53rd Battalion ( Australia ) The 53rd Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army . Raised in 1916 for service during World War I the battalion served on the Western Front until the end of the war , before being briefly amalgamated with the 55th Battalion and then eventually disbanded in 1919 . In 1921 , the 53rd Battalion was re - raised and in 1927 adopted the title of the West Sydney Regiment , however , in 1937 they were once again amalgamated with the 55th , forming the 55th / 53rd Battalion ( New South Wales Rifle / West Sydney Regiment ) . In October 1941 , during World War II , the two battalions were delinked and the 53rd was later deployed to New Guinea , where they took part in the Kokoda Track campaign . Poorly prepared and trained , and lacking up to date equipment , they did not perform well and were amalgamated with the 55th once more in October 1942 , with whom they subsequently took part in further campaigns in New Guinea and Bougainville before being disbanded in May 1946 . History . World War I . Initially raised as part of the expansion of the 1st AIF in 1916 in Egypt during the World War I , the 53rd Battalion was formed from reinforcements and experienced men drawn from the 1st Battalion and was assigned to the 14th Brigade , 5th Division . Upon formation they took part in the defence of the Suez Canal , for which they received their first theatre honour , that of " Egypt 1915 – 1917 " . Later , as the Australians were moved to the European battlefield , the battalion was moved to France where they took their place in the trenches along the Western Front . Their first involvement came at the Battle of Fromelles , where the battalion took part in the first stages of the Allied attack and suffered over 600 casualties , a total which equated to around a third of their total casualties for the war . After spending the winter in the trenches on the Somme , in 1917 they took part in the advance to the Hindenburg Line before moving to Ypres in Belgium where they took part in the Battle of Polygon Wood . In 1918 , during the Spring Offensive , the 53rd Battalion manned defensive positions to the north Villers - Bretonneux , holding their positions even though the town fell into German hands . When the Allied Hundred Days Offensive began in August , the 53rd Battalion was not initially involved although close to the end of the month it , along with the rest of the 14th Brigade were committed to the fighting around Péronne , with the 53rd Battalion attacking Anvil Wood during the Second Battle of the Somme . Their final involvement in the fighting came late in September when they took part in the Battle of St . Quentin Canal . They were withdrawn from the line along with the rest of the Australian Corps shortly after this and was still in the process of re - organisation when the Armistice came into effect . Shortly afterwards the process of demobilisation began . As numbers dwindled , the battalion was merged with the 55th Battalion in March 1919 , although they were disbanded a month later on 11 April 1919 . During its active service , the 53rd Battalion suffered 2 , 294 casualties of which 647 were killed . One member of the battalion — William Currey — was awarded the Victoria Cross . Other decorations bestowed upon men from the 53rd were : 5 DSOs , 1 OBE , 25 MCs with 3 bars , 28 DCMs , 76 MMs with 4 bars , 4 MSMs and 20 MIDs . Inter war years . In April 1921 the AIF was officially disbanded and the following month the militia was reformed to perpetuate the designations and battle honours of the AIF . At this time the 53rd Battalion was re - raised around Sydney , the area from where many of the battalion ' s original recruits had come in 1916 and in 1927 , when territorial designations were adopted , it became the 53rd Battalion ( West Sydney Regiment ) . Due to the impact of the Great Depression , however , and a general complacency towards matters relating to defence , the battalion had few volunteers and limited funding and eventually , in 1937 , the decision was made to amalgamate the battalion . Initially it was amalgamated with the 3rd Battalion ( The Werriwa Regiment ) , however , this only lasted a couple of months before they were delinked and the 53rd was amalgamated with the 55th Battalion , forming the 55th / 53rd Battalion ( New South Wales Rifle / West Sydney Regiment ) . This reformed a partnership that had begun at the end of the previous war and which would continue into the next . World War II . At the outset of the World War II , due to the provisions of the " Defence Act ( 1903 ) " which prohibited sending the Militia to fight outside of Australian territory , the decision was made to raise an all volunteer force to serve overseas — initial operations were conceived to be likely in the Middle East , France and later possibly England — while it was decided that the Militia would be used to defend the Australian mainland