When HMS Achilles opened fire on the German ‘pocket battleship’ Admiral Graf Spee on 13 December 1939, it became the first NZ unit to engage the enemy in the Second World War. Seventy years on, the Battle of the River Plate still holds a special place in this country's naval history.
Despite some opposition, nearly 16,000 Maori enlisted for service during the Second World War. By 1945 the 28th (Maori) Battalion had became one of New Zealand's most celebrated and decorated units. But Maori contributed to the war effort in many different ways, at home and overseas.
The Second World War was the greatest conflict ever to engulf the world. It took the lives of 50 million people, including one in every 150 New Zealanders, and shaped the world that we have lived in ever since.
Eleanor Fraser served in the Women's War Service Auxiliary as a Tui in the New Zealand Forces Club in Cairo. She left for Egypt in September 1941 with 29 other young women with whom she would work in the club, behind one of the counters supplying refreshments to the troops on leave. Here she describes the routine of the club
Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Wright was a doctor in the Medical Corps. At Gerawla he helped set up the hospital, but was also sports officer, responsible for making a rugby field as he describes here
War is often thought of as constant frontline action, but in reality troops are often out of the lines, training or on leave. And many of those who serve are not in front line units.
Tens of thousands of New Zealanders fought their way up the boot of Italy from 1943 to 1945 as part of the vast multinational force assembled to roll back Axis aggression in far-flung theatres of war across the globe
During the Second World War New Zealanders became prisoners of war in large numbers. Most Kiwi POWs were soldiers captured in Greece, Crete and North Africa. In total, more than 8000 were held in captivity - one in 200 of New Zealand's population at the time.
3 September is Merchant Navy Day. The date commemorates the sinking of
the first British merchant ship in 1939, just hours after war with Germany began. Merchant seafarers, including several thousand New Zealanders, were involved in the Second World War from
the first day to the last.
After over five years of rationing and anxiety about loved ones overseas, New Zealanders greeted the coming of peace in Europe in May 1945, and then victory over Japan in August, with understandable relief and enthusiasm.
Sixty years ago, in June 1942, the first American soldiers landed on New Zealand soil, to begin an 'invasion' which would have a profound impact on both visitors and hosts over the next 18 months.
It remains the most dramatic battle ever faced by New Zealand forces. Over 12 brutal days in May 1941, the Allies fought off a massive German airborne assault on the Mediterranean island of Crete. They almost succeeded.
Once the crucial political decision to send New Zealand troops to Italy had
been made in Wellington in 1943, it ensured that the bulk of New Zealand's
active soldiers would see action there until the end of war in Europe
Germany surrendered in the early afternoon of 7 May 1945, New Zealand time. The news became known the next morning, with huge headlines in the morning papers. But the acting prime minister, Walter Nash, insisted that celebrations should wait until British Prime Minister Winston Churchill officially announced the peace, which would not be heard in New Zealand until 1 a.m. on 9 May.
Most of New Zealand's Second World War POWs were captured in the European theatre in the early stages of the war. Only about 100 New Zealand servicemen fell into Japanese hands, mainly airmen or seamen attached to the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt described it as 'a date which will live in infamy' - 7 December 1941, the day the Japanese bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
An island nation half a world away from its main trading partner, New Zealand in the mid-20th century was overwhelmingly dependent on sea transport for its prosperity and security.
New Zealand was one of the first countries to become involved in the global conflict precipitated by Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Its 2176-day involvement, encompassing all but three days of the period now accepted as the Second World War, was matched only by Great Britain, Australia, and British colonial possessions.
The 'Div' was soon in action at the end of November. The New Zealanders were assigned the task of joining the Allied effort to breach the Gustav Line by attacking its eastern margins and traversing the Sangro River with the hope of initiating an advance to Rome
Maori leaders offered men for both home defence and overseas service, and Maori requests for their own military unit followed, although not all wanted a Maori battalion.
In 1942 the Battle of the Coral Sea (7-8 May) and Battle of Midway (3-6 June) between the Japanese and United States navies left the United States with superior numbers of essential aircraft carriers.
