34th Brigade ( Australia ) The Australian 34th Brigade was an Australian Army brigade . The brigade was formed in late 1945 following the end of World War II as part of the Australian contribution to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force ( BCOF ) in Japan . In late 1948 it was renamed the 1st Brigade . History . During the final part of World War II the Australian government became concerned that despite the nation ' s contributions to the Allied war effort , that these might not be recognised in the post war settlement . As a result shortly after Japan ' s capitulation , the Australian prime minister , Ben Chifley made a formal offer of troops for occupation duty . The Australian contribution was to encompass naval , air and ground forces , the later of which were to form an independent brigade - sized formation . As the process of demobilising Australia ' s military forces had begun the day the war ended , it was necessary to raise a new force and consequently the 34th Brigade was formed on 27 October 1945 at Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies . The brigade ' s units were formed from personnel drawn from the 6th , 7th and 9th Divisions who volunteered for occupation duty in Japan . Upon formation the brigade was under the command of Brigadier Robert Nimmo . After a lengthy period of training which took place while political negotiations between the Allied powers took place , the brigade finally departed for Japan in February 1946 , arriving at Kure between the 21 and 23 February . With an authorised strength of 4 , 700 personnel , the brigade was structured around three infantry battalion s — the 65th , 66th and 67th — with various supporting arms including an artillery battery , a squadron of engineers and an armoured car squadron , which had been raised from the 4th Armoured Brigade and equipped with Staghound armoured car s . The Australian contribution represented about one third of the strength of the BCOF force , while the other two thirds were provided by India , the United Kingdom and New Zealand . As part of the BCOF , the 34th Brigade was assigned responsibility for providing security and enforcing the armistice conditions in Hiroshima Prefecture . The 65th Battalion was based at Fukuyama , the 66th Battalion at Hiro and the 67th Battalion at Kaitaichi . There was no resistance to the occupation , however , the brigade ' s units conducted regular patrols throughout the prefecture and provided support to the occupation government . During this time , the tasks that the 34th Brigade were involved in included providing security for elections , locating and destroying war equipment and stores , and ceremonial duties , including mounting guard at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo . As a result of the withdrawal of British and Indian forces throughout 1947 , the brigade had to expand the area in which it operated at that time . By June of that year , the Australians made up the bulk of the BCOF , representing 6 , 250 personnel out of the total force of 6 , 850 . In October the New Zealanders also withdrew , and shortly thereafter , as a result of the stable security situation in Japan , the Australian government decided to reduce its contribution to the Allied occupation force from a full brigade , to just one infantry battalion , as well as one fighter squadron and supporting personnel in an effort to build up the newly established Australian Regular Army . As a result , in late December 1948 the brigade and two of the three infantry battalions ( the 65th and 66th ) returned to Australia . Upon its return to Australia , the 34th Brigade was redesignated the 1st Brigade . The Australian contribution to the occupation of Japan continued , however , as the 67th Battalion ( which had been re - designated the 3rd Battalion , Australian Regiment in November 1948 ) remained as the Australian Army ' s only combat unit in Japan . In early 1950 , the Menzies government announced that it would finally withdraw all its forces later in the year , the outbreak of the Korean War prevented this , and ultimately 3 RAR remained in Japan September 1950 when it was deployed to Korea , where it served as part of the 27th Commonwealth Brigade . Composition . The primary elements of the 34th Brigade were :