warspite1
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I have finished the Kiwi Territorial and have a draft for the Kiwi motorised corps
[2009] [New Zealand Auckland Militia - by Robert Jenkins]
.P "With gratitude to the past, and with confidence in the future, we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes we go. Where she stands, we stand". These were the words of Mickey Savage, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, in September 1939. They were uttered on the 5th of that month, 2 days after the British declaration of War on Germany.
.P The write up for this counter honours the men and women of this sparsely populated, relatively small country, located on the other side of the world and 11,000 miles from the United Kingdom - the "mother country" to which Mr Savage pledged allegiance.
.P Ask yourself this question; which Allied power, after the United Kingdom, spent the most (as a % of its national income) during the war? Yes, it was New Zealand.
.P Other facts:
.B Population in 1939 - 1.6m
.B No. of men and women who served in fighting formations - 140,000 (155,000 in total)
.B War dead - 11,928
.B War dead as a ratio to population (per million) was the highest of all the Commonwealth countries - 6,684.
.P New Zealanders fought in all the main campaigns of World War II alongside their Commonwealth brothers:
.B The first major naval engagement of the war featured a cruiser from the New Zealand Squadron of the Royal Navy - HMS (later HMNZS) Achilles. Two Kiwi's were killed in the battle.
.B 77 pilots fought in the Battle of Britain, 11 of which paid the ultimate price.
.B Eight New Zealanders won the Victoria Cross (the highest award for bravery in the face of the enemy - available to most Commonwealth countries) in World War II:
.B Keith Elliott - 22nd Battalion (Bn), 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF)
.B John Hinton - 20th Bn 2NZEF
.B Alfred Hulme - 23rd Bn 2NZEF
.B Moana-nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu - 28th (Maori) Bn 2NZEF
.B Leonard Trent - Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) attached to the Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command
.B Lloyd Trigg - RNZAF attached to the RAF Coastal Command
.B James Ward - RNZAF attached to the RAF Bomber Command
.B Charles Hazlitt Upham - 20th Bn 2NZEF is the only combat soldier to have won the award twice.
.B New Zealanders fought with distinction in the Western Desert, Crete, Italy and in the Pacific as well as other theatres fighting within other Commonwealth units.
.P New Zealand had nothing like the industrial capacity of Canada or even
Australia, but she was vital to the viability of the United Kingdom in a way that is less than well known. The dominion was able to help keep Britain fed during the
war, initially exporting all of her surplus food to the UK. In 1943-44 calls upon her foodstuffs became acute - the US forces in the Pacific needing feeding and British supplies were critically low. As a result, the New Zealand 3rd Division was disbanded to allow more manpower to return to the land to help resolve the crisis.
.P As can be seen, New Zealand played her part and more in the final Allied victory.
[2011] [New Zealand 1st Motorized Corps - by Robert Jenkins]
.P There was no New Zealand unit with this designation in World War II. This counter represents the forces that New Zealand sent overseas during the war.
.P New Zealand sent one formation to Europe and one to the Pacific; the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) and the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force In the Pacific (2NZEFIP) respectively. Each force was built around one division.
.P The first division to be built up was the 2nd Infantry Division. The division was modelled along the lines of a British Army infantry division, with the core of the division being its three infantry brigades, numbered 4,5 and 6.
.P The first formations of the 2nd New Zealand Division were sent to the United Kingdom in early 1940 and, once the threat of invasion had passed, were then sent to Egypt, just in time to take part in the ill-fated expedition to Greece.
.P The key units of the division at the time was as follows:
.B 4th Brigade: 18th, 19th and 20th Infantry Battalions
.B 5th Brigade: 21st, 22nd and 23rd Infantry Battalions
.B 6th Brigade: 24th, 25th and 26th Infantry Battalions
.B 27th Machine Gun Battalion
.B 28th (Maori) Battalion
.B 4th, 5th and 6th Field Regiments
.B 7th Anti-Tank Regiment
.B Divisional Cavalry Regiment
.B Divisional Engineer Battalion
.B The 14th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment was not fully formed until November.
.P The division was commanded by Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg VC and was to remain under his command the entire war.
.P The 2nd Division was sent to Greece in March 1941 as part of a force that consisted of mostly Australians and New Zealanders (ANZAC). The decision to send Commonwealth troops to assist the Greeks in their fight against the Italian invaders was controversial, and after the Germans launched their own attack on the country at the start of April, there was only ever one outcome; the small Allied force was evacuated to the island of Crete towards the end of the month.
.P The following month, the Germans attacked Crete using paratroops to seize key airfields, and using these to fly in reinforcements. For this battle 10th Brigade, which had been forming in Egypt, replaced 6th Brigade which needed to be taken out of the line to rest and refit. Despite some episodes of heroic resistance, the Allied troops soon found themselves being evacuated once more. Crete cost the Kiwi's almost 4,000 casualties and only in November would the division be in a fit state to return to action.
