page_title: 10th Battalion (Australia)
section_title: World War I
hierarchical_section_title: 10th Battalion (Australia) / History / World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian infantrymen from the 10th Battalion at Gallipoli, c. August 1915
context_page_description: The 10th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that served as part of the all-volunteer Australian Imperial Force during World War I. Among the first units raised in Australia during the war, the battalion was recruited from South Australia in August 1914 and formed part of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division. After basic training, the battalion embarked for Egypt where further training was undertaken until the battalion was committed to the Gallipoli campaign. During the landing at Anzac Cove, it came ashore as part of the initial covering force. Members of the 10th Battalion penetrated the furthest inland of any Australian troops during the initial fighting, before the Allied advance inland was checked. After this, the battalion helped defend the beachhead against a heavy counter-attack in May, before joining the failed August Offensive. Casualties were heavy throughout the campaign and in November 1915, the surviving members were withdrawn from the peninsula. In early 1916, the battalion was reorganised in Egypt at which time it provided a cadre staff to the newly formed 50th Battalion.
context_section_description: The 10th Battalion was raised shortly after the outbreak of World War I as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), an all-volunteer force established for overseas service. Recruited in South Australia, the battalion came into being on 17 August 1914 at the Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide, drawing volunteers mainly from the local population as well as some from Broken Hill in outback New South Wales. Volunteers included men who had previously served in the part-time forces before the war, coming from a variety of units including the 10th Australian Infantry Regiment, which had formerly been known as the "Adelaide Rifles". Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Price Weir, after formation the battalion was attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, along with the 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions, and was one of the first units of the AIF raised for the war. With an establishment of 31 officers and 974 other ranks spread across eight companies, the battalion's personnel received a short period of individual basic training, culminating in the presentation of the regimental colours on 17 September and a march past the state Parliament House on 21 September. The following month, collective training at company and battalion level took place at Belair National Park and at Glenelg, South Australia. On 20 October, the battalion embarked on the ex-passenger liner, HMAT Ascanius, bound for the Middle East; it was the first South Australian infantry unit to leave Australia during the war.
  After briefly stopping in Albany, where its convoy was delayed due to concerns over the presence of German warships en route, the 10th Battalion departed Australian waters in November and proceeded towards Egypt. Initially, the plan had been for the battalion to continue on the United Kingdom from where it would subsequently move to the Western Front. Poor conditions and overcrowding in training camps in the United Kingdom resulted in the decision to disembark the Australians in Alexandria instead. Arriving there on 4 December 1914, the battalion was sent into camp at Mena, near Cairo.
  The 10th Battalion underwent desert training in January and February 1915, during which time it was reorganised around the four-company structure that had been adopted by the British. Designated 'A' to 'D', each company consisted of 228 men that were spread across four platoons. In late February, the 3rd Brigade received orders that it was being committed to an operation to seize the Dardanelles Strait near where it enters the Mediterranean Sea, to secure passage through to the Black Sea via the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara in the wake of a failed naval operation to force the straits. After moving by rail to Alexandria, on 1 March the battalion boarded the Ionian, a Greek steamer. After reaching Lemnos, a shortage of fresh water on the island meant that the battalion was accommodated on the ship for the next seven weeks, although they spent their days ashore conducting exercises and mounting guard duty. Planning for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula began in early April; while this proceeded, on 15 April the battalion was issued its distinctive blue and purple unit colour patch.
caption: Troops from the 10th Battalion at Gallipoli, August 1915
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