Chapter 1 Signals thru the ages; Comms vital in war; Early Days; 1st Corps

SIGNALS THR0UGH THE AGES

MERCURY, son of Jupiter and Maia, was Jupiter's messenger and patron of travellers, shepherds, traders and robbers. Many of his exploits turned upon thievery or mischief. He wore a winged cap, had wings to his feet and could transport himself from place to place with the speed of wind.

Such was our founder. But in between our noble but light-fingered ancestor and the Corps of Signals, there exists a long chain of people who have maintained the messenger part of our tradition.

Pheidippides, the first gentleman of any importance, was a Greek and in 490 B.C. was sent from Athens to enlist the aid of the Spartans. For two days and two nights he travelled, swimming the rivers and climbing the mountains in his path. Then he returned with the news that the Spartan army would start at the full moon. In the meantime, the Persians under Darius the Mede had landed. The Athenians, accompanied by Pheidippides bearing his long spear and heavy shield, set out to meet the invaders in battle at Marathon.

The encounter resulted in a victory for the Greeks and Pheidippides, unaccompanied this time by his spear and heavy shield, set out to bear the news to the capital. He ran twenty-six miles to Athens, only to fall dead as he gasped "Rejoice! We conquer!" - which only goes to show that the job of a D.R. has always been a risky one.

A development is recorded in 480 B.C. when the Persians again invaded Greece, information being conveyed rapidly by the human voice. Sentinels are said to have been posted at suitable distances apart, the whole way from Suza to Athens by which means news was transmitted at the rate of 450 miles in forty-eight hours. Later, Caesar records, the same method was used by the Gauls.

As time passed, the Romans became the leading race, and amongst their exploits was the invasion of the British Isles. There from the great Roman walls, sentries of the Legions saw in the distant heather the smoke signals of the Picts carrying their tidings of peace or war. And so, in the words of the Encyclopaedia Britannica: "The antiquity of signalling is undoubted, its lineage long and illustrious."

About this time also, noble Romans wrote messages on the shaven heads of their slaves and allowed the hair to grow before these primitive cipher personnel were let loose to carry the messages. Thus it will be seen that there have always been delays in cipher.

Time "mooched on" and the position became a trifle confused. In darkest Africa the beating of tom-toms carried the messages from village to village. The Red Indian burned holes in the middle of his blankets trying to send smoke signals, and South Sea Islanders made rude noises with conch shells.

At the time of the Spanish Armada there were chains of Beacon Stations along the coast of England ready to call England to arms as the Armada sailed up the Channel. It is stated that news thus carried interrupted for a short period a sporting fixture which Sir Francis Drake was playing with a few of his companions. This of course was not the origin of fire signals, for it is recorded that Agamemnon, on setting out for the siege of Troy, promised to announce its fall by fire signals, which he duly accomplished by the appointment of lady sentinels to watch for the signals. It seems that the use of women in Signals is not so recent after all! The ancients not only used beacons, but by means of fire signals, which must have been very slow, could spell out messages. Strangely enough, the ancient writers do not mention the use of visual signals by day.

The next advance was a series of Semaphore stations which linked England to the South Coast while Napoleon's Grand Army waited at Boulogne; this was a great improvement on the Beacon system. Napoleon, like all successful Generals, recognised the value of signals in his maxim" The secret of war is the secret of communication. "

It is just over 100 years since Professor Morse invented his famous code and telegraph instruments to be used therewith. We have improved on his instruments, but his code is still with us.

The next exploit is recorded by Robert Browning, who appears to have known something about a mounted D.R. who carried good news from Ghent to Aix. We learned about him at school:

I galloped, Dirk galloped, we galloped all three.

'Good speed,' cried the Watch as the gate bolts undrew,

'Speed,' echoed the walls to us galloping through.

Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,

And into the midnight, we galloped abreast."

For the next hundred years or so, we were a very select band, composed mainly of officers called "gallopers" who sat on fine horses in pretty uniforms. When the general wanted a message carried, he would send a "galloper". Occasionally, they made a mistake and delivered the wrong message, or gave it to the wrong people and things like the Charge of the Light Brigade happened. It is interesting the way history repeats itself, because in this war we have resurrected the D.R. with a commission, but now we call him a liaison officer.

The first recorded use of the electric telegraph in the British Army was in the Crimea in 1854 when a line was built from Varna to the Monastery of St. George, from where lines were laid to Lord Raglan's H.Q.