.P The British launched Operation Crusader that month. This operation was designed to relieve Tobruk. The battle, with the New Zealanders in the forefront, swung one
way and then the other; the Kiwi's broke through to Tobruk but took heavy
casualties once again and was withdrawn from the frontline.
.P By now, with Japan in the war, there was a possibility that the division would be returned home to defend the home country. However, the Americans agreed that they would send troops to New Zealand to allow the 2nd to remain in Egypt.
.P Field Marshal Rommel began his Gazala offensive in May 1942 and successfully threw the British Army back, capturing the port of Tobruk as he did so. The 2nd New Zealand Division, which had been sent to Syria following Crusader, was sent to Mersah Metruh, near the Egyptian-Libyan border, in order to try and stem the German advance. At one point the division was surrounded by the Rommel's forces, but they managed to breakout and reached El-Alamein to await the next attack.
.P The attack came on the 1st July in what became known as the First Battle of El-Alamein. During this battle the Kiwis severely mauled the Italian Ariete Motorised Division, but the battle was essentially a stalemate.
.P The scene was now set for Rommel's final attempt to reach Cairo - The Battle of Alam Halfa - which ended on the 5th September, and with it, the last chance for the Afrika Korps to reach the Nile. The 4th Brigade did not take part in the battle as it was decided to convert the brigade to an armoured formation. However the rest of the division fought bravely as ever, but continued to suffer heavy casualties in doing so. But with Egypt safe, it would soon be time for the British Army to turn to the offensive once more, and for this next operation, the 2nd New Zealand Division would once more be in the forefront of the attack.
.P For the 2nd Battle of El-Alamein the division was reinforced at various times with two British infantry and one armoured brigade. 2nd New Zealand was part of XXX Corps which was stationed in the northern sector of the battlefront, and which would launch the main attack. Then, with the battle won, the New Zealand Division was in the forefront of the pursuit of the retreating German and Italian troops.
.P The division continued to head west and in January 1943 Tripoli, the Libyan capital was captured by the 8th Army as Remnants of Rommel's army headed for Tunisia, where they would make a stand. There, the New Zealanders were key in helping to break Rommel's grip on the defensive Mareth Line. The Tunisian campaign ended in the middle of May 1943 and the division was once more able to get some
rest and refit.
.P At this time there was further debate over whether the division should be brought back to the Pacific, but it was decided to keep them in the European theatre. The division did not take part in the invasion of Sicily, but was sent
to Italy at the end of 1943, complete with their 4th brigade - now armoured. After briefly fighting the Germans along the Sangro River, the division was moved to assist the attack on the Gothic Line - and specifically to a town named Cassino. The Battle of Monte Cassino was one of the bloodiest for the Allies and it took no less than four assaults before the Germans were finally beaten back. The New Zealanders were not there for the last assault however. Casualties were sufficiently high that the division was taken out of the line.
.P From June 1944 onwards, with D-Day having been a success, the Italian Campaign became more and more of a sideshow. The Allies fought their way slowly up the Italian mainland, liberating town after town, each one being paid for in blood. Finally, in early May 1945, the Kiwi's entered the Adriatic port of Trieste. The German surrender followed seven days later on the 9th May.
.P In stark contrast to the war record of the 2nd Division, the 3rd Division saw little action.
.P The units for the 3rd Division began forming in earnest after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. By August 1942 the key units of the division were as follows:
.B 8th Brigade: 29th, 34th and 36th Infantry Battalions
.B 14th Brigade: 30th, 35th and 37th Infantry Battalions
.B 17th Field Regiment
.B 144th Independent Battery
.B 144th Light Howitzer Battery
.B 33rd Heavy Coast Regiment
.B 28th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment
.B 29th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment
.B 20th Field Engineers
.P The division was commanded by Major-General Sir Harold Barrowclough.
.P The division was sent to New Caledonia to continue the process for building up, and the 2nd Tank Brigade joined the division in September 1943.
.P That month the division finally saw combat. The Americans had landed on the Solomon Island of Vella Lavella in August. In order to release American troops,
the 14th Brigade was given the task of clearing the island of Japanese. This they achieved by the first week of October at a cost of 64 casualties.
.P Two more small-scale operations were carried out by the division; the 8th Brigade launched an amphibious landing operation in the Treasury Islands in late October. The islands were cleared of Japanese by the start of November. The division's last operation was carried out by the 8th Brigade. This operation was designed to clear the islands, located north of Bougainville, of Japanese troops and began in January 1944. When the operation was wound up the following month, the decision was taken to disband 3rd Division in view of the manpower shortage that New Zealand faced at the time (see New Zealand Auckland Militia Counter).
< Message edited by warspite1 -- 10/19/2013 8:31:33 PM >
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RE: Unit Descriptions: Air, Naval, Land - 
Don't get the idea I am yelling. I just need the bold font to highlight the information. 
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