During the interwar years, the machine gun battalions disappeared from the Australian Army's order of battle, largely due to cost-cutting measures. The idea would be revived in the Australian Army in the late 1930s due to concerns about war breaking out in Europe, and subsequently four machine gun battalions were raised as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force – the &lt;a href="2/1st%20Machine%20Gun%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/1st&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="2/2nd%20Machine%20Gun%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/2nd&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="2/3rd%20Machine%20Gun%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/3rd&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="2/4th%20Machine%20Gun%20Battalion%20%28Australia%29"&gt;2/4th&lt;/a&gt; – for service during World War II, while several others would be formed within the Militia, either by converting motorised Light Horse units, or by raising new battalions. The 2nd AIF battalions served in the Middle East, Greece, Syria, Malaya, Singapore, New Guinea and Borneo, while the Militia units were used primarily in a garrison role in Australia and New Guinea, although they saw some action against Japanese forces around Wau and in the Finisterre Ranges in 1943–44. In the post war period, though, the Australian Army discontinued the concept of a separate machine gun corps and machine gun battalions, instead nesting the role and function within the Royal Australian Infantry Corps, and within standard infantry battalions both within the Royal Australian Regiment and the state-based Army Reserve regiments.