Military history of New Zealand during World War II
Their stationing in North Africa and Greece, specifically during the First and Second Battles of El Alamein and the Freyburg-commanded Crete campaign, was generally well known on either side for its strength, effectiveness and "spiritual" connection.
The Long Range Desert Group was formed in North Africa in 1940 with New Zealand and Rhodesian as well as British volunteers, but included no Australians for the same reason.
had expressed vocal opposition to fascism in Europe and also to the appeasement of fascist dictatorships,[2] and national sentiment for a strong show of force met with general support.
When Neville Chamberlain broadcast Britain's declaration of war, a group of New Zealand politicians (led by Peter Fraser because Prime Minister Michael Savage was terminally ill) listened to it on the shortwave radio in Carl Berendsen's room in the Parliament Buildings.
[6][7] In total, around 140,000 New Zealand personnel served overseas for the Allied war effort, and an additional 100,000 men were armed for Home Guard duty.
[citation needed] Conscription was introduced in June 1940, and volunteering for Army service ceased from 22 July 1940, although entry to the Air Force and Navy remained voluntary.
[citation needed] As German panzers began a swift advance into Greece on 6 April, the British and Commonwealth troops found themselves being outflanked and were forced into retreat.
With this knowledge, General Freyberg began to prepare the island's defences, hampered by a lack of modern and heavy equipment, as the troops from Greece had in most cases had to leave only with their personal weapons.
Although German plans had underestimated Greek, British and Commonwealth numbers, and incorrectly presumed that the Cretan population would welcome the invasion, Freyberg was still faced with the harsh prospect that even lightly equipped paratroopers could overwhelm the island's defences.
Operation Mercury opened on 20 May when the German Luftwaffe delivered Fallschirmjäger around the airfield at Maleme and the Chania area, at around 8:15 pm, by paradrop and gliders.
Most of the New Zealand forces were deployed around this north-western part of the island and with British and Greek troops they inflicted heavy casualties upon the initial German attacks.
Faced with a seemingly desperate situation, Colonel Andrew played his trump card – two Matilda tanks, which he ordered to counterattack with the reserve infantry platoon and some additional gunners turned infantrymen.
The counterattack failed – one tank had to turn back after suffering technical problems (the turret would not traverse properly) and the second ignored the German positions in the RAF camp and the edge of the airfield, heading straight for the riverbed.
5 Brigade fell back to a new line at Platanias, leaving Maleme securely in German hands, allowing them to freely build up their force in this region.
Pink Hill (so named for the colour of its soil), a crucial point on the Galatas heights, was attacked several times by the Germans that day and was remarkably held by the Division Petrol Company, with the aid of Greek soldiers, though at a heavy cost to both sides.
The Petrol Company and some infantry reserve prepared a counterattack, but a notable incident pre-empted them – as told by Driver A. Pope: Out of the trees came [Captain] Forrester of the Buffs, clad in shorts, a long yellow army jersey reaching down almost to the bottom of the shorts, brass polished and gleaming, web belt in place and waving his revolver in his right hand [...] It was a most inspiring sight.
Following its evacuation from Crete, the division regrouped at its camp near Maadi, at the base of the desert slopes of Wadi Digla and Tel al-Maadi.
Reinforcements arrived from New Zealand to bring the division back up to strength and the training, cut short by the deployment to Greece and Crete, was completed.
On 18 November 1941, Operation Crusader was launched to lift the Siege of Tobruk (the third such attack), under the command of Lieutenant-General Alan Cunningham and the 2nd New Zealand Division (integrated into the British Eighth Army) took part in the offensive, crossing the Libyan frontier into Cyrenaica.
The British forces prevented Rommel's advance from reaching Alexandria, Cairo and the Suez Canal in the First Battle of El Alamein, where New Zealand troops captured Ruweisat Ridge in a successful night attack.
By 2 November, with the attack bogged down, Montgomery launched a new initiative to the south of the battle lines, Operation Supercharge, with the ultimate goal of destroying the Axis army.
[19] Eventually, American formations replaced the New Zealand army units in the Pacific, which released personnel for service with the 2nd Division in Italy, or to cover shortages in the civilian labour force.
In 1945, some troops who had recently returned from Europe with the 2nd Division were drafted to form a contribution (known as J-Force) toward the British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) in southern Japan.
The cruiser HMS Gambia bombarded Sabang (in Sumatra) in July 1944, and with the recommissioned Achilles joined the British Pacific Fleet, later re-inforced by the corvette HMNZS Arbutus.
The Fleet detached Achilles to tow the damaged destroyer Ulster to the New Zealand Hospital Ship Maunganui in the Philippines (where the[clarification needed] was at that time stationed).
On the outbreak of World War II the RNZAF had as its primary equipment 30 Vickers Wellington bombers, which the New Zealand government offered to the United Kingdom in August 1939, together with the crews to fly them.
The presence of German raiders led to the formation of New Zealand-based air-combat units – initially using re-armed types like the Vildebeest, and hurriedly converting impressed airliners such as the DH86 to carry bombs.
[citation needed] As few combat-capable aircraft were available at home, and Britain was unable to help, New Zealand benefited from the British-United States lend-lease agreement.
[30] The network was supplemented in 1943 by a Radio Finger-Printing (RFP) organisation staffed by members of the Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service ("Wrens").
It was said to be remarkably productive despite its small size and apparent lack of assistance or direction from FRUMEL in Melbourne (where Rudi Fabian was reluctant to cooperate with the Royal Navy or the US Army's Central Bureau).
