A short history of the Australian Intelligence Corps

Introduction -- Federation -- Formation of the Corps -- World War 1
Between the World Wars -- World War 2 -- Asian Engagements -- Vietnam
Peacekeepers -- Reservists, Regulars & The Future
Official Contributers

World War 1

The sole Australian Intelligence Corps officer to serve overseas in an intelligence role was Captain Reginald Travers. He was appointed as Intelligence Officer to the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force despatched to seize German possessions in the Pacific. Travers was awarded a Mention in Despatches for gallantry in action on New Britain in September 1914. On return to Australia he was appointed to the Australian Imperial Force and finished the War on the Western Front as a highly decorated battalion commander.

Some fifty ex-Corps personnel served in non-intelligence related positions throughout World War 1. Those that deserve special mention include:

• Major General Sir William Bridges, the founder of the Corps. Bridges raised and commanded the 1st Australian Division, only to be mortally wounded at Gallipoli in May 1915. He is buried on the hill overlooking the Royal Military College of Australia in Canberra.
• Major General Sir James McCay, the first Director of Intelligence who rose to command an Australian division in action.
• General Sir John Monash, former commander of the Victorian Section of the Corps who subsequently rose to command the Australian Corps in its triumphant campaigns in the final months of the War.

Overseas the Australian Imperial Force established intelligence positions at all levels of command from battalion to Corps. Personnel were seconded from units to fill intelligence positions at brigade and above. There is evidence of a logical progression from battalion intelligence section, to brigade, division and Corps intelligecne sections at I ANZAC, II ANZAC and finally the Australian Corps. Such personnel were managed by means of their secondment to the 'Intelligence Corps', an Imperial formation, though a number regarded themselves as belonging to the "Australian Intelligence Corps" as they annotated their paybooks to that effect. Some personnel were highly decorated whilst serving in formations as high as General Headquarters British Expeditionary Force, the headquarters of the Imperial forces deployed on the Western Front. At all levels of command, Australian intelligence personnel undertook a diverse range of duties including:

• reconnaissance patrols
• manning observation posts
• mail censorship
• mapping
• psychological operations
• interrogation of prisoners
• collection of human intelligence information to feed the voracious order of battle analysis tasks
• air photograph interpretation
• intercepting and interpreting enemy electronic communications

Group photograph of the Australian Corps Intelligence Police, 1918

Australian Corps Intelligence Police Sergeant inspecting documents Bethune, France March 1918. © Daniel Cox 2003

Following British practice the Australian Imperial Force on the Western Front formed a group known as Intelligence (Corps) Police, not to be confused with the traditional Military Police. The Australian Intelligence Police performed security and contre espionage functions in rear areas where Australian forces were resting and training in France and Belgium. Depending on the nature of upcoming actions, elements were detached to the combat forces to assist in the rapid exploitation of captured material, documentation and prisoners of war. Lance Corporal Thomas Benoit a 5th Aust Div Intelligence Policeman was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for capturing a German Regimental Headquarters, taking four officers and sixty-two other ranks prisoner, and securing many valuable documents and maps.

At home, those personnel serving with the Intelligence Sections of the General Staff in the Headquarters of Military Districts developed new interests including security and censorship. The whole of the Australian Home Forces intelligence effort was conducted under the Director of Military Intelligence. So successful was the security effort, that there is no recorded incident of espionage or sabotage in Australia during the war.

Introduction -- Federation -- Formation of the Corps -- World War 1
Between the World Wars -- World War 2 -- Asian Engagements -- Vietnam
Peacekeepers -- Reservists, Regulars & The Future
Official Contributers