The 2/5th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was raised at Puckapunyal, Victoria on 18 October 1939 as part of the Second Australian Imperial Force, attached to the 17th Brigade of the 6th Division. The 2/5th were one only two Australian infantry battalions to fight against all of the major Axis powers during the war, seeing action against the Germans and Italians in Egypt, Libya and Greece and the Vichy French in Syria before returning to Australia in 1942 to fight the Japanese. The battalion took part in two campaigns in New Guinea, firstly in 1942–43 and then again in 1944–45 when they took part in the Aitape–Wewak campaign.