New Zealand servicemen marching after Armistice Day

An army band leads New Zealand troops marching through a city after the Armistice – probably Verviers in Belgium where they were welcomed on 19 December 1918. These troops were en route to Germany having left from Beauvois, France, on 28 November. On 20 December, the first New Zealand formation, the 2nd Brigade, crossed the Rhine River into Cologne as part of the Allied Army of Occupation.

The Maori Pioneer Battalion also marched to the border near Cologne, but at the last minute the British authorities decided they should not be part of the occupation force and they were told to go home via Dunkirk instead. In his history of the Battalion Chris Pugsley notes, 'It seemed that with the signing of the Armistice, the old rules once again applied and native troops would not be used to garrison Germany. The men resented this attitude, but welcomed the thought of going home'

Over 24,000 New Zealand troops were still in France at the time of the Armistice. Most of the New Zealand Division were sent  home in batches from January–March 1919.