The Indian Mutiny occurred a few years later and historians contend that one of the major factors resulting in the successful conclusion of the campaign was the fact that the government telegraphs were controlled by the Army and not by the forces of the Mutiny.

In 1866, a field electric train was attached to that famous corps of the British Army, the Royal Engineers. The original equipment consisted of two wire waggons, each with four miles of insulated wire on eight half-mile drums, and two office waggons. In 1867-8, No. 10 Company of Sappers in Sir Robert Napier's Force during the Abyssinian Campaign contained an officer and a number of "telegraphers" who had been instructed in the new art. In 1873 Earl Kitchener (of Khartoum) was appointed a subaltern in "C" Telegraph Troop, R.E. The electric telegraph, visual signalling (then mainly the heliograph) and D.Rs were incorporated in one organisation and in this the British Army was thirty years ahead of its contemporaries.

1870 saw the Franco-Prussian campaign; during the siege of Paris messages were sent by balloon. What is more interesting, microphotography was used to reduce the size of the messages, so our modern "Airgraph" is not so modern after all. At this stage the pigeon service was instituted in Europe, although it was known to the ancients and was mentioned by Pliny when the city of Modena was besieged by Anthony.

The defender, Decimus Brutus, used pigeons to whose feet letters were fastened. From remote times, the Chinese have used pigeons for transmitting the names of successful candidates at the great Provincial Competitive Examinations, using a small bamboo whistle attached to the bird for the purpose of frightening off hawks en route. Like the D.R. the pigeon is still with us and today, in certain spheres, is providing the only means of communications practicable.

The South African Campaign found the British Army with highly specialized Royal Engineers telegraph units. It was not until 1902 that the first German signalling regulations were promulgated.

About 1910 Lord Kitchener visited Australia and advised the Commonwealth Government on the reorganisation of the Army. As the result of his visit, Capt. H. E. Mackworth, D.S.O., of the Royal Engineers was sent to Australia in 1911 to reorganize Signals. Personnel trained by Capt. Mackworth formed the backbone of the Signals companies attached to the Australian divisions when they proceeded overseas with the 1st A.I.F. Capt. Mackworth appropriately commanded the unit attached to the 1st Australian Division. His influence on Signals in Australia was marked and under his guidance the foundation was laid for the existing high standards.

The original R.S.M. of the 1st Divisional Signals Company was T. J. Farrow who, after the war, continued his service in the Permanent Military Forces. In New South Wales he played no small part in the training of Signals between the last war and the early stages of this one.

Signal equipment in 1914 was not of a very complex nature. Visual signalling was still greatly in vogue; line signalling was mainly with field cable, cable waggons and the D.III telephone. As the war progressed, many improvements were made. Besides the D.R. (now mounted on a motor cycle), other message-carrying agencies were used. Rockets with a range of over a mile, with a siren walling and flare to indicate where they landed, were used to carry messages back from the front line. Messenger dogs were added to pigeons in the animal kingdom and wireless telegraphy commenced.

It was found that the enemy was overhearing telephone conversations, which in the Australian sector must have been interesting, so Major Fuller invented the fullerphone. Lines were being constantly cut by shellfire and the power buzzer and power-buzzer amplifier, which did not require telephone lines, were introduced. In the Middle East, Marconi pack wireless sets were used and four packhorses were required to carry the equipment for one station.

It was during the 1914-18 war also that our greatest innovation occurred, when Signal W.A.A.Cs were introduced into the British Army. Australia did not follow this example, however, until the present conflict.

The finish of the war saw the Signals component of the Engineers larger than its parent. The Engineers had sponsored other corps and, having seen them through their growing pains, had cast them off to fend for themselves. So it was in 1925 in Australia that the Australian Corps of Signals came into separate being. We adopted a new motto, "Certa Cito" (Surely and Swiftly), which beneath the figure of Mercury became the insignia of the Corps. During the next fourteen years, events progressed swiftly; design after design of wireless set was introduced as each new development was made in radio science. The old cable waggon gave way to mechanised cable-laying apparatus and line equipment was improved.

And so we come to 1939, from where the other stories in this book add their own contributions to the deeds of those who follow in the footsteps of "Jimmy".

COMMUNICATIONS ARE VITAL IN WAR

THE Australian Corps of Signals is one of the most highly efficient and reliable arms of the Australian Forces today. This reputation has only been gained through continuous efforts to provide an ever increasing efficiency of communications right throughout the Australian Army.

The Corps had its origin in the Australian Engineer units which were known as Divisional Signals Companies. These companies were formed as far back as 1921. Later technical developments required a separate administration and the formation of a Corps of Signals became an obvious necessity. The peace-time period of 1925-39 saw the development of signalling equipment, particularly wireless. The strength of Signals units was increased and the training and organisation closely followed the established practices of the British Royal Corps of Signals.

At the outbreak of this war it was decided to send an Australian Imperial Force overseas. It was necessary to raise, train and equip one Corps and four A.I.F. Divisional Signals units. This involved considerable training of selected specialist personnel. Intensive Signals training was carried out prior to embarkation, aboard the troop transports and immediately on arrival in the Middle East and the Malay Peninsula.

Although equipment was inadequate and it was generally conceded that insufficient time had been available for training. Signals 6 Aust. Div. took part in the successful offensive in North Africa.
Previously untried in battle, this unit set and maintained a high standard and the lessons learnt were applied to later Signals training both in the Middle East and Australia. Many campaigns followed in which the Australian Corps of Signals distinguished itself. During the early years of the war, elements of the Corps served in Egypt, Libya, Greece, Crete, Tobruk, Syria, Malaya and Ceylon. Some Signals also served in England during the Battle of Britain.

In Greece and Crete, Signals 6 Aust. Div. and Signals 1 Aust. Corps again cooperated with base, brigade and field regiment Signals sections of the Royal Corps of Signals. In 1942, Signals 9 Aust. Div. again worked with British Signals at El Alamein.

On the Malay Peninsula, Signals 8 Aust. Div. served with elements of the British Royal Corps of Signals. This unit earned the highest praise for maintaining communications right up to the capitulation.

Signals 7 Aust. Div. took part in the Syrian campaign and added fresh lustre to the name of Australian Signals. After being withdrawn from the Western Desert, Signals I Aust. A.A. Bde was allotted the task of supplying communications for the air defences of Palestine and the Lebanon.

On the return of the greater part o 1 Aust. Corps from the Middle East, and as a result of the expansion of the Australian Military Forces, a considerable reorganisation of the Australian Corps of Signals was necessary. This involved the appointment of a Signal Officer-in-Chief,. the birth of many new Signals units, a refresher and reinforcement training policy, the modernisation of technical equipment and the increase in personnel of the Australian Corps of Signals from 14,600 to over 24,000, among other points.

During operations in the South-west Pacific Area, particularly in the jungle fighting in New Guinea and Timor, the Corps successfully accomplished its role of supplying communications both for the troops in the field and the lines of communication of the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Australian Navy, as well as the United States of America's ground and air forces in New Guinea and on the mainland.

Of notable interest is the achievement of the Australian Corps of Signals Air Warning Wireless Unit, formed in June 1942. Detachments of this unit have been situated on the northern perimeter of New Guinea and adjacent islands. In many cases they worked from within enemy territory and richly earned high commendation for their work in reporting enemy convoy, troop and aircraft movements.

The Japanese threat to Australia placed such a strain upon the civil communication services that the Australian Corps of Signals was called upon to do the major part of the new construction work required to keep communications up to the armed forces. This meant the construction of 3,000 route miles (25,000 wire miles) of permanent lines alone. The expansion is still continuing.

Another outstanding achievement has been the establishment of wireless communications with all parts of the British Empire. High-power wireless circuits have been established with the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand and Chungking, in addition to those within the South-west Pacific area. Some of the equipment required to make this possible was manufactured by members of the Corps.

In addition to the long line construction on the mainland, was the completion of two major projects-the laying of the Australia-New Guinea Submarine Cable and the building of the Port Moresby-Lae jungle Line to take carrier telephone and telegraph circuits over the Kokoda Trail.

For security reasons, no mention can be made of the special Signals units of the Australian Army which form a vital branch of any army at war. However, these units have been responsible for some very interesting results.

The Australian Corps of Signals is now regarded as the foremost authority on the design of technical Signals equipment for jungle conditions. The results of research and practical experience have been made available to other Allied nations. Conversely, the Signals methods of other Allied nations have been closely watched and sometimes adopted when suitable for conditions in this theatre of war.

At no time throughout its record has the Australian Corps of Signals been responsible for the breakdown of communications in vital operations. At all times, in all places and under all conditions, it has attained the ideal of being in communication on time and when required.

