Overview - the Italian campaign

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. While there, they would fight as part of General Sir Bernard Montgomery's multinational 8th Army, with which they had also been associated in the desert campaigns. For the New Zealanders of the Second Division, though, the only general who really mattered was their own commander, Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg. 'Tiny' Freyberg was an able, energetic leader who held the hard-won respect of his men, in part because of his well-known concern for their well-being and his aversion to casualties.

The force which Freyberg would lead in Italy had been seasoned by two years of active warfare. With a strong sense of camaraderie forged in the heat of battle, New Zealand 's predominantly amateur soldiers had transformed themselves into the 'Div'—a formidable fighting force, with a reputation for quiet but dogged efficiency. They had definitely acquitted themselves well in the deserts of North Africa where they had fought since 1942 after disheartening defeats and decampment from Greece and Crete. But they were not necessarily prepared for the conditions which they would encounter on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.

Accordingly, after the decision was made to commit the New Zealand force to Italy, its members were allowed a period of recuperation and some months to reorganise in Egypt. Many of those who had served longest were permitted a furlough back home and the Second Division was strengthened with reinforcements from New Zealand before setting off for Italy in October 1943. The new arrivals were fresh, but they were untested in battle and had yet to be integrated into the ways of the 'Div'. Moreover, the seasoned soldiers who remained were as battle weary as they were battle hardened. Their first port of call was Taranto before they moved on to assemble in Bari, which would serve thereafter as the main staging base for New Zealand troops arriving in Italy.