and to improve Australia ' s overall level of readiness in the event of war in the Pacific through the reinstitution of compulsory military service and extended periods of continuous periods of training . In October 1941 the 55th / 53rd Battalion was undertaking a period of continuous training at Bathurst , New South Wales when it was announced that they were to be delinked once more and the 53rd would be sent to act as a garrison force in Darwin , Northern Territory . The battalion was brought up to full strength from other Militia units , however , by December as they were due to embark for the trip to the north they were still below strength and in order to meet this shortfall they received a draft of 104 conscripts . Taken at short notice from units in the Sydney area , many of these men had just turned 18 and had received little or no formal military training . They embarked upon the " Aquitania " , however , instead of being sent to Darwin they were diverted to Port Moresby , arriving there on 3 January 1942 and becoming part of the 30th Brigade . Japan had entered the war the previous month and the battalion was to form part of the garrison for the port in case of a possible invasion . Suffering badly from malaria and other tropical diseases , the men were mainly used to provide work parties instead of undertaking the training that they would require for the fighting that would come . In June the 53rd was attached to Maroubra Force and the following month it was split up , with two companies — ' B ' and ' C ' — being sent to the area around Kokoda to reinforce the 39th Battalion , while the remainder of the battalion remained around Port Moresby in preparation to move up the Kokoda Track . On 10 August the 53rd Battalion was ordered to relieve the 39th , which was at the time positioned around Uberi . The two detached companies moved into position and upon their arrival they finally received a number of Bren guns and had a small amount of training with them , however , it was not enough to bring them up to the standard required for combat against the battle - hardened Japanese soldiers that they were about to come up against . Meanwhile , the rest of the battalion moved up to link up with ' B ' and ' C ' Companies . Upon arrival they took up a position around Isurava defending a parallel track to the main one , which bypassed the main Australian position . As the Japanese probed the 53rd ' s position confusion amongst the Australians reigned as the Japanese managed to infiltrate their perimeter and achieve a break - in . A number of the battalion ' s senior officers were killed in the attack , including their commanding officer , Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Ward . As a result of this loss , communications between the companies broke down rendering co - ordinated action impossible and 53rd began to fall back . This came at the worse possible moment for the Australians , as it left a gap in their defences along the Kokoda Track , one which left the way open for the Japanese to march straight through to Alola . The Japanese , however , failed to exploit it before the 2 / 16th Battalion were brought up to plug the gap and as a result a possible disaster was averted , nevertheless a certain amount of stigma was attached to the battalion ' s performance , indeed as a result they were later described as " the mob " . Instances of sickness and disease continued to deplete the battalion also , and by the beginning of September they were down to just 213 men . During this time ' C ' Company was detached to support the 2 / 14th Battalion , while the main body was brought back to Efogi where they manned a defensive position along the track running to Kagi , and established a line through which the 21st Brigade and the 39th Battalion withdrew . Holding their position as required , the 53rd Battalion remained in the line until the night of 5 September when they were ordered to fall back along the track . Despite performing creditably following their initial exposure to the fighting , the stigma attached to their performance at Isurava stuck and they were ordered back further still and were eventually removed from the front line fighting , being utilised instead in mundane garrison duties in the rear areas , while 100 men were transferred to reinforce the 39th Battalion . Finally on 27 October 1942 the battalion was amalgamated once again with the 55th Battalion . The 55th Battalion had itself been involved in the campaign , serving around Port Moresby and Milne Bay and after they were linked once more the 55th / 53rd went on to serve with success in around Sanananda and then later during the Bougainville campaign in 1944 – 45 . During the 53rd ' s brief involvement in the war , it lost 21 men killed or died and a further 23 wounded . There were no decorations bestowed . Battle honours . The 53rd Battalion received the following battle and theatre honour s :