A.I.F.'s EARLY DAYS

The decision of the Australian Government to raise the Second A.I.F. resulted in the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Thomas Blamey, personally selecting two officers to raise and train the Signals units then required. The two officers selected were Colonel C. H. Simpson, M.C., V.D., Commander of the 6th Australian Infantry Brigade, and Lt-Col. J. E. S. Stevens, E.T., then C.O. of Signals 3 Aust. Div. Both have since risen to the rank of major-general.

Upon being selected, Colonel Simpson was given command of Signals I Aust. Corps with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and Lt-Col. Stevens was appointed to command Signals 6 Aust. Div.

Both men realised the wisdom of selecting young, active officers, but it was also essential that a proportion of 1914-18 officers and men be included to guide the younger generation along sound lines. Certain over-age officers were selected and means found to enlist them. As the men were selected, they were sent post-haste to take over their various duties. In the meantime, recruits in their thousands were clamoring for enlistment. As accuracy and reliability are essentials in Signals, the potential signalmen had to measure up to a high standard.

The A.I.F. was being formed but few knew what it was going to do or-more important still-where it was going. Apart from a comparative handful of officers and men the permanent forces, there was only the Militia from which to draw even partially trained troops. Civilians were being enlisted in large numbers but not tradesmen. The task was to select the right men and then to concentrate on training.

By degrees out of this chaos came order and when Lt-Cols Simpson and Stevens returned to their commands they found some semblance of system. Capt. L. J. Bruton was Adjutant of Signals I Aust. Corps and Capt. A. D. Molloy filled the same role with Signals 6 Aust. Div. Linemen, wireless operators, despatch riders, instrument mechanics and motor transport drivers were needed and these all had to be culled from the various G.D.Ds in the capital cities. As few fully trained tradesmen were available, the only alternative was to train the men in the required trades. Technical schools in the various states were contacted and these together with the P.M.G's Department co-operated in devising courses for men who showed any aptitude in certain trades.

The next problem was the selection of 160 N.C.Os. Few of the men had any previous Army experience and subsequently there was no previous history upon which to work. Although many pressing duties awaited the Commanding Officers, they personally interviewed each potential N.C.O. Of the 160 finally selected, over ninety per cent of them are now commissioned-many with field rank. Signalman L. N. Tribolet (twice mentioned in despatches) is now a lieutenant-colonel and commands the same unit in which he enlisted less than five years ago as an ordinary ranker. Signalman H. L. Thompson (awarded the M.C. during the first Libyan campaign and mentioned in despatches since) is now a major and second in command of an important Signals unit.

During January 1940, the first big contingent of A.I.F. Signals personnel embarked for service overseas less than four months after formation. Thus was brought to a close the initial training of the first men to serve abroad with the Australian Corps of Signals.

