William was single and living with his parents in Balaclava when he enlisted in the Australian Army on 27 May 1940. He trained at Puckapunyal in Victoria. On 27 July 1940, during his training and not long after enlisting, William married Nance Scott. The wedding took place at his local church the Holy Trinity Church, not far from his parent’s home in Balaclava.[i] A few months later he travelled by train to Adelaide with the newly formed and recently renamed 2nd/12th Field Regiment. They embarked on the transport ship “Stratheden” on 17 November 1940, headed for the Middle East.
Photographer unknown, William Bassett fourth
from the right-back row with Ern Flux standing
behind, were both members of the 2/12th Australian Infantry Battalion Australia,
1940, Puckapunyal, Victoria, Australia. (Ern was a witness at William Bassett’s
wedding on 27 Jul 1940 in Balaclava, Victoria, Australia) [B265]
Service Overseas
The Middle East December 1940-January 1943
The 2nd/12th Field Regiment disembarked on 17 Dec 1940 and moved to Julis Camp area in Qastina, where their theoretical and physical training continued from 9 January 1941 until at least 12 April 1941. Soon after the completion of training, on 1 July 1941, William was promoted to Sergeant.
Wounded in Tobruk
Thirty days after his promotion, on 31 July 1941, William was wounded during the siege of Tobruk. He had injured his right forearm, and became one of the many Australian casualties from the 9th Division between 8th April to 25th October. 749 were killed, 1,996 wounded and 604 were taken, prisoner. During recovery William was moved to several hospitals:
- 31 July 1941 – evacuated to No. 4 Australian General Hospital (AGH) in Tobruk
- 2 August 1941 – moved to No. 11 Australian General Hospital (AGH) in Tobruk
- 9 August 1941 – moved to No. 2 Australian General Hospital (AGH) in El Kantara on Suez, Egypt
William was then moved to the 1st
Australian Convalescent Depot on 22 September 1941 in Kafr Vitkin,
Palestine and his name was moved to the X List.
“The X Lists recorded personnel who were absent from their
regular units for one reason or another” It could be from any “All ranks
evacuated on medical grounds beyond Regimental First Aid Post. Personnel so
evacuated cease to be on the effective strength of their units.”[ii]
However, by 29 September 1941, William was moved to the
artillery training Regiment in preparation to re-join the action on 4 October
1941 in Palestine. It had taken a little over two months for William to be ready for duty. He was able to join his old regiment that had arrived in Palestine on 1 October as part of the garrison
force in Syria.
On 24 January 1942, William was evacuated again in the 2/3 Australian Field Ambulance suffering an upper respiratory tract infection but returned only one week later.
Training
was continual and on 18 May 1942, Willliam began attending the 9th
Australian Division P.R.T. school courses. He returned to his unit on
2 June 1942 at Jdaide, El Alamein.[iii]
The following month, on 6 July 1942 the unit moved from Amiriya to battle position
in Tel El Shammama, 22 miles from the war front of El Alamein, The following day,
they engaged in a ferocious battle to take and defended the high ground at Tile l Elisa.[iv]
A few days later on 9 July 1942 they
were in El Alamein.[v]
“The regiment subsequently
undertook … the First and Second Battles of El Alamein. These were punctuated
by a period of garrison duty in Lebanon between January and June 1942, where
the regiment formed part of the occupation force established there after the
defeat of Vichy French forces during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign.”[vi]
But by 29 January 1943, William had left the Middle East with
his Regiment aboard the transport Ile de France . They were part of the final transference of Australian ground troops from the Middle East to the
Pacific and he arrived in Sydney Australia on 28 February.
Australia April 1943-July 1943
After arrival in Australia, the regiment was allowed a brief
period of leave. The 2/12th Regiment was re-formed at
Kairi, on the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland for training in
jungle warfare. By 28 July 1943 the 2/12th it was on the move again
and embarked at Cairns on “Van Heutz” bound for New Guinea.
New Guinea August 1943 – February 1944
The 2/12th arrived and disembarked in Milne Bay, New Guinea on 4
August 1943 where they trained once again but this time near Port Moresby. The regiment was part of a successful counter-attack against
Japanese invasion forces between 31 August and 4 September. They subsequently
took part in landings around Lae and then Finschhafen in September, and saw
action during the Huon Peninsula campaign.
William sustained a knee injury on 21 September 1943 and was
evacuated for medical treatment. He caught malaria on 27 September 1943 and was sent to the 2/9 Australian General Hospital. Like before
he moved from one medical facility to another until he recovered.
He was finally discharged on the 8 October 1943 to the 113th
Australia Convalescent Depot in Port Moresby, and was sent from there on 24 November
1943 to the 2/2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station [CCS] Depot in Tobruk, New
Guinea.
Back to Australia in February 1944
William returned to Australia with his Regiment on 28 February 1944 on the "Cape Perpetus" from Finschhafen in New Guinea and disembarked in Brisbane on
7 March 1944. After a well-earned short period of leave, he proceeded to Ravenshoe military camp where the 2nd/12th
Field Regiment remained for over a year before seeing action once more.[vii]
William did not go back overseas and was discharged on 22 March 1945 at the age of
36 years.
