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Men-at-Arms
The New Zealand
Expeditionary Force in
World War II
Wayne Stack &
Barr y O’Sullivan
The New Zealand
Expeditionary Force
in World War II
Series editor
THE NEW ZEALAND
EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
IN WORLD WAR II
INTRODUCTION
T
he 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force of World War II was
small compared to other Allied armies, but it became an integral
part of the British Commonwealth forces that came together to
defeat the Axis powers. Building on the military reputation so hard-won
by the New Zealanders in the Great War, the soldiers of 2 NZEF
enhanced  that reputation through service in the Mediterranean and
Pacific theatres. Although fighting as an independent Dominion,
New Zealand maintained a sense of duty to Britain. This was highlighted
when the New Zealand prime minister, Michael Joseph Savage, declared
at the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939: ‘Both with gratitude for the
past, and with confidence in the future, we arrange ourselves without
fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand…’.
This unflinching commitment came at a cost. Out of just 355,000
available men of military service age, more than
135,000 New Zealanders served overseas during
the  war – a figure equating to an extraordinary
12  per cent of the country’s total population. At
the peak of national mobilization, out of the 157,000
serving in the armed forces, 127,000 had enlisted
in the Army, 24,000 in the Royal New Zealand Air
Force and 6,000 in the Royal New Zealand Navy.
Of  the 36,038 who became casualties during the
war, 11,671 were either killed in action or died of
wounds; another 15,749 were wounded, and 8,618
became prisoners of war. The majority of casualties
were sustained by the 2nd NZ Expeditionary Force,
with 6,793 deaths, 15,324 wounded and 7,863
captured. The significance of this sacrifice becomes
clear when New Zealand’s casualty rate of 24 per
1,000 of total population is compared to that of
Australia, with 13 casualties per 1,000, and Canada,
with 9 per 1,000. (The comparable figure for
United  Kingdom service and civilian casualties
was approximately 15 per 1,000.)
New Zealand had no standing army, and on the
outbreak of war the government once again had to
rely on volunteers from the 10,000 citizen-soldiers
of the Territorial Force in order to establish a
division-size expeditionary force. This 2 NZEF,
which became the main focus of New Zealand’s war
effort, was a national army under New Zealand
3
1940: W.J. Jordan, New Zealand
High Commissioner in Britain,
posing with officers of the 2nd
Echelon at a NZYMCA mobile
canteen in London. The officers
wear Service Dress with
‘lemon-squeezer’ hats and
‘Sam Browne’ belts.
(Warren Collingwood Collection)
command. In November 1939 a recently retired British Army officer,
MajGen Bernard Freyberg, VC, DSO**, volunteered his services, and
was  appointed to command the expeditionary 2nd NZ Division. As a
direct result of the perceived mismanagement of New Zealand troops
by British commanders in World War I, Freyberg was given a special charter
that made him directly responsible to the New Zealand government,
and gave him the authority to withdraw his troops from operations that
threatened what he judged to be unacceptably high casualties.
1
When
the 3rd NZ Div was established in 1942 to serve in the Pacific theatre
its  commander, MajGen Harold Barrowclough, was given a similar
charter. This precaution was instrumental in maintaining the confidence
of the troops of the two expeditionary divisions in their commanders.
Knowing that their lives would not be needlessly squandered, they
showed no less eagerness to fight than had their fathers in 1914–18.
The egalitarian nature of New Zealand’s settler society was still
reflected in the 2nd Expeditionary Force. The ‘Kiwis’ respected rank,
but were notorious for not saluting officers. Drawn from a small and
comparatively classless population where ‘Jack is as good as his master’,
New Zealand soldiers with leadership abilities were promoted regardless
of social background. The infantry battalions were recruited on a
provincial basis, with many officers leading friends and relatives from
their home towns. This fostered unit cohesion, and helped to develop
the élan for which the New Zealanders were noted. National values of
‘mateship’ and teamwork helped to forge trainees into effective fighting
units, whose successes in battle – and stoicism in defeat – enhanced the
already high reputation earned by New Zealanders in the Great War.
In total, 104,988 men and women served in the 2 NZEF between
1939 and 1946, cementing its reputation amongst friends and foes
alike as a first-class fighting force whose dogged determination could
be relied upon.
1
See MAA 473,
The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War I
4
COMMANDERS
Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, VC, DSO**
Bernard Freyberg (1889–1963) was an experienced regular British Army
officer when he was appointed to command the 2nd NZ Division in
November 1939. He had been born in England, but his parents had
emigrated to New Zealand when he was aged two; he spent his formative
years in the Dominion, where he trained as a dentist. He had served as
a junior officer in the Territorial Force before travelling overseas in early
1914, but while living in London he was unsuccessful in applying for a
commission in the NZ Expeditionary Force. He was subsequently offered
a British commission, and served in the Royal Naval Division at Gallipoli
and on the Western Front, where he quickly rose to lieutenant-colonel
commanding the Hood Bn, taking command of 189 Bde when its
brigadier became a casualty on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In all Freyberg was wounded nine times, and awarded the Victoria Cross,
the DSO and two Bars, as well as being Mentioned in Dispatches twice.
He ended the war as a temporary brigadier in command of 29th Division.
During the inter-war years he received various staff appointments in
England, reaching the rank of major-general in 1934, before retiring
in 1937 when he was judged medically unfit due to a heart condition.
In 1939 Freyberg offered his services to the New Zealand government;
his appointment to command the 2nd NZ Div proved an inspired
choice, and the New Zealand troops considered Freyberg as one of
their own. Always wary of sustaining unnecessary casualties, Freyberg did
not hesitate to invoke his special charter when it seemed justified. At
Cassino, after his division had suffered 1,000 casualties, he advised
his  superiors that he was withdrawing it from the line. The threat of
invoking the charter against operations that he considered were
against  New Zealand interests made him unpopular with some
superiors, especially with Gen Claude Auchinleck during the 1941–42
North African campaigns. However, he had a good relationship with
Gen Bernard Montgomery, who thought highly of him. ‘Monty’
employed Freyberg’s division in a series of successful ‘left hook’ flanking
manoeuvres against successive enemy defensive lines while driving
the  Axis forces westwards after the second battle of El Alamein in
October–November 1942.
The remarkable row of gallantry ribbons on Freyberg’s chest was
testimony to his personal courage. Churchill described him as a
‘salamander’, due to his love of fire and eagerness for action – a style
of command that saw him receive no fewer than ten more wounds
during World War II. He had an excellent reputation as a divisional-level
tactician and excelled in planning set-piece attacks, such as the New
Zealanders’ part in Operation
Supercharge
at El Alamein,
Supercharge II
at Tebaga Gap, and the storming of the Senio river line in Italy in 1945.
He had less success as a temporary corps commander during the
defence of Crete in May 1941 and at Cassino in early 1944 – though
under the circumstances he faced in Crete, it is unlikely that any
commander could have done better. His decision to bomb the
Benedictine monastery on Monte Cassino was controversial, but can be
argued as justified at the time.
5

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