AUSTRALIANS FIRST CORPS of SIGNALS

Five weeks after the outbreak of war, Signals I Aust. Corps first saw the light day.
	The Commander-in -Chief chose Colonel C. H. Simpson, M.C., V.D. as his Signals adviser for the 2nd A.I.F. and the ex-commander of the 6th Australian Infantry Brigade dropped a "pip" in rank to take over command of Corps Signals. The Melbourne Showground was selected as the H.Q. of the new unit and on the afternoon of the 13th of October the C.O. moved in with his Adjutant (Capt. L. J. Bruton) and Quartermaster Lieut. S. J. Greville.
Training commenced on radical lines right from the start. Signals I Aust. Corps spent their early days learning to be soldiers first and signalmen later. They were disciplined, trained to fight, hardened and drilled until their bearing approached the ideals laid down by their ex-Infantry brigade commander. The period of infantry training culminated in a march through the streets of Essendon and the general military bearing of the erstwhile bank clerks, labourers and salesmen received favorable comment. Early in December, Lieut. Greville and Sgt. Kearney left for the Middle East as part of an A.I.F. Advance party. Equipment commenced to dribble in and specialist training was inaugurated. As standard of training was reached the unit embarked on more ambitious Signals exercises, culminating in the sudden move to the Victorian seaside resort of Barwon Heads. The C.O. insisted that all sections would move at night and with the minimum of noise. So silent and unexpected was the Barwon move that no one on the Showground Camp H.Q. was aware of it until the empty camp area was discovered in the morning. The following weeks were spent on the move and the lesson of mobility was learned. The stay at Barwon Heads concluded with vaccinations and pre-embarkation leave (the first). After this leave, Puckapunyal became the home of Signals and further exercises in the field were carried out with the 17th Brigade. About this time came news of the imminent embarkation of the first "flight" of 6 Aust. Div. and that further A.I.F. divisions were to be raised for overseas service It became necessary to increase the strength of Signals I Aust. Corps to a great extent, and the unit concentrated at Seymour. In April 1940, Lt-Col. Simpson was appointed Chief Signals Officer of I Aust. Corps and Lt-Col. R. Kendall was posted to command the now rapidly growing unit. In August and October more sections sailed with elements of Corps H.Q. The A A. Brigade Signals Section, originally raised as a section of Corps Signals, was divorced from the unit but still retained the old color patch. At the close of the year, the main body of the unit embarked on a huge luxury liner. Here no relaxation was allowed and training went on day after day on the spacious decks. The unit changed transports at Ceylon and with elements of 7th and 9th Divisional Signals continued the journey to the Middle East on the Dutch transport, s.s. Slaniat, later unfortunately lost in the Mediterranean. Signals I Aust. Corps disembarked at Port Tewfik late in January 1941 and concentrated at Ikingi Maryut, a few miles out in the desert from Alexandria, where they were joined by the sections which had sailed from Australia earlier. The sections left back in Australia sailed during the following March and joined the completed unit at Deir Suneid, Palestine. On the 26th of December 1940, just as the main body of the unit was going aboard the transport back in Sydney Harbor the sections which had arrived in the Middle East in November learned they were to move to the desert. At dawn on New Year's Day, the convoy of forty vehicles left for Sollum to act as Signals Advance B.T.E. (British Troops in Egypt). On arrival there, they were greeted by a sand storm and welcomed by the C.S.O. 13 British Corps, who immediately set them to work in a Signals Office which had been established in a large underground cistern. They remained at Capuzzo until the fall of Tobruk. The H.Q. 13 British Corps then moved on to Bomba and it was there that the Australians came under the command of the British Corps. At Bomba, dust storms were the order of the day and everyone welcomed the news that General O'Connor intended to move. By this time the enemy had been driven back to El Agheila, where the Italians had established defensive positions. The Signals I Aust. Corps detachment then formed "Cyrenaica Signals" and manned the old civil post office at Barce. On the 25th of February Signals 1 Aust. Corps was ordered to move back to Alexandria. The detachments made a four days' non-stop run back and joined the main body, recently arrived in the Middle East, at Ikingi Maryut. Two sections became attached to the 9th Division and remained with that division during the siege of Tobruk. All transport was shipped aboard the Pieter Mersk and with the main body on the Breconshire Corps Signals set sail for Greece. Disembarkation was at Piraeus and the unit stayed at Glyffada, some miles out of Athens. Glyffada was not destined to see much of Corps Signals because the unit moved north shortly afterwards. It was on this move that the C.O. had his first and only glimpse of his unit and its transport on parade as a whole. The 150 vehicles covered more than fifteen miles of road. An advance party under Capt. L. L. Scorer had preceded the unit to Greece. This party established liaison with the Greek authorities, surveyed line routes and prepared diagrams of the peculiar types of line installations. From Gerania, where the Corps Signals Office was established, line sections were sent forward to provide and maintain line communications. Wireless detachments were perched in mountain eyries above the snow line with forward elements. Wireless silence was imposed until the Germans had crossed the border from Yugoslavia. Line communication to the New Zealanders oil the right flank at Katerini was by means of a civil P.L. route which was well above the snow line. This was also the only route for the despatch riders. One rider used up four bikes delivering his despatches. For tactical reasons Corps H.Q. was moved to Ellason and it was here that Sat Meade won the M.M. for his bravery in the Signals Office during its first raid. By