page_title: 7th Division (Australia)
section_title: New Guinea
hierarchical_section_title: 7th Division (Australia) / History / New Guinea
caption_attribution_description: English: 1943-01-07. PAPUA, GIROPA POINT. MEMBERS OF 2/12TH INFANTRY BATTALION ADVANCE AS GENERAL STUART M3 LIGHT TANKS MANNED BY B SQUADRON, 2/6TH ARMOURED REGIMENT, BLAST JAPANESE PILLBOXES IN THE FINAL ASSAULT ON BUNA. NOTE MACHINE GUN ON TANK CLEARING TREETOPS OF SNIPERS BY SYSTEMATIC SPRAYING OF TREES AS THE INFANTRY MOVES FORWARD. THIS TANK, IN ONE MORNING'S FIGHTING, FIRED 10,000 ROUNDS OF MACHINE GUN AMMUNITION. THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN DURING ACTUAL FIGHTING. NEAREST THE TANK IS CORPORAL G. G. FLETCHER, AND NEXT TO THE TREE (CENTRE) CORPORAL M. D. CROKER. (NEGATIVE BY GEORGE SILK).
context_page_description: The 7th Division was an infantry division of the Australian Army. It was formed in February 1940 to serve in World War II, as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force. The division was raised on the British establishment of nine infantry battalions per division and consisted of two new brigades and three of the original 12 battalions of the 6th Division forming the third brigade. The division is sometimes known by the nickname "The Silent Seventh", due to a perception that its achievements were unrecognised, in comparison to the other Australian divisions. The origin of this belief appears to be censorship of the part played by the 7th Division in the fierce fighting in the 1941 Syria-Lebanon campaign. The 7th Division along with the 6th and 9th Australian Divisions were the only divisions to serve in both the Middle East and the South West Pacific Area. It was disbanded in 1946, following the end of the war.
context_section_description: In December 1941, as Japanese forces advanced rapidly in South East Asia, it was decided that the 6th and 7th Divisions were needed to defend Australia. In early January 1942, the division moved from Syria, where they had been undertaking garrison duties, to Palestine. On 30 January elements of the division embarked upon transport ships, including the USS Mount Vernon (AP-22) at Suez to begin the journey back to Australia as part of Operation Stepsister. Spread across five convoys, the division's return was staggered. At this time, the British government requested that the division be sent to Burma to help stem the tide of the Japanese advance on Rangoon, but the Australian government declined the request.
  Nevertheless, elements of the division, consisting mainly of men from the 2/3rd Machine Gun Battalion, the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion, and the 2/6th Field Company, as well as some transport and medic personnel, on the transport Orcades were diverted to Java, and fought alongside Dutch forces there, but were soon overwhelmed. Of these men, four were killed, while 206 became prisoners of war. The bulk of the division went straight to Australia, however, arriving in Adelaide in mid-March 1942. The following month, the division was moved to New South Wales where personnel were given a brief period of leave before moving on to Queensland. There they undertook defensive duties and training in light of the perceived threat of Japanese invasion. In April, the division was assigned to I Corps, First Army. In August, as the situation in New Guinea worsened, the decision was made to deploy the 7th Division. The 21st Brigade, under Brigadier Arnold Potts, was dispatched to Port Moresby, from where they would advance to help reinforce the units of the Militia, including the 39th Battalion, which were fighting a rearguard action on the Kokoda Track.
  Simultaneously, the 18th Brigade, under the command of Brigadier George Wootten was sent to Milne Bay. Along with the 7th Brigade (a Militia formation), Royal Australian Air Force planes and ground staff, and a US engineer regiment, they successfully defended an airfield at the eastern tip of Papua from a major assault by Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces. The fighting came to be known as the Battle of Milne Bay, and was the first outright defeat of Japanese land forces in World War II. Corporal John French, from the 2/9th Battalion, was awarded a posthumous VC for his actions on 4 September 1942. The division's casualties at Milne Bay were 126 killed and 182 wounded.
  Meanwhile, the Kokoda Track campaign had become a vicious, see-sawing battle, featuring fierce fighting around Kokoda itself and at Isurava where Private Bruce Kingsbury, from the 2/14th Battalion, was awarded a posthumous VC for his actions on 29 August. The Australians withdrew from Isurava, taking part in further actions around Templeton's Crossing and Efogi. The 25th Brigade joined the 21st at Ioribaiwa before the Australians made their final stand on Imita Ridge in mid September. Having been successfully delayed, the Japanese supply lines were now over extended and in October the 25th Brigade took part in the hard-fought advance that finally pushed the Japanese out of the Owen Stanley Range. During this stage of the fighting, actions were fought again at Templeton's Crossing and Oivi–Gorari before the Australians reached the Kumusi River on 13 November. During the fighting around the Kokoda Track, 359 men from the division were killed and another 560 were wounded.
  The 21st Brigade returned for the Battle of Buna–Gona in late 1942, in which Australian and US forces suffered very high casualties, while capturing the main Japanese beachheads on the north coast of Papua. The 7th Division lost 750 men killed in this fighting and another 1,293 wounded. Between December 1942 and March 1943, the division was withdrawn back to Australia where, in early 1943, they were converted to the Jungle Divisional establishment, which saw a reduction in the division's manpower by around 4,000 personnel.
  During 1943–1944, the whole 7th Div
caption: Giropa Point, Papua. Members of the 2/12th Battalion advance as Stuart tanks of the 2/6th Armoured Regiment, shell Japanese pillboxes in the final assault on Buna. An upward-firing machine gun is fitted to the tank, to clear treetops of snipers. (Photographer: George Silk).
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