Colin Hall Simpson

Simpson joined the Second Australian Imperial Force on 15 October 1939 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.[16] He was allocated the AIF service number VX79,[17] and assumed command of the Australian Corps Signals. When the I Corps was formed in April 1940, Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey was appointed its commander, and Simpson its Chief Signals Officer, with a promotion to the rank of colonel.[17]

Simpson embarked on the transport Nieuw Holland on 15 September 1940, arriving in Kantara, Egypt, on 12 October. He met with his British counterparts, and discussed arrangements for the creation of an AIF Signals School in the Middle East. Some negotiation was required before this proposal was finally accepted. He was disappointed at the standard of training that had been achieved by the I Corps and 6th Division signals units in the Middle East, and just as disappointed with the reinforcements arriving from Australia. Both the standard of training of the units and the establishment of the schools intended to remedy the situation were hampered by a serious shortage of equipment.[18] The 6th Division's list of critical shortfalls—by no means restricted to signals equipment—included 120 telephones and 120 miles (190 km) of electrical cable.[19] Not until January 1941—after the 6th Division had been committed to battle in Libya—did the cable become available in Australia.[20] Some units equipped themselves with captured enemy materiel.[21]

Simpson arrived in Greece on 7 March 1941 as part of the I Corps advance party.[22] The Battle of Greece presented a major challenge for Simpson's signals units, as rugged terrain, enemy action and frequent troop movements conspired to frustrate their efforts to maintain reliable communications. The news that Yugoslavia had offered to surrender reached Blamey from a BBC broadcast on 15 April picked up on a receiver built into a kerosene case that Simpson had insisted that he take.[23] Much signals equipment was lost during the fighting, and some had to be destroyed following the order to evacuate Greece. Simpson embarked for Crete on HMS Phoebe on 25 April. From there he took a flying boat to Alexandria. His first priority on arrival was arranging for the lost equipment to be replaced.[24]

The shortage of signals equipment was an important factor in the delay in committing the I Corps to the Syria–Lebanon campaign until it became clear that General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson could not adequately control operations from his headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Once again, the signallers had to battle with inhospitable terrain. The hills and atmospheric conditions made reception difficult for the radio operations, and those same hills, along with shortages of cable, made the linesmen's task no less difficult.[25] He was mentioned in despatches,[26] and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for "maintenance of communications under difficult conditions in the Grecian campaign".[27][28]

Simpson was promoted to the rank of brigadier on 11 September 1941, becoming the first officer of the Australian Corps of Signals to reach that rank.[1] He was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident on 13 September 1941 and suffered severe lacerations, a concussion, and a broken collarbone, rib and finger. He was taken to the 2/1st General Hospital, and was evacuated to Australia on the hospital ship MS Wanganella. He returned to the Middle East by air, arriving back on 20 January 1942.[25]

Within days, Simpson was heading east again, taking a flying boat to Batavia, where he joined the advance party of the I Corps, which was being sent from the Middle East to the Dutch East Indies to counter the Japanese threat. He met there with the local authorities regarding signals arrangements for the defence of Java. These were soon well in hand, but the tactical situation rapidly deteriorated to the extent that the I Corps was ordered to leave Java on 21 February 1942. Simpson departed on the troop ship Orcades, which arrived in Adelaide on 14 March.[29]

Blamey was appointed Commander in Chief of the Australian Military Forces on 27 March. He instituted a sweeping reorganisation of the Army, replacing officers with men who had experience in the Middle East. Simpson became the Signal Officer in Chief on 6 April, with the rank of major general, the first Australian Corps of Signals officer to reach that rank.[30]

One of Simpson's first tasks was to confer with the Chief Signals Officer at General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters (GHQ) South West Pacific Area, Brigadier General Spencer B. Akin. The two established mechanisms to divide responsibility for the theatre's communications between the two armies, which often worked together on the same projects. An important outcome of their first meeting was the creation of the Central Bureau as a combined signals intelligence organisation. Simpson had been thinking about such an organisation while on the Orcades. Blamey had an appreciation of signals intelligence from his time as Deputy Commander in Chief in the Middle East, and readily gave his support. After a slow start, signals intelligence became an important element of the war in the South West Pacific.[31][32]

Perhaps Simpson's most ambitious project was the laying of a submarine cable between Cape York and New Guinea. A cable laying ship, the SS Mernoo, was chartered, and two old cables that ran across the Bass Strait were lifted and re-laid across the Torres Strait in October 1943. When the land connections were completed in December 1943, it became possible to send a message all the way from Melbourne to Port Moresby.[33] Simpson, who was on an inspection tour of New Guinea, was on hand for the receipt of the first message.[34] In November 1944, he visited the front in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, returning to Australia via the United States and Canada.[35]

To man his signals units, Simpson sought to obtain some 4,000 Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) personnel.[36] Two special signal training battalions were activated to cater for them, and Simpson inspected the 2nd Signal Training Battalion (AWAS) at Ivanhoe Grammar School with Lieutenant Colonel Sybil Irving on 6 July 1942.[37] By 1945, the Australian Corps of Signals numbered some 25,000 men and women.[1] The large numbers of women serving in Signals units caused friction between Irving and Simpson over what degree of control he exercised over them.[38]

Aware that signals is usually forgotten when the signallers are doing their best work, Simpson attempted to obtain various accolades for his corps. He held ceremonial parades through Melbourne to celebrate VE Day on 10 May 1945,[39] and VP Day on 20 August 1945.[40] He attempted to get the title "Royal" granted in recognition of its wartime service. This occurred on 10 November 1948.[41]