Battalions, etc.etc.

[iwccc]

As a baby boomer I am not clear on. how the Army works.  for my research I need to know how the
2nd AIF was set up.  I believe that the 2nd AIF was the 2nd  "?" of the Australian Infantry Force.
then the order was "?" Battalions ---how many men were in a Battalion?
How many in a unit? etc.etc.
The soldier I am researching was in the 2/12th Battalion.  He was from NSW but I am led to believe that this Battalion was mainly Tasmanians and men from Northern Queensland.
What was  the order of command: eg. General, Commander etc. down to a Private.
How do I arrange a copy of his military record?  His name is WalterCharles Horsfall NX11278. I need to know when he joined up and where he served.  Was he always with the 2/12th. If not who was he serving with and what areas did he see combat.  I believe he was mentioned in dispatches but as most of the unit was killed his heroic deed could not be awarded as there was no senior officers standing.
Any help would be much appreciated.

[Nanna52]

2nd AIF was the second imperial force.  The first was WW1.

To start to find out what his unit did start with the Australian War Memorial.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U56055

His records have not been digitised.

[Brentor boy]

There is an earlier thread on the same subject. Perhaps it can be linked to avoid duplication of effort.

[Brentor boy]

There is a page dedicated to William Charles Horsfall on Wikitree. Perhaps the profile manager may have relevant information.

[Nanna52]

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=829275.msg6936432#msg6936432

[majm]

Yes,  agree with Nanna52,  the I represented is for Imperial.  Australia was not separated from Britain at the outbreak of WWII.  We had not even got around to adopting the Statute of Westminster.  It was not until after WWII that the concept of Austral iuan Citizenship developed, although Baby boomers born in Australia were born British Subjects. 

To get your chap's military record, you need to apply to the National Archives of Australia,  who will digitise them on payment of the fees because you can confirm he is deceased. (See the online index of deaths NSW bdm online, death more than 30 years, ago so the registration details... cert or official transcription... readilyavailable to release to general public)

The AWMs website that Nanna52 shared is very informative and explains the chain of command . 

There are two excellent books about 2/12 Batt in WWII,  vol 1 and vol 2 ... perhaps you can arrange for your local public library to organise an inter library loan.

To learn when he joined,  his rank, nok, was discharged etc, you could look for a summary under his NX service number at the WWII nominal roll.  If he was Mentioned in Despatches you should find that noted on his service record.

JM.

[iwccc]

Thanks Nanna. I appreciate your help

[iwccc]

Thanks Brentorboy for your suggestions.  Much appreciated

[iwccc]

Thank you majm,  Very helpful.  I have already got the two volumes of "of Storms and Rainbows' - history of 2/12th from an interlibrary loan.  Very interesting.  It shows what the2/12 were involved in but my problem is how to link that to my uncle's service.  I believe he changed units etc over the period of the war so I really need his personal record to find the dates of when he was in one place or another.