Strategy determined that New Zealanders involved in combat with Germans would mostly do so at a distance from New Zealand. New Zealand's security, it was accepted, depended on the success of British arms, which would inevitably be concentrated in Europe.
The incarceration of most New Zealand army POWs began in transit camps where facilities were rudimentary in the extreme. Generally little more than holding pens, they were invariably overcrowded, lacked shelter, and had insufficient ablutions for large numbers of men.
New Zealanders were only marginally involved in the initial British operations that threw the Italians out of Egypt late in 1940 and went on to inflict a humiliating defeat on them at Beda Fomm, near the El Agheila gateway.
The Division was to enjoy only a brief respite before being called upon to participate in a new attack on a strong point which would prove the most tragically elusive prize of the entire campaign for the New Zealanders.
The invasion began in Auckland on 12 June 1942 when five transport ships carrying soldiers of the US army (or 'doughboys' as they were called) sailed into the harbour. Two days later marines (or 'leathernecks') landed in Wellington.
On 20 May the German attack began, focussing on the airfield at Maleme and the Canea area. The glider-borne troops and paratroopers were badly mauled where they landed in or near the defenders, and were rapidly eliminated.
The Second World War was New Zealand's greatest national effort to date. About 140,000 men and women were dispatched overseas to serve in fighting formations, 104,000 in 2NZEF, the rest in the British or New Zealand naval or air forces.
The New Zealand Division fell back to the Alamein Line, where it took part in the first Battle of Alamein. At Ruweisat on 15 July, and El Mreir a week later, the New Zealanders carried out their part of the attack plans by seizing their objectives in successful night assaults.
Although it was waged half a world away, few military campaigns were as vital to New Zealand's interests as the Battle of the Atlantic. A German victory, which would have severed this country's links with Britain, was one of the gravest threats New Zealand has ever faced.
After a period of rest and recuperation, the 'Div' was back in action again in July as part of the Allied effort to breach the Germans' new so-called Gothic Line running from Pisa to Rimini in the northern Apennines.
POW camps tended to be rather bleak places. They could not, for security reasons, have trees and other greenery growing in them although many prisoners did receive seed from the YMCA in Geneva and plant their own vegetable and flower gardens.
On 23 May the British forces retreated from Maleme to the new line at Platanias, apart from some of the wounded who had to be left behind for inevitable capture by the Germans. The troops stationed at Canea-Galatas had a relatively quiet day as did those at Retimo and Heraklion, though the cutting off of Retimo from road supply routes was a serious concern.
Following the break-out from El Alamein the New Zealand Division reached the Libyan border by 10 November. It seized Halfaya Pass before being pulled out of the line. After recuperating near Bardia, it moved forward to the front at El Agheila in December.
For the Merchant Navy the cost of victory was high: between 1939 and 1945 almost 5000 Allied and neutral merchant vessels (over 21 million tons' worth) were sunk, and around 60,000 seafarers were killed – more than half of them while sailing under the red duster (red ensign) of the British Empire and Dominions.
New Zealanders who served in the Pacific War had diverse experiences. They were involved in fighting in the jungle, some spent time in Japanese prisoner of war camps, others took part in air raids or manned ships, while others played a vital support role.
The Aquitania in Wellington Harbour. This luxurious and fast Cunard Liner served as a troopship during the war and in 1940, when this picture was taken, carried troops of the Second Echelon of 2NZEF.
On 26 May the Germans continued their advance eastwards across the island. The British forces withdrew to a line east of Galatas and, as the day wore on, were subjected to ongoing attacks from the air and ground.
Crowds farewell departing troops on the wharf at Lyttelton in 1940. Expressions of apprehension and concern are apparent on the faces of many of the women who have come to see off their boys and men leaving for the war.
As the war drew to a close, POWs in the more eastern of the German camps were often gathered together at short notice and marched off under guard in a westerly direction - away from the approaching Russian army.
