NZHistory, New Zealand history online - 2nzef

2 NZEF infantry marching into Egypt

Soldiers of Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force 20 Battalion C Company marching in Baggush, Egypt. Taken in September 1941 during the North African Campaign.

Credit:

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: DA-03717-F
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

Reddit Twitter Facebook Google StumbleUpon

tags:

egypt

2nzef

The Second NZ Expeditionary Force - NZ in the Second World War

The 2NZEF

Strategy determined that New Zealanders involved in combat with Germans would mostly do so at a distance from New Zealand. New Zealand's security, it was accepted, depended on the success of British arms, which would inevitably be concentrated in Europe. Only there could the British Commonwealth be defeated; and New Zealand's contribution, necessarily relatively small, could help prevent such an outcome.

As in 1914, the government immediately pledged to send an expeditionary force to assist the Commonwealth war effort in Europe, and the first of three echelons departed for Egypt in January 1940. Other New Zealanders were provided for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. New Zealand's naval vessels were placed under Admiralty orders, and its new medium bombers, which were about to be ferried to New Zealand, were made available to the RAF.

New Zealand's reaction to the outbreak of war was curiously muted. Even the departure of the First Echelon on 5 January 1940 excited little of the enthusiasm of the previous war. The 'phoney war' was shattered by the German onslaught in the west in May 1940. Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France all succumbed to the blitzkrieg tactics of the German forces, and most of the British Expeditionary Force was dramatically evacuated from Dunkirk.

On 10 June 1940 Italy entered the war on Germany's side. This sudden reversal of fortunes had an immediate impact in New Zealand. Sweeping new powers, including conscription, were introduced, and a War Cabinet of both government and opposition members was established. Following Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, New Zealand declared war on Germany's Eastern European allies - Finland, Hungary, and Romania on 7 December 1941, and Bulgaria on 13 December 1941.

International relations

As with the First World War, the Second World War had important consequences for New Zealand's stance in the world, as it sought to bolster its interests in unfamiliar areas. For the first time it opened diplomatic relations with a non-Commonwealth power, establishing a legation in Washington in 1942. A similar step was taken in Moscow in 1944. Together with new high commissions in Canberra and Ottawa, they provided the basis for an independent approach to international issues.

Later in the war New Zealand took an active role in efforts to establish an effective international security regime, which bore fruit in the United Nations Organization created at the San Francisco Conference in April-May 1945.

Faenza, Trieste and home - the Italian campaign

North to Florence

After a period of rest and recuperation, the 'Div' was back in action again in July as part of the Allied effort to breach the Germans' new so-called Gothic Line running from Pisa to Rimini in the northern Apennines. The New Zealanders enjoyed early success in their return to the battlefield, capturing the town of Arezzo on 16 July. Seeking to move on to Florence, they encountered solid German resistance but eventually reached the city on 4 August. The New Zealanders were back in the line the following month, fighting their way across difficult terrain in a slow advance which brought them to the Savio River by the end of October. They now had a month's break during which the Division was reorganised.

Faenza and the Senio River

Ruins at Faenza

They rejoined the attack in late November and succeeded in capturing Faenza on 14 December. Having reached the Senio River, the Division halted and endured its second Italian winter. After another period of relief, the 'Div' lined up again on the banks of the Senio River on 8 April to begin what would prove the final offensive in Italy. The New Zealanders now moved forward at an increasingly rapid pace. After crossing the Senio, the drive continued to the Santerno River and then on to the Gaiana River. Briefly halted there, the New Zealanders then pushed on to the Idice, finally crossing the Po river on Anzac Day 1945. Taking Padua on 28 April, the 'Div' embarked on its last helter-skelter advance, amidst disintegrating German resistance and partisan success everywhere.

To Trieste

New Zealand soldiers at Trieste, 1945

The 'Div' crossed the Izonso River on 1 May and reached Trieste the next day just as the German forces in Italy surrendered unconditionally. After their exhilarating final charge covering over 220 kilometres in less than a week, the New Zealanders arrived just in time to share in the city's liberation with local partisans and units of Josip Tito's Fourth Yugoslav Army. It should have been a final moment of glory in the Italian campaign—a chance to savour the end of the war in Europe and relax before a speedy return home. Instead, it proved a 'helluva way to end a war', as one soldier recorded in his diary.

