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his officers and men are saying openly that they have no confidence in me and that allmen are tired and jittery. This Coy has not been in any action yet, only patrols and noone hurt. Officers to blame for creating depressed feelings around them.The OC C Coy reported on the same day ‘some feeling in his Coy, men saywhy no tanks, no air spt, no arty?’ That evening Matthews had an encounter with alieutenant in B Coy over the latter’s failure to enforce malarial precautions, and wasinformed by a ‘belligerent’ junior that he also had no confidence in his CO.116The 9th Battalion seems to have weathered this low point and there were noother serious instances of breakdown in morale before the unit was rested inlate February. A soldier in the battalion noted that the unit’s morale was raisedon 2 February by the capture of a 150mm howitzer which had been shelling thebattalion’s rear areas.117 On 21 February, however, Matthews noted the poorperformance of a company from the 61st Battalion and deduced that ‘they mustbe no better than some of my Coys’.118Matthews kept Field informed about his problems, writing on 3 February:I discussed the posn with him this morning about morale. He knew something of whathad happened and I told him the rest. He was most sympathetic and said he was behindme and hoped I could continue to do well for he wanted me to earn a distinction. Histalk bucked me up no end.119Field appears to have kept a very close eye on developments within thebattalion because the brigade’s war diary notes about half a dozen visits by thebrigadier, and about the same number of separate visits by the BM, duringthe remainder of February.120 Such visits were made relatively simple by theproximity of Matthews’s headquarters to the coast. Given the circumstances itis not surprising that the 9th Battalion became Field’s priority for relief, whichhe ordered on 25 February. Significantly, this particular date was forced on the7th Brigade by General Savige’s insistence that the battalion be withdrawn to the116 Matthews diary 13, 1 February 1945, AWM PR89/079, Item 5.117 Schacht, My War On Bougainville, p. 170.118 Matthews diary 14, 21 February 1945, AWM PR89/079, Item 5.119 Matthews diary 13, 3 February 1945, AWM PR89/079, Item 5.120 These visits were substantially more numerous than those made by Field and his BMto the other battalions at this time. ‘Record of Movement of Officers – HQ 7 Aust InfBde’, 7 Infantry Brigade War Diary, February 1945, AWM 52, Item 8/2/7.A tale of three battalions — 25