Military History |
World War Two | New Zealand
Kiwi involvement in World War 2
At 1145 hours on 3 Sep 1939 a telegram was received by the Governor-General of New Zealand saying simply, "War has broken out with Germany" (Cody, 1953). Within a matter of hours a. New Zealand Gazette Extraordinary declared that a state of war existed between New Zealand and the German Reich as from 2130 hours, 3 Sep, New Zealand standard time.
Over time I will build up some details of the New Zealand involvement in WW2. In particular I'll focus on 2 NZ Division, not least because they were often considered the best allied division in Italy (Evans, 2001-5). I have not constrained myself to events involving Kiwis, as it is important to have the context in which they operated.
At the moment this is very much a work in progress, but check out my material on River Sangro and Orsogna (11 Nov 1943 - 17 Jan 1944) and Rimini (Sep 1944) to start with.
The primary source for this subject is the The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 (NZETC, 2005). It is very comprehensive extending to 50 volumes when I last counted - although many are general NZ history rather than WW2. It is available on-line, and if you search around you can find hard copies.