2 / 14th Field Regiment ( Australia ) The 2 / 14th Field Regiment was an Australian Army artillery unit that served during the Second World War . Raised in late 1940 as part of the 8th Division , the regiment remained in Australia as a garrison force in Darwin when the division ' s infantry brigades were sent to various places around Southeast Asia to meet the threat posed by Japan . As a result , it did not deploy overseas until late 1943 . In New Guinea , the regiment supported the 5th Division ' s operations on the Huon Peninsula throughout 1944 before deploying with them to New Britain in early 1945 . From then , until the end of the war , the regiment engaged in operations against the large Japanese garrison on the island . At the end of the war , the 2 / 7th briefly undertook garrison duties on Rabaul as part of the 11th Division before returning to Australia and disbanding in January 1946 . History . The regiment was formed on 17 October 1940 from volunteers for overseas service as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force . Assigned to the 8th Division as its second artillery regiment , the 2 / 14th ' s first commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Harry Sewell , a regular Army officer who had previously commanded the School of Artillery and ' A ' Field Battery , Royal Australian Artillery . Regimental headquarters was established at Puckapunyal , Victoria , as was one of its two batteries : the 27th Battery , which was raised from personnel drawn from the state of Victoria . The second battery , the 28th Battery , was formed at Woodside Camp , outside of Adelaide , from South Australia ns . The majority of the officers and non commissioned officers were drawn from the ranks of the Militia , specifically personnel who had previously served in the 2 / 2nd Medium Training Regiment and the 13th Field Brigade . Initial individual and collective training of the batteries was undertaken throughout the remainder of the year before the regiment concentrated at Puckapunyal early in 1941 , by which time it consisted of 38 officers and 621 other ranks . The arrival of the South Australian battery enabled collective training on a regimental level as well as technical and specialist training on the Ordnance QF 18 - pounder and 4 . 5 - inch howitzer artillery pieces , and the assorted vehicles that the regiment was allocated . In June 1941 , Lieutenant Colonel William Christie took over command of the regiment and the following month it was moved to Darwin , Northern Territory , moving via rail through Adelaide to Alice Springs and then to Winnellie Camp . At Winnellie , the regiment joined the 23rd Infantry Brigade , which was the only part of the 8th Division that remained in Australia at that time ; the other two brigades had already been deployed to Malaya where they were undertaking garrison duties . As such , it was believed that the regiment would soon be deployed and the arrival in Darwin was initially treated as a period of acclimatisation . Later , as war with Japan became likely , the brigade ' s three infantry battalions were deployed to the islands to Australia ' s north : the 2 / 21st to Ambon , the 2 / 22nd was sent to Rabaul and the 2 / 40th to Timor . The 2 / 14th , however , remained behind and stayed in the Darwin area for the next year - and - a - half undertaking training and garrison duties . As a result , after the Japanese overwhelmed these garrisons , the regiment became the only unit of the 8th Division that was not destroyed . Acknowledging this , the regiment adopted a modified , albeit temporary , Unit Colour Patch consisting of a perpendicular bar that ran down the centre of the patch representing the " Broken Eighth Division " ; when the captured men of the 8th were finally released from captivity , the plan was to remove the bar . In March 1942 , the Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Hone took over command of the regiment , which was also expanded to three batteries with the raising of the 64th Battery . In January 1943 , the regiment moved to Loftus , New South Wales , handing over its garrison duties to the 2 / 11th Field Regiment . Following the 2 / 14th ' s arrival in Loftus in February , a period of leave followed , after which the regiment was re - equipped with the Ordnance QF 25 - pounder gun and later throughout the year the regiment undertook familiarisation training , building towards two regimental exercises in June and July around Illawarra , New South Wales . Later , in September the regiment was re - organised in sympathy with the newly formulated Australian Army jungle establishment , which resulted in it being issued 81 jeeps and 63 four - wheel drive vehicles . The following month , the regiment moved north to Kalinga , Queensland , to prepare for embarkation overseas . In December an advanced party from the regimental headquarters and the 64th Battery moved to Lae and after preparing a regimental area , moved on eight LCMs to Finschhafen where it joined the 9th Division . In January 1944 , the 27th and 28th Batteries embarked upon the USS " Stephen Girard " at Townsville and joined the 64th in New Guinea . After establishing itself at Kelanoa , the regiment took over from the 2 / 12th Field Regiment , from which it acquired a number of Ordnance QF 25 - pounder Short artillery pieces . As the fighting in the Huon Peninsula tailed off , the 9th Division handed over to the Militia 5th Division , which was tasked with completing the task of clearing the peninsula , and the regiment supported the 4th Infantry Brigade around Madang and then Alexishafen , where it remained until December 1944 when the 5th Division was dispatched to secure New Britain . Conceptualised as a " mopping up " operation , the 5th Division ' s campaign was limited to containing the large Japanese force – up to 100 , 000 men – in the Gazelle Peninsula . Prior to departure , the 64th Battery replaced its Short 25 - pounders with standard guns and by January 1945 it had landed at Jacquinot Bay . Over the course of the next eight months the regiment was heavily involved in supporting the 6th Infantry Brigade ' s operations around Waitavolo and Tol , and then the 13th Infantry Brigade ' s advance towards Moondei , as part of the effort to clear the area around Wide Bay and Open Bay . During the course of the campaign , a total of about 16 , 000 rounds were fired by the regiment ' s guns . Casualties amounted to two killed in action and five wounded . Following the end of hostilities in August 1945 , the regiment remained on New Britain until September when it was moved to Rabaul . While there it became part of the 11th Division , and undertook garrison duties guarding Japanese prisoners of war . Throughout November and December , the regiment ' s size fell as the demobilisation process saw members repatriated to Australia or transferred to other units for subsequent service . Finally , at the end of 1945 , the regiment returned to Australia and on 17 January 1946 the regiment disbanded . During the course of its involvement in the war , the regiment lost 20 men killed in action or died on active service and had another 10 wounded . The following decorations were awarded to 2 / 7th members : one Member of the Order of the British Empire , three Military Medal s , one British Empire Medal and 31 Mentions in Despatches . Commanding officers . The following officers served as commanding officer of the 2 / 14th :