The fortunes of war had pitched the 'Div' into an international hot spot, as Trieste became the setting for the first inter-Allied clash of the post-war era in Europe. The city was the focal point of a bitter territorial dispute between Italy and Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavs had hoped to strengthen their post-war claims to Trieste by being first to liberate it and then putting in place their own military administration. The Western Allies, however, had planned that the city should come under Allied Military Government like other parts of liberated Italy, pending a final peace settlement. By arriving in Trieste when they did, the Second Division dashed the Yugoslavs' hopes of presenting the Western Allies with a fait accompli. For some weeks, Trieste was under an uneasy dual occupation. Only after the problem was resolved diplomatically at the highest Allied levels were the New Zealand soldiers able to relax when the Yugoslavs reluctantly withdrew from the city in mid-June.

Home to New Zealand

The following month, the Division began moving to Lake Trasimene, from where most of the New Zealanders would began their long journey home. Limited availability of shipping meant that it would prove a slow process and it was not until February 1946 that the last members of the 'Div' ended their wartime Italian sojourn.

Cassino - the Italian campaign

Cassino

The Division was to enjoy only a brief respite before being called upon to participate in a new attack on a strong point which would prove the most tragically elusive prize of the entire campaign for the New Zealanders. They now marched across to the other side of Italy to join the Allied forces massing before the town of Cassino.

The Germans' success in blunting the Allied offensive prompted an effort to push through the strategically pivotal Liri Valley and on to Rome. The problem was that the entrance to the valley was just over ten kilometres wide and was overlooked by the 500-metre high monastery of Monte Cassino. Augmented by the Germans' meticulous deployment of minefields, fortifications and flooding though demolition of stop-banks, Cassino was a defender's dream and an attacking army's nightmare. New Zealand involvement in this challenging task was in part due to the failure of the American 5 Army's attack on Anzio in a sea-borne attack intended to by-pass the German front line.

Temporarily heading a New Zealand Corps bolstered by the inclusion of the 4 Indian Division, Freyberg now steeled himself and his forces for the battle ahead. Desperate to minimise casualties, he requested a massive bombardment of the German defences to precede the assault by his troops. Approved by the Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean himself, General Sir Harold Alexander, the subsequent aerial bombardment on 15 February laid waste the historic monastery and its environs. Controversy about this decision would persist long after the war was over. Tragically for the waiting New Zealand soldiers, most of the German defenders survived and exploited the ruins to create an even more formidable set of defences.

They nevertheless proceeded with the plan, which involved the Indian Division attacking Cassino from the north, while the New Zealanders were to attack the town from the south with the hope of punching an opening for the Allies into the Liri Valley. It fell to the 28 (Maori) Battalion to initiate the attack on the town's well-defended railway station on 17 February.

After one of the fiercest and costliest battles in the annals of this legendary unit, the Maoris seized positions in and around the station. But the equally courageous engineers behind them were thwarted in their efforts to clear a path through the flooded terrain for reinforcements. Without that much needed support the isolated Maori soldiers were forced to withdraw after a withering counter-attack by German infantry backed by tanks. It was the first of numerous bitter disappointments for the New Zealanders at Cassino.

A series of other brave but unsuccessful assaults ensued. After another heavy bombardment, New Zealand forces fought their way into the devastated town on 15 March. Once again, the Germans put up tenacious resistance from hidden positions in the maze of rubble that was once Cassino. After eight days of fighting, Freyberg decided the cost was proving too high and he ordered his troops to cease seeking to advance. Shortly afterwards in early April, the New Zealand Division withdrew from the Cassino area, having suffered almost 350 deaths and many more wounded.

Cassino did not eventually fall until May 1944 to British and Polish troops, with support from New Zealand artillery. The Gustav Line was finally breached. Allied forces entered Rome on 4 June, two days before D-Day. The success of the cross-channel invasion meant that the Italian campaign became an undeniably secondary theatre of operations, with seven Allied divisions redeployed to France in August 1944. The Italian campaign's main purpose was now to divert part of the German war effort and to tie down forces which might otherwise have been used to defend France and Germany itself.

Major Major, mascot of 19 Battalion, dies of sickness

Major Major, No. 1 Dog, 2NZEF, and member/mascot of 19 Battalion since 1939, died of sickness in Italy. He was buried with full military honours at Rimini.

Major was a white bull terrier who served with distinction in North Africa and Italy. He attained the rank of major in September 1942, shortly after receiving a shrapnel wound at El Alamein.

