Lieutenant Till: Ex 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion AIF

Only 48 hours before the invasion of Singapore Island by the Japanese, a composite battalion was formed to help strengthen the Australian numbers defending the North West corner of the island. Known as the Special Reserve Battalion (SRB), it comprised men from the Australian Army Service Corps (AASC), Ordinance units and a company from the 2/4th Machine Gun Battalion. The AASC (cooks, mechanics, drivers, clerks etc.) were relatively untrained. Such was the desperation of the time.