Editing 3rd Division (Australia) (section)

===Cold War===
{{command structure
|name= Order of Battle, 3rd Division
|date=c. 1948
|parent=
|subordinate=
* [[4th Brigade (Australia)|4th Brigade]]<ref name=Palazzo163>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=163}}</ref>
** [[5th Battalion (Australia)|5th Battalion]]
** [[6th Battalion (Australia)|6th Battalion]]
** [[8th/7th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment|8th/7th Battalion]]
* [[6th Brigade (Australia)|6th Brigade]]<ref name=Palazzo163/>
** [[38th Battalion (Australia)|38th Battalion]]
** [[32nd Battalion (Australia)|58th/32nd Battalion]]
** [[Royal Tasmania Regiment|12th/40th Battalion]]
* [[9th Brigade (Australia)|9th Brigade]]<ref name=Palazzo163/>
** [[10th Battalion (Australia)|10th Battalion]]
** [[27th Battalion (Australia)|27th Battalion]]
* 3rd Field Engineering Regiment<ref name=Palazzo163/>
* 3rd Divisional Signals Regiment
* 3rd Reconnaissance Regiment
* 3rd Divisional AAOC
* 3rd Divisional AEME
}}

In 1948, with demobilisation of Australia's wartime army complete, the decision was made to re-raise the part-time forces of the Militia, albeit with the new name of the Citizens Military Force (CMF), and on a reduced establishment of two infantry divisions, an armoured brigade and various corps-level support units.<ref>{{harvnb|Odgers|1988|p=193}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Grey|2008|p=200}}</ref> During this time the 3rd Division was re-raised and based around a nucleus of three infantry brigades—the 4th, [[6th Brigade (Australia)|6th]] and [[9th Brigade (Australia)|9th Brigades]]—it was once again based in central Victoria, although subunits were also based in [[South Australia]] and [[Tasmania]].<ref name=Palazzo162_163>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=162–163}}</ref> Once again the division's component units bore little resemblance to those that had fought with it during the two World Wars.<ref name=Palazzo162_163/> Service in the post war CMF was initially on a voluntary basis and recruitment remained poor until 1951 when conscription was introduced once again in an effort to improve the readiness of the Australian military during the [[Korean War]].<ref name=Palazzo165>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=165}}</ref> The 3rd Division was not deployed during this time, however, and although national service was instituted, service in Korea was undertaken on a voluntary basis, and conscription was used only as a means to expand the CMF and provide a base upon which mobilisation could be achieved if it proved necessary.<ref name=Palazzo165/>

Nevertheless, the resulting influx of manpower revitalised the CMF to the point that during the 1950s the division experienced a remarkable level of manning and resources that saw many units achieve full strength, with full equipment allocations.<ref name=Palazzo165/> On 23 March 1958 a divisional parade was conducted at [[Puckapunyal]], bringing together all of the division's Victorian-based units in a concentration of force not seen in the division since 1916.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=166}}</ref> The following year the division conducted a live-fire exercise at Puckapunyal based upon the 4th Brigade and involving over 3,500 men, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and various supporting arms. Despite the success demonstrated by the exercise, it would be the last time that the division mounted something similar the national service scheme was modified to limit the size of each yearly intake of trainees and the size of the CMF was reduced by over 30,000 men in an effort to free up Regular personnel to raise the [[1st Brigade (Australia)|1st Brigade]].<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=167–168}}</ref> The 1957 reforms, however, did not achieve the efficiencies required to free up Regular personnel to meet the strategic requirements to maintain a regular field force that was ready to respond to the exigencies of the [[Cold War]].<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=169}}</ref> As a result, in 1959 the decision was made to suspend national service as it was realised that further changes were required to expand the size of the Regular army.<ref name=Grey207>{{harvnb|Grey|2008|p=207}}</ref> Further changes came with the introduction of the [[Pentropic organisation|Pentropic divisional establishment]] into the Australian Army. This saw the reduction of the Army to just two divisions, the 1st and 3rd Divisions,<ref>{{harvnb|Horner|1995|p=455}}</ref> and as a part of this the division was reorganised into five battalion-plus sized battle groups,<ref>{{harvnb|Horner|1995|p=456}}</ref> and resulted in the removal of brigade-level formations and the disbandment and amalgamation of a number of smaller regionally based infantry battalions, into larger units that were part of State-based regiments.<ref name=Grey228>{{harvnb|Grey|2008|p=228}}</ref>