Read more about Major Major

Image: Major Major in front of officers of 19 Battalion

Background - The North African Campaign

Fighting in North Africa stemmed from the area’s strategic importance to the Commonwealth. Egypt’s Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, was a vital transport artery, while the Middle East oilfields were crucial to sustaining the Allied war effort. Italy’s decision in June 1940 to enter the war on Germany’s side seriously jeopardised Britain’s position in Egypt. Italian forces in Libya and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) dwarfed the 36,000 British troops in the region. This threat became real when 250,000 Italian troops crossed the Libyan border into Egypt in September 1940.

Key dates

13 September 1940:
Italian forces invade Egypt.
9 December 1940:
First Western Desert offensive begins. New Zealand troops involved.
18 November 1941:
Operation Crusader begins.
1 July 1942:
First Battle of El Alamein begins.
23 October 1942:
Second Battle of El Alamein begins.
13 May 1943:
German-Italian forces in North Africa surrender.

See North African campaign timeline

The 2NZEF in Egypt

NZ soldiers training in Egypt

New Zealand troops began arriving in Egypt in February 1940. The First Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) – formed after New Zealand declared war on Germany in September 1939 – established a large camp at Maadi, 12 km south of Cairo. Another smaller camp was set up 12 km further south at Helwan. Germany's rapid occupation of France and the Low Countries in May-June 1940 removed the possibility of 2NZEF being sent to Western Europe, although the Second Echelon was diverted to help defend Britain against possible German invasion. By early 1941 this threat had largely subsided and these men joined the First and Third Echelons in Egypt. The 2NZEF was ready for action.

The main fighting element of 2NZEF was the 16,000-strong 2nd New Zealand Division. ‘The Div’ was commanded by First World War Victoria Cross (VC) winner Major-General Bernard 'Tiny' Freyberg, who also commanded 2NZEF. After returning to Egypt following the disastrous campaigns in Greece and Crete, the New Zealand Division entered the fray in North Africa during Operation Crusader in November 1941. For the next year, they saw action in the western part of Egypt, with several forays into Libya.

Enemy forces

General Erwin Rommel

The New Zealanders saw little action during the initial stages of the North African campaign. Most of the fighting took place between the Western Desert Force (composed of British, Indian and Australian troops) and Italian forces. British and Commonwealth troops did not think much of their 'Itie' opponents. Some units fought well, but in general the Italians were badly equipped and poorly led. Many Italian troops were ambivalent about fighting on the German side and unwilling to give their lives for a cause in which they did not believe.

In February 1941 the first elements of the Deutsches Afrika Korps (German Africa Corps) arrived to bolster the Italians, then reeling from a series of Allied blows. Commanded by General Erwin Rommel, an officer whose bold tactics earned him the moniker ‘Desert Fox’, this small force soon made its mark in the campaign.

Life in the desert

Sleeping in the desert

Conditions in the desert were very tough. Cold nights and searing daytime temperatures made life uncomfortable for soldiers in forward positions – shade was hard to find and makeshift shelters did little to block the sun. Sandstorms were a regular hazard, and dust stirred up by vehicles and shellfire covered everything.

The lack of water to drink, let alone to wash or shave in, was a constant source of annoyance. So were the flies. Desperate for moisture, they settled on lips or sweaty shirts by the hundreds. During daylight hours men struggled to eat as flies swarmed on their food or dived into their drinks. One inevitable result was dysentery, a miserable experience. Mosquitoes were less prevalent but more lethal, for in some areas they carried malaria. Adding to the men's misery were desert sores – any scratch rapidly became a suppurating mess. Everyone, it seemed, sported bandages.

The Italian campaign

'I wasn't a great believer in the war. I was a bit cynical about war aims and all the rest of it, but when you're on a tank and there are thousands of Italians milling around, throwing flowers at you and cheering and offering you loaves of bread and glasses of wine, you start to think, Well, perhaps I am a liberator. It goes to your head a bit. But that was the highlight - there was a lot of hard slogging before that happened.'

Gordon Slatter, 441668, Private, 26 Battalion.

New Zealand troops in Sora

Gordon Slatter was one of tens of thousands of New Zealanders who fought their way up the boot of Italy from 1943 to 1945 as part of the vast multinational force assembled to roll back Axis aggression in far-flung theatres of war across the globe. Constituting a significant cohort of their nation's manhood, almost all the New Zealanders who served in Italy did so as members of a nationally distinctive unit, which they knew affectionately as the 'Div' - the 2nd New Zealand Division.

This feature tells the stories of these men through an overview of the main events, a campaign map and particularly through the memories of those who were there.