Quote:
Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic
I'm thinking that for the Home Guard scenario, the Reservist units are committed to patrolling rural areas looking for Indonesian infiltrators while the Home Guard provide security for important locations in the towns and cities.
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Historically that's what the Militia were tasked with during both world wars. As you know, the Militia's official name was the Citizens Military Force (CMF), and renamed in 1980 to become the Australia Army Reserve (ARes). It's these "home guard" duties I'm assigning the 3rd Division to. IRL 3 DIV was disbanded completely in 1991 after decades of being pared back to barely the shadow of a skeleton.
Realistically, there's too many legislative changes required to allow for a separate home guard organisation, especially when simply re-raising 3rd Division and a bunch of old Battalions will do the job.
Interesting note - at Federation (1901) there were something like 100 battalions authorised throughout the country, which at the time had a population of approximately 3.7 million. Most units of course barely managed a few dozen members. In 1996 with a population 6 times as high (slightly over 18 million) we had around 25 battalions (+/- a few partial units), and had trouble keeping just the half dozen or so Regular Army units at close to full strength.