War I, but for Australian and New Zealand soldiers in time of war more generally. Anzac Day is observed annually in memory of those soldiers who died in war. It is commemorated each year by both countries on April 25, the date of the first landing at Gallipoli in 1915 on a beach known as ANZAC Cove. (It is similar to days such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day or V-E Day commemorated in other countries.)
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[edit] World War I formations
[edit] Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps was the original ANZAC formation. It served at Gallipoli under the command of General William Birdwood and comprised the Australian 1st Division and the New Zealand and Australian Division. The three Australian and one New Zealand mounted brigades were employed as infantry with ANZAC during the Gallipoli campaign. The Australian 2nd Division began to arrive from Australia in August 1915 and some battalions saw action on Gallipoli in the final months of the campaign.
[edit] Other World War I formations
Following the evacuation of Gallipoli in November 1915, the Australian and New Zealand units reassembled in Egypt. The New Zealand contingent expanded to form their own division; the New Zealand Division. The Australian Imperial Force underwent a major reorganization resulting in the formation of two new divisions; the 4th and 5th divisions. (The Australian 3rd Division was forming in Australia and would be sent directly to England and then to France.)
These divisions were reformed into two corps; I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps. By this time, "ANZAC" had ceased to be an acronym and had begun to be used as a term to describe any formation containing Australian or New Zealand units. I ANZAC Corps, under the command of General Birdwood, departed for France in early 1916. II ANZAC Corps, commanded by General Alexander Godley, followed soon after.
The ANZAC Mounted Division (originally the Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division) was also formed at this time and contained the three Australian light horse brigades as well as the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. The division fought as mounted infantry throughout the Middle East, including Egypt, the Sinai (Romani, Magdhaba and Rafa) and Palestine (First and Second battles of Gaza, Beersheba, Jerusalem, Jericho, Es Salt, Megiddo and Amman) and Syria.
On the Western Front, ANZAC formations participated in many battles, the first of which was the disastrous Battle of Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916 where the Australians lost 5,533 men killed or wounded in one night. Australian and New Zealand Divisions were involved in a number of engagements during the Battle of the Somme (1916) while components of British corps but it was only during the Battle of Pozieres, 23 July 1916, that an ANZAC formation participated as a whole. This was I ANZAC (Australian 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions).
At Villers-Bretonneux, in the 1918 First Battles of the Somme, the "ANZAC" designation ceased to be used to represent an army corps containing Australian and New Zealand divisions. I ANZAC Corps was renamed the Australian Corps (and comprised the Australian 4th and 5th Divisions at the time). The Australian Corps ultimately contained all five Australian divisions, making it the strongest Allied army corps on the Western Front.
[edit] Formations and units since World War I
During World War II, the Australian I Corps HQ was moved to Greece during April 1941. As the corps also controlled the New Zealand 2nd Division (along with Greek and British formations), it was officially renamed the Anzac Corps on April 12. The Battle of Greece was over in weeks and the corps HQ left Greece on April 23-24, with the name Anzac Corps no longer being used.[1]
During the Vietnam War, two companies from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment were integrated into Royal Australian Regiment battalions. These integrated battalions had the suffix (ANZAC) added to their name (for example, 4 RAR became the 4RAR/NZ (ANZAC) Battalion).
The ANZAC Battle Group is a battle group of Australian and New Zealand units deployed to Timor Leste as part of Operation Astute. The battle group was established in September 2006.
[edit] Naval vessels
HMAS Anzac was a destroyer launched in 1917. It was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1917 as HMS Anzac, named to honour the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It was presented to the Australian Government in 1919 and commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy as HMAS Anzac.
The second Anzac was HMAS Anzac (D59), a Battle class (named Anzac class in the Royal Australian Navy) destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy, launched in 1948.
"ANZAC" was chosen as the name of a new class of frigates based on the MEKO 200 design, for the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal New Zealand Navy. The ANZAC class, beginning with HMAS ANZAC (FFH 150), will serve well into the 21st century.
[edit] Non-military uses of ANZAC
Rugby league test matches played between Australia and New Zealand on or near Anzac Day have been named ANZAC Tests.
ANZAC teams have also played representative rugby league with players from both Australia and New Zealand. The last match took place in 2005 in Workington, England, against a team representing Cumbria.
On ANZAC Day in Sydney, the NRL hold an annual match between Sydney and St. George-Illawarra. In Melbourne, the AFL annaully holds an Australian Rules Football match at the MCG with Collingwood vs Essendon matches every year.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ D.M. Horner. "Blamey, Sir Thomas Albert (1884 - 1951)". Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 196-201.
