mid-July an armistice came into effect and the 21st Brigade subsequently undertook garrison duties along the coast. In December 1941 Imperial Japanese forces advanced rapidly in South East Asia following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the invasion of Malaya. As a result, in January 1942, the British government requested that the 7th Division be brought back from the Middle East to conduct operations in the Netherlands East Indies. From 30 January, the division, including the 21st Brigade, began disembarking from Suez. In February 1942, however, as the situation in the Pacific worsened, the Australian government decided that the division should be brought back to Australia rather than be committed to the fighting in Java, or in Burma. New Guinea In March 1942, the 21st Brigade arrived back in Australia, landing in Adelaide. After a period of leave, the brigade was reconstituted and moved to northern New South Wales and then Queensland where they undertook a defensive role around Caloundra in case of a Japanese invasion. As the situation in New Guinea worsened, the brigade was hastily deployed there in August 1942. Under the command of Brigadier Arnold Potts, who had taken over from Stevens in April, they were sent to Port Moresby from where they reinforced the militiamen of the 39th Battalion, fighting a rearguard action on the Kokoda Track. Throughout late August and into September the brigade fought a number of delaying actions along the track, initially around Isurava, but as the Japanese advance towards Port Moresby continued they were pushed back to Ioribaiwa. In mid-September, as the brigade prepared to make its final stand on Imita Ridge, they were relieved by the 25th Brigade and subsequently withdrawn back to Sogeri, near Port Moresby, in early October. During this time, a force of about 400 men from the brigade's three infantry battalions were grouped together into an ad hoc force known as "Chaforce" to conduct raids on Japanese lines of communication and to carry out various tasks such as battlefield clearance. Throughout their involvement around Kokoda, the brigade suffered 233 men killed, and although at the time there were questions raised in the upper echelons of the Australian Army about the brigade's performance, particularly from General Thomas Blamey, later this assessment was re-evaluated and the 21st Brigade's effort has since been described as "one of the greatest in Australian military history". In late November, the brigade, under the