this time, Greek resistance on the left flank had commenced to crumble. A small -operating and wireless group was detached to the Diskata area and it was not until some considerable time later that it rejoined the unit, having been embroiled in the heavy fighting in the Diskata area. Corps H.Q. and the Signals Office were shifted a few miles from Ellason to Cheochani. This proved to be a wise move. Just after it had been completed, Ellason was wiped out by enemy dive bombers. By this time, the enemy's advance had mounted rapidly. The armored brigade on the left flank had been fought to a standstill, so Corps H.Q. moved back towards Levadia. The first stop was at Sounipasi where once more the Signals Office was on the receiving end of Stuka parades. The first office at this point was a car with all armlet tied to a post as a "Flag, distinguishing". On arrival at Levadia the unit's vehicles, dispersed in the open fields, were the target of successive air raids, earning for the area the sobriquet of "Murder Flat". On the move back through Larissa, at the height of the bombing, a train containing explosives was hit and the Greek train crew vanished. Sgt Killalea (M.M. winner of the last war) and two men of No. I Line Section found by the process of elimination how to move the engine. They uncoupled the burning trucks and moved them clear of the explosives. The sergeant received the D.C.M. and the two other men the M.M. each for this exploit. The N.Z. Division was on its way back and line communication to 6 Aust. Div. was by a hotchpotch of quad and field cables and railway and civil telegraph lines. With enemy air superiority, the line sections had an unenviable task of trying to keep this conglomeration through. When evacuation orders were received, a proportion of R.H.Q., technical maintenance section and operators who were not needed at the time for the maintenance of communications, plus any line section personnel who were available, moved back to "J" Beach and were evacuated to Crete. Special Wireless Section had preceded them and also went to Crete. Signals were the last troops to leave the Corps H.Q. site south of Levadia. At Mandra, a wireless detachment was in position working to H.Q. 6 Aust. Div., now on the move back. W/T Signals strengths of the Corps-Division link were reported better and better until the old R9 notation was reported. It was discovered shortly afterwards that H.Q. 6 Aust. Div. was in occupation of the area just across the road 400 yards away. Anzac Corps then officially went out of existence. Wireless sets not actually in operation were destroyed with all technical gear. Then commenced the trek back via Megara and Argos to Kalamai. Hiding in olive groves by day and travelling at night, they reached their destination and came under Brig. Allen for evacuation. That afternoon all vehicles were destroyed and personal issues of rations were made. During the march in the welcome darkness along the beach to the wharf, a number of personnel became detached and embarked on the Costa Rica while the rest of the unit found itself on the City of London. The convoy was the target for continual air raids and the Costa Rica was sunk. The men taken off by destroyer subsequently went on to Crete. Six enemy planes were shot down and many more were damaged as all available small-arms fire (and even fire front anti-tank rifles) on the transports merged with that from the A.A. guns of the escorting warships in defiance of the enemy's attempts to annihilate them. The remainder of the convoy reached Alexandria safely and the Corps Signals elements moved on to Deir Suneld where they were joined later by those who had escaped from Crete. Lt-Col. Kendall was seconded to H.Q. A.I.F. (M.E.) and his place was taken by Lt-Col. J. L. McKinlay, M. M. Operating, wireless and D.R. sections were attached to 13 British Corps Signals for the Syrian campaign. These maintained communications in the Damascus area. In addition, the technical maintenance section proved invaluable in overhauling captured French Signals equipment. After the capitulation of the Vichy French, Signals I Aust. Corps took over the Corps communications and the Signals Office at Aley. About this time, a number of volunteer personnel were transferred to the newly formed I Aust. Air Support Control Signals and accompanied the British 30 Corps in the second Libyan campaign. It was in this push that Sgt E. M. Simpson won his B.E.M. and other personnel were also decorated. During the severe winter blizzards at the close of the year in Syria, both the line and DR. sections did yeoman service. The snow on the high Lebanon ranges between Aley and Damascus covered the roads and mountain passes to a depth of thirty feet. So fierce were the blizzards that steel telegraph poles were bent to the ground, snapping and wrecking the line routes more effectively than any bombs. The D.Rs were the first in the A.I.F. to use the now-famous jeep. They drove just about all round Syria between Baalbeck, Beirut, Tripoli, Horns, Merdjayoun and Damascus. They got their despatches through at any price, even though there were times when they had to be literally lifted out of their jeeps, frozen by the cold. Early in January came news of a definite move involving certain forces -(Including Corps Signals). Rumor was rife, speculation was rampant, and in fact a sea trip was in the air. It was. Mosquito nets and tropical equipment were issued and once aboard the transports, opinion as to the ultimate destination varied between at least six different spots on the earth's globe. First guess was Java. After Colombo, cases of tea branded "Sydney, Australia" came to light and "the cat was out of the bag". Australia it was, but a homecoming different from that which greeted the Diggers of the last war on their return. This time things had changed. Blackout conditions had been imposed and Australia was a theatre of active operations. Corps Signals disembarked at Adelaide on the 17th of March to be greeted with a typical South Australian welcome. The Australian Army was in the melting pot, to be remoulded into an even stronger and greater fighting force. One month later Signals I Aust. Corps were on the move again-headed northwards.