121ST AUSTRALIAN GENERAL TRANSPORT COMPANY
INITIALLY 8TH RESERVE MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY
THEN 108TH RESERVE MOTOR TRANSPORT COMPANY
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WW2

The 8th Reserve Motor Transport Company was formed at Cheltenham Racecourse in South Australia in February 1941 from AASC 4 Military District for training and transport in the Adelaide area. They were redesignated as 108th Reserve Motor Transport Company in May 1941 and relocated to Plympton in July 1941 where they fully mobilised in December 1941.

They continued with general transport duties in Adelaide, including moving troops as they arrived in March 1942 from the Middle East, and later they moved the 32nd US Infantry Division which arrived May/June 1942. They were reorganized as 121st General Transport Company in July 1942 with five platoons. They moved to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in December 1942 to relieve the 148th General Transport Company working on the convoy route to Larrimah. They worked convoys on the North Australian Highway, and by November 1944 they had expanded to six platoons.

In January 1945, "E" Platoon moved to Mt Isa in Queensland, and over the next few months, detachments moved north for local transport duties at the camps. By March 1945 they had detachments based at Larrimah, Barrow Ck, Banka Banka, Elliott, 6A Bore, Camooweal, Mt Isa and Morphett Creek.

In April 1945 this last detachment moved to Tennant Creek. By June 1945 Company Headquarters had moved to Gorries where "A" Transport Platoon from the 31s Company AASC joined them and with the convoy route closing, the company had detachments at Adelaide River, Katherine, Banka Banka, Brocks Creek, Alice Springs, Larrimah, Mt Isa, Mataranka and Truscott. Although some detachments changed, the company worked in these areas until the end of the war.

REFERENCES

"Convoys up the Track" (Story of the 121 Australian General Transport Company)
by Smith

"The Unit Guide - The Australian Army 1939-1945" by Graham  R. McKenzie Smith AM, page 5.184

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This page first produced 7 December 2004

This page last updated 20 May 2024