A total of five divisions were raised as part of the all volunteer Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF), and this formed the bulk of Australia's deployed ground force during the war. Of these, the four infantry divisions – the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th – were the only 2nd AIF divisions to be fully formed and see active service. The 6th went into action first, fighting its first battle at Bardia in January 1941, and it was subsequently joined in the Middle East by the 7th and 9th Divisions, who fought several campaigns in North Africa, Greece, Syria and Lebanon. While the 8th Division was largely decimated in early 1942 during fighting against the Japanese in Malaya and then taken into captivity in Singapore, and in the islands to Australia's north, the other three infantry divisions fought throughout the war, eventually returning from the Middle East and fighting against the Japanese in the Pacific during the New Guinea and Borneo Campaigns. Initially, it had been planned to deploy the tank-equipped 1st Armoured Division to the Middle East also, but concerns about a Japanese invasion meant that they were retained in Australia for continental defence. Elements of the division did eventually see action in the Pacific against the Japanese, but only after being transferred from the division to other formations such as the 4th Armoured Brigade. Late in the war it was planned to form another infantry division within the 2nd AIF as Australia's contribution to the proposed invasion of Japan. This formation was to be designated the 10th Division – which previously existed briefly as a Militia formation in 1942 – and was to be formed using volunteers from the three remaining 2nd AIF infantry divisions, which would have been broken up, but the war ended before the division was re-established.