Research Notes
William’s army regiment, the 2nd/12th Field Regiment, was
part of the 9th Australian Infantry Division which had been Raised from May to
October 1940.[viii]
There are several gaps in William’s World War 2 Army
Personnel record possibly when his regiment was engaged in heavy battle. Details
have been gleaned from secondary sources listed below: [ix]
- Order of Battle details for his regiment as outlined on the Australia Government Department of Veteran’s Affairs website.[x]
- Australian War Memorial page for “2/12th Australian Infantry Battalion” which summarised description & links for further information.[xi]
- 2/12th Australian Infantry Battalion’s War diaries [xii]
- Wikipedia page for "2/12th Field Regiment (Australia)"[xiii]
- The development of Australian Army jungle warfare doctrine and training, 1941-1945.[xiv]
There is also a book entitled “Of Storms and Rainbows: The Story of the Men of the 2/12th Battalion – Volume 1 and Volume 2” by A.L. Graeme-Evans, 1989 (Vol I published 1989 & Vol II published 1991) which is currently out of print but occasionally available online from second-hand dealers and eBay which I have not read but may give a more complete picture of what William experienced.
- North African campaign in Libya: the Siege of Tobruk, 1941
- Syrian-Lebanon campaign: the battles of El Alamein, 1942
- New Guinea Campaign: in Lae & Finschhafen, 1943-44
- Borneo campaign: Labuan, British North Borneo, 1945 – William did not participate in this campaign
William received the following medals: 1939/45 Star, Africa
Star with 8th Clasp, Pacific Star, Defence Medal & A.S.M
Useful links for background
WikiTree Link William Bassett (1908 - 1980)Blogpost Meta Data
The URL for this post is: https://ancestralresearchjournal.blogspot.com/2022/04/william-bassetts-war-service-in-ww2.html.html originally
published 25 April 2022 and revised on 26 April 2022
Author 2022, Sandra Williamson
[i] Victoria
State Government, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria; Marriage
certificate of William Bassett & Nance Charlotte Scott married on 27
July 1940 in the Holy Trinity Church
[Church of England], Balaclava , Registration number 11407/1940.
[ii] ‘X’
Lists 1939 -1945 | ͏. http://www.commandoveterans.org/x_lists. Accessed 23 Apr.
2022
[iii] Who
Was There? A Complete List. Great Reference Tool. http://diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww2/pages-2aif-cmf/who-was-there.htm
. Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.
[iv] #OTD:
9th... - On This Day - Australian Military History.
https://www.facebook.com/OTDAustralianMilitaryHistory/photos/a.2318156748224025/3409650112408011/?type=3.
Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.
[v] AWM52
4/2/12/10 - [Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War] Royal Australian Artillery, 2/12
Australian Field Regiment, July - September 1942.
//www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2659408 . Accessed 25 Apr. 2022.
[vi] Wikipedia
contributors, "2/12th Field Regiment (Australia)," Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2/12th_Field_Regiment_(Australia)&oldid=1007487555
(accessed April 25, 2022).
[vii] Science,
jurisdiction=Queensland; sector=government; corporateName=Department of
Environment and. ‘Place’. Queensland WWII Historic Places, 30 June 2014,
https://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/place.
[viii]
Larry Maddison member of 2/12th Field Regiment Interviewed on 14th April 2004
Australians at War Film Archive.
https://australiansatwarfilmarchive.unsw.edu.au/archive/1802. Accessed 24 Apr.
2022.
[viii] Siege
of Tobruk | Australian War Memorial.
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/tobruk. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
[ix] William
Bassett Service record SERN VX21203 NAA: B883,
VX21203, National Archives of Australia
[x] Affairs,
Department of Veterans’. ‘Infantry’. CLIK, https://clik.dva.gov.au/history-library/part-3-order-battle/ch-1-order-battle-army/s-5-headquarters-1-australian-corps/infantry
. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
[xi] 2/12th Australian Infantry Battalion summarised links
& description. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56055 . Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
[xii]
Australia War Memorial, Unit War Diaries, 1939-45 War for Royal Australian
Artillery, 2/12 Australian Field Regiment from October 1940 to 1945 https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-search?collection=true&facet_type=Digitised%20Collection&facet_related_units=2/12th%20Field%20Regiment
. Accessed 23 Apr. 2022.
[xiii]
Wikipedia contributors, "2/12th Field Regiment (Australia),"
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2/12th_Field_Regiment_(Australia)&oldid=1007487555
(accessed April 23, 2022).
[xiv] Threlfall,
Adrian (2008) The development of Australian Army jungle warfare doctrine and
training, 1941-1945. PhD thesis, Victoria University.
[https://vuir.vu.edu.au/19393/ : accessed 24 April 2022]
What a great photo! They all look very cheerful. William saw so much action. You give a great account and provide lots of sources for further research.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alex. I feel that I only really scraped the surface of William's war service the more I dug the more I found, but it's hard to fathom what it must have been like. I'm pretty sure the photo was taken during training so it was before saw all the horrors.
Delete