The New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War II (Men-at-Arms, 486)

In 1939, New Zealand was far less well prepared for war than it had been in 1914. Nevertheless, more than 140,000 New Zealanders - nearly 9 per cent of the dominion's total population - enlisted to fight overseas 'for King and Country' during World War II. Of these, 104,000 served in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, whose major component became 2nd NZ Infantry Division; by 1944 this was the largest division in the British and Commonwealth armies, with a strength of about 40,000 men in infantry and supporting artillery, armoured, engineer and service units. Initially thrown into the doomed campaign to halt the German blitzkrieg on Greece and Crete