The following roll lists the names of seafarers who died while serving on New Zealand merchant ships and New Zealanders known to have been lost while sailing under the flags of other countries (mainly Britain).
The prospect of liberation was a key to POWs' morale. But a great many had no intention of passively awaiting the arrival of Allied forces, an attitude that was reinforced by the recognition that it was a POW's duty to attempt to escape.
Attention was given to the problem of repatriating POWs long before 1945. A New Zealand repatriation unit was established in the United Kingdom under the command of Major-General Howard Kippenberger late in 1944.
The presence of thousands of well-paid Americans in the country and a large army to service brought about a minor economic boom in New Zealand and some long-term effects on local patterns of commerce.
The Battle for Crete is the most contested event in New Zealand's military history. The nature of the battle, with its relatively clear sequence of events leading to the outcome, lends itself to disputation over who was responsible for the mistakes that allowed the Germans to gain control of the vital airfield at Maleme and to hold it against the subsequent counter-attack.
After spending four days in a lifeboat, seafarers from a torpedoed British merchant ship, the Mentor, about to be rescued in the Gulf of Mexico in early 1942.
The end of the American invasion was a gradual process which started in the last months of 1943. For some New Zealanders it was a relief to see the men go; for others it was an occasion of sadness and, before long, grief as many Americans died, especially in the invasion of Tarawa Island.
Between November 1941 and May 1943 New Zealanders serving with 2 NZEF fought against the Italians and the German expeditionary force across the desert of North Africa.
The landings on 6 June 1944 were just the first part in a sustained campaign to break the war in Europe. For months after D-Day, planes flew over European cities, and the Allied troops pushed further inland.
Jersey worn by Stan Young during the Second New Zealand Expeditionary
Force (2NZEF) rugby team tour of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France
and Germany, 1945-1946.
A prisoner of war escape pack made from parts of a battle dress
uniform. The pack was made by Captain A.J. Tillick prior to departure
from Oflag VIIB prisoner of war camp on 14 April 1945.
A wooden carved 32 piece chess set encased in a coconut shell handmade
by Lieutenant Lancelot Hugh Herd while a prisoner of war in Changi
Prison, Singapore.
Beretta Model 1915-19 pistol taken from a captured Italian by Sergeant Pekama Hunia, C Company, 28 (Maori) Battalion, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF).
The Freyberg Cup - named after General Bernard Freyberg DSO VC - is a
New Zealand Army rugby trophy first played for by units of the Second
New Zealand Division during the Second World War
A deflated rugby ball used in a game between 19 Battalion, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force and 1 Battalion, Welch Regiment in Egypt, 6 April 1940.
A Mauser sporting rifle presented to John Denvir in 1955 by Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia, in recognition of his
actions as a partisan during the Second World War.
As commander of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), Kitty Kain was one of New Zealand's most senior women military leaders during the Second World War
A First World War hero and commander of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Bernard Freyberg was British-born but New Zealand-raised. He proved to be a charismatic and popular military leader who would later serve a term as Governor-General
Troops of the Second Echelon of 2NZEF and sailors of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve parade at Parliament, Wellington, on 27 April 1940, shortly before their departure.
Merchant ships plough through the North Atlantic en route to Britain. The convoy system was the linchpin of the Allies' long and hard-fought victory over Germany's U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic.
Back ../images/stories/usforces/usforces-010-tn.gif Listen now to Roy Murphy talk to New Zealanders who married American servicemen, at a reunion in New York: meeting US servicemen; going to dances.
Lieutenant Haddon Donald of 22 Battalion was one of the men defending Maleme airfield on 20 May 1941. Here he describes the day's fighting, and his involvement in a counter-attack against German troops near the Tavronitis River.
Because there was so little of it, food played a very important part in a POW's life. The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva provided food parcels to POWs from those countries which were signatories to the 1929 Geneva Convention.
This map shows the western movement of prisoners of war in Germany following the advance of Russian forces in the east in 1944-45. The movement of these prisoners was often by foot on what became known as the 'long marches'.
