34th Battalion (Australia)

34th Battalion
Troops from the 34th Battalion at Picardie, 21 August 1918
Active	1916–19 1921–43 1951–60
Country	Australia
Branch	Australian Army
Type	Infantry
Size	~ 900–1,000 personnel
Part of	9th Brigade, 3rd Division
Nickname(s)	Illawarra Regiment
Colours	Purple and Green
March	Blaze Away
Engagements	World War I Western Front World War II
Insignia
Unit Colour Patch

World War I

The 34th Battalion was an infantry unit of 1st Australian Imperial Force (AIF), which was established in World War I for overseas service. Formed in Australia in 1916, the battalion fought on the Western Front before being disbanded in 1919. It was later re-raised as a part-time infantry battalion in the Illawarra region of New South Wales during the inter-war years. During World War II, the 34th was amalgamated with the 20th Battalion and undertook defensive duties in Australia before being disbanded in 1944. Post war, the 34th was re-formed in the early 1950s before being subsumed into the Royal New South Wales Regiment in 1960.

The battalion was formed in January 1916 during an expansion of the AIF that took place after the Gallipoli campaign. Assigned to the 9th Brigade of the Australian 3rd Division, the majority of the battalion’s personnel were volunteers that came from Maitland, New South Wales – many of whom had been coal miners – and as a result the unit became known as "Maitland's Own". Its initial recruits, though, came from north-west New South Wales, having marched from Walgett. After initial training, the 34th Battalion, with an authorised strength of 1,023 men, embarked in Sydney and sailed to Europe where the 3rd Division concentrated in the United Kingdom to undertake further training prior to joining the other four divisions of the AIF that had been transferred from Egypt in mid-1916.

After five months of training on Salisbury Plain, the battalion arrived in France in November 1916, as the 3rd Division was transferred to the front over the course of several months. The division's move was not complete until February 1917, but the battalion was moved up to the front line soon after its arrival, taking up a position on 27 November 1916. Over Christmas, the Australians endured the worst winter Europe experienced in 40 years, and for the next two years the 34th Battalion served on the Western Front until the end of the war.