Military history of New Zealand: Encyclopedia II - Military history of New Zealand - Second World War 1939-1945

Military history of New Zealand - Second World War 1939-1945

New Zealand entered World War II by declaring war on Germany on September 3, 1939. Politically, New Zealand had been a vocal opponent of European fascism and the national sentiment for a strong show of force was generally supported. New Zealand provided personnel for service in the RAF and Royal Navy and its own NZ army contribution the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF).

In total, New Zealand provided nearly 200,000 personnel for the Allied war effort, and armed an additional 100,000 men for Home Guard duty. The costs for the country were high, with the highest per capita casualty rate of any Commonwealth nation (twice that of the United Kingdom and four times that of Australia).

The 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) was formed under Major-General Bernard Freyberg and despatched to see active service in Greece, Crete, North Africa, Italy, and Yugoslavia The main fighting unit of the expeditionary force was the New Zealand 2nd Divison also commanded by Major-General Bernard Freyberg.

Military history of New Zealand - Greece

During April 1941 the 2NZEF was involved in the defence of Greece against an invasion by Italian and German troops. During most of the campaign the New Zealand troops were being pushed back and all units were evacuated by 1 May 1941

Total New Zealand casualities were 291 dead, 387 seriously wounded and 1826 captured.

Military history of New Zealand - Crete

Most of the New Zealand and other allied troops evacuated from Greece were transported to Crete where Freyberg was appointed commander of all allied forces.

The German invasion by Paratroops and Glider forces started on May 20 and after heavy losses the Germans manged to secure Maleme airfied and fly in additional troops. The final evacuation of allied forces took places on May 31.

New Zealand casualities were 671 dead, 967 wounded and 2180 captured.

Charles Upham gained his first Victoria Cross during the battle.

Military history of New Zealand - North Africa

Between 1941 and May 1943 New Zealand forces were involved in fighting against Axis troops in North Africa.

Between 1940 and 1946, around 76,000 members of the First Echelon, 2NZEF main body were trained at a camp near Maadi, Egypt at the base of the desert slopes of Wadi Digla and Tel al-Maadi. During that time this area belonged to the Delta Land Company which created Maadi in 1907. The rocky plateau was leased to the New Zealand Forces, and became New Zealand's main overseas base for the next six years.

• Tobruk
• Minqar Qaim
• El Alamein

Military history of New Zealand - Italy

• October/November 1943 New Zealand troops assembled in Bari
• November 1943 crossed the Sangro River with a view to breaching the German Gustav Line and advancing to Rome
• 2 December 1943 captured the village Castelfrentano
• 3 December 1943 attacked Orsogna but were repulsed by the strong German defence
• January 1944 withdrew from stalled front line
• 17 February attacked Cassino but it was strongly defended and they withdrew in early April. Cassino was eventually captured on 18 May 1944 by British and Polish troops, with support of NZ artillery
• 16 July 1944 captured Arezzo and reached Florence on 4 August, by the end of October they had reached the Savio River
• 14 December 1944 captured Faenza
• 8 April 1945 crossed the Senio River then began their final push across the Santerno River and Gaiana River and finally the Po River on Anzac Day 1945.
• 28 April 1945 captured Padua
• 1 May 1945 crossed the Izonso River to reach Trieste on 2 May 1945, the day of the German unconditional surrender in Italy

Military history of New Zealand - Pacific

When Japan entered the war in December 1941, the New Zealand Government raised another expeditionary force known as the 2nd N.Z.E.F. In the Pacific, or 2nd N.Z.E.F. (I.P.), for service with the Allied Pacific Ocean Areas command. This force supplemented existing garrison troops in the South Pacific. The main fighting formation of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. (I.P.) was the New Zealand 3rd Division. However the 3rd Division never fought as a formation; its component brigades being involved in semi-independent actions as part of the Allied forces in the Solomons, Treasury Islands and Green Island.

The N.Z. army units were eventually replaced by American formations, which released personnel for service with the 2nd Division in Italy, or to cover civilian labour shortages. Air force squadrons and Navy units contributed to the Allied island hopping campaign.

In 1945, 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. No. 14 Squadron RNZAF, equipped with Corsair fighters, and RNZN ships also joined BCOF.

Military history of New Zealand - Other Theatres

• On the 13th of December 1939 HMNZS Achilles took part in The Battle of the River Plate as part of small British force against the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. The action resulted in the German ship retiring to neutral Uruguay and being skuttled a few days later.

• HMNZS Leander
• RAF

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Second World War 1939-1945", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki