The battle took place on a stretch of unmade road south of the Ouyen Highway and between Murrayville and Cowangie. This was on the 13th of May and late in the day. The road was basically linear and covered on each side to about 10 metres by a copse. Further to each side there were open fields and farmland. The terrain was that of undulating hills.
A small group of soldiers had been ordered to conduct a delaying action. This was so that their own forces’ armoured vehicles could safely re-fuel. This group was an element of the 305 Reconnaissance Battalion. It numbered about a dozen.
The delaying force took up its position on a dominant rise. This rise gave a view of about a thousand metres down the road, towards the east. The soldiers dug shallow trenches and constructed an obstacle. The obstacle included two lines of mines set a couple of hundred metres down from the crest.
While the position was being prepared, a single vehicle was sent to patrol down the road. This patrol spotted a number of enemy vehicles about 4 kilometres further on. These vehicles were 500 metres away and advancing along the road. The patrol engaged these targets with machine gun fire. This fire seemed to cause some confusion amongst the enemy formation. After firing the patrol withdrew and returned to the rest of its party.
At the prepared position, tracked vehicles were heard to be approaching at around 1700 hours. The delaying party quickly took up positions. These positions were initially in front of the obstacle, with a few soldiers on one side of the road and the remainder, including the party’s two vehicles on the other. The enemy were soon sighted and a lone enemy vehicle was reported advancing along the road. The lone vehicle was engaged with small arms fire at a range of about 500 metres. In response to this the vehicle moved of the road and out of sight.
The next sighting was by the smaller group of soldiers by themselves on the side of the road. A couple of armoured vehicles were reported meandering forward in the copse. These targets were engaged and brisk fire-fight ensured. At the same time more vehicles were heard advancing on the other side of the road. Those of the delaying force on this side of the road then pulled back about a hundred metres to the prepared positions. During this movement they were under sporadic machine gun fire. The soldiers on the opposite side of the road remained in position and provided covering fire for the withdrawing group.
From the main position, the enemy were engaged by small arms fire and light anti-armour weapons. At least two of the enemy vehicles were seen to be hit and possibly destroyed. At this stage the enemy appeared to hesitate, but continued to rake their foreground with fire. An enemy mortar barrage also commenced to fall around the troops positions. All this fire resulted in a number of casualties, despite the soldiers of the delaying force sheltering in their trenches.
The enemy then apparently dismounted assault troopers. At this time someone was heard giving orders above the din of battle. At this point those remaining fled to their vehicles and made a hasty retreat. A few of those fleeing were cut down as they ran. This retreat was made under the cover of artillery fire and smoke. It was possible that those soldiers on the opposite side of the road were still fighting at this stage. They were left behind though and not seen again.
The remnants of the delaying force pulled back about two kilometres. Then they took up new positions on the reverse slope of a small rise. The hastily adopted position was in a small copse. The delaying force at this time had little ammunition and no anti-armour weapons.
The enemy were soon upon the new position. The enemy armoured vehicles pulled up on the top of the rise and put down considerable fire. The enemy also debussed its dismounted elements, who assaulted through the position. The volume of fire was heard to increase considerably.
There might have been survivors from this last action as there was occasional fire heard from the area afterwards. This fire though died down with the fading light. A post battle search of this last scene found that the parties’ vehicles had been destroyed; one of them by the parties’ own member, who was found lying near by. Another soldier was found slumped over a jammed machine gun and had obviously stayed operating it to the end.
Against the total loss of this small group must be balanced the successful delay of the enemy force. They held up the enemy for at least thirty minutes and allowed most of their forces armoured vehicles to be refuelled.
This enemy force was later found to have been a company size and included about twenty-five light-armoured vehicles. The parent unit of this forces was reported to be the 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse Regiment, an armoured reconnaissance unit.
Extract from the Official history
305 Reconnaissance Battalion at War
Operations in Southern Australia
First published in Ich Dien, Journal of the 4th/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse Regiment, No 18. (1983)