New Zealand army trucks and the locals' donkey-drawn carts jostle for space on the road from Damascus in Syria to Beirut, Lebanon. The New Zealand Division were sent to Syria in February 1942, as part of Allied preparations to counter a possible German invasion of the Middle East from the north – a threat that never eventuated. In June the New Zealanders were rushed back to the Egyptian desert to help fend off a more immediate danger, a renewed German-Italian offensive from the west.
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The North African Campaign
Keywords
RELATED TO NEW ZEALAND DIVISION IN SYRIA
Events
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24 May 1943
Turning point in Battle of the Atlantic
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15 October 1942
NZ coastwatchers executed by the Japanese
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17 August 1942
Attack on the Nino Bixio
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7 June 1940
Fighter ace Edgar ‘Cobber’ Kain killed
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24 April 1941
Sinking of the Hellas
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2 October 1941
NZ pilot saves Scottish village
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19 December 1941
HMS Neptune lost in Mediterranean minefield
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13 December 1939
Battle of the River Plate
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19 August 1944
Kiwi pilot's sacrifice saves French village
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27 November 1940
Liner sunk by German raiders off East Cape
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20 May 1941
German paratroops assault Crete
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11 November 1942
Troopship Awatea goes down fighting
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14 May 1941
NZ minesweeper sunk off Bream Head
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15 March 1944
NZ forces capture Castle Hill at Cassino
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26 April 1943
NZ ship torpedoed in Tasman
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23 February 1940
100,000 welcome home HMS Achilles crew
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9 May 1945
NZ celebrates Victory in Europe
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12 June 1942
First US troops arrive in Auckland
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19 June 1940
Niagara sunk by German mines off Northland
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15 August 1945
The war is over! VJ Day
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16 August 1944
CORSO formed
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20 August 1940
Turakina sunk by German raider in Tasman
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3 September 1939
New Zealand declares war on Germany
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5 September 1939
PM declares NZ's support for Britain
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27 October 1943
NZ troops make first opposed landing since Gallipoli
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2 November 1942
NZ Division helps Allies break through at El Alamein
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22 November 1939
Freyberg takes command of NZ Expeditionary Force
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8 December 1941
New Zealand declares war on Japan
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19 March 1946
Main body of Jayforce lands in Japan
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3 April 1943
'Battle of Manners Street'
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29 March 1942
Nazi sabotage hoax
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11 May 1945
Upham presented with VC
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16 January 1941
Women's Auxiliary Air Force founded
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21 January 1944
NZ and Australia sign the Canberra Pact
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25 February 1943
49 killed in Featherston POW incident
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17 December 1944
Major Major, mascot of 19 Battalion, dies of sickness
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7 March 1941
NZ troops arrive in Greece
Biographies
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Howard Kippenberger
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Michael Herrick
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Wilfrid Clouston
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Alan Deere
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Charles Upham
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Kitty Kain
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Bernard Freyberg
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Geoffrey Cox
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Michael Joseph Savage
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Peter Fraser
Articles
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The Royal New Zealand Navy
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HMNZS Leander
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The Second World War at home
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Royal NZ Navy's Bird-class ships
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Battle of the River Plate
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Military mascots
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Māori and the Second World War
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Second World War - overview
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War in the Pacific
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D-Day
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The Italian Campaign
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The Merchant Navy
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The North African Campaign
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Prisoners of War
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VE and VJ days
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US Forces in New Zealand
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The Battle for Crete
Community contributions