With an authorised peacetime establishment of 13,621 personnel,<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=171}}</ref> the 3rd Division included formations in five different military command districts including Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia as well as those in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. The main infantry components at this time were: 2nd Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment (RQR); 1st Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment (RVR); 2nd Battalion, RVR; 1st Battalion, Royal South Australia Regiment (RSAR); and 1st Battalion, Royal Western Australia Regiment.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=172}}</ref>

The Australian Army's experiment with the Pentropic establishment did not last long, however, as it created a number of planning issues including lack of interoperability with other Western allies, none of whom used it. As a result, it was abandoned in late 1964 and into early 1965 and the 3rd Division was once again reorganised. The resulting changes saw the establishment of brigade-level formations, briefly known as "task forces", however, due to other planning considerations only one was raised for the 3rd Division at this time: the 4th Task Force, consisting of four infantry battalions: 1, 2, 5 and 6 RVR.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=176–177}}</ref>

[[File:Kangaroo 89.jpg|thumb|left|Australian and US troops taking part in Exercise Kangaroo '89 in northern Australia]]

At the same time, the Australian government announced that the national service scheme would be implemented once again, however, instead of focusing upon expanding the CMF, the scheme was set up so that national servicemen would serve limited terms of service in Australian Regular Army (ARA) units with a view to service overseas in [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] and [[Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation|Malaysia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=177}}</ref> This highlighted the changing focus of Australia's military planning towards Regular forces, however, it had a negative impact upon the division as essentially it was forced to compete with the ARA for manpower and although some gains were made from men that chose to serve longer national service terms in the CMF to defer their service in ARA units, these were negligible and arguably of limited quality. The government's decision not to deploy CMF units to these conflicts meant that many of the division's experienced personnel chose to transfer to ARA units to gain operational experience, although some attempts were made to rectify this situation by offering CMF officers the opportunity to undertake a short attachment to an ARA unit serving in Vietnam and a number of 3rd Division officers took up this opportunity, a few even saw combat.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=179–182}}</ref>

When the national service scheme was ended following the election of the [[Whitlam government]] in late 1972,<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=182}}</ref> the 3rd Division lost a large number of personnel. At this time, the division's artillery assets included two artillery field regiments, a medium regiment, and a divisional locating battery,<ref>{{harvnb|Horner|1995|p=495}}</ref> and although on paper the division was a large, combined arms formation, in reality many of its units were hollow and inadequately equipped, and in the decades following this the division, and indeed the CMF in general, underwent a period of uncertainty as the government attempted to solve the issues that the organisation faced, the most pressing of which was the question of its role and strategic relevance, as well as those concerning conditions of service, centralisation of training and access to equipment.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=184–193}}</ref>

In 1976 the division's combat strength had dropped to the extent that it was really only a brigade-group formation, possessing only two infantry battalions: 1 and 2 RVR, as well as two field artillery regiments, a medium regiment and a locating battery.<ref>{{harvnb|Horner|1995|p=502}}</ref> As a result, in February the division's headquarters were merged with the 4th Task Force's headquarters as the 3rd Division was redesignated as the "3rd Division Field Force Group". At the same time, the position of formation commander was downgraded to the rank of brigadier rather than major general. This remained the case until April 1984 when the divisional headquarters was re-established.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|pp=190–191}}</ref>

In the late 1980s the division was given the task of vital asset protection under the [[Defence of Australia Policy|Defence of Australia doctrine]] and the division undertook a number of exercises in the north of Australia, including "[[Exercise Kangaroo|Kangaroo]] 89" in which more than 3,000 of its personnel took part.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=193}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Horner|1995|p=516}}</ref> Nevertheless, in June 1991, following a force structure review, the 3rd Division was finally removed from the Australian Army's order of battle, and its remaining units were transferred to the command of the 4th Brigade.<ref>{{harvnb|Palazzo|2002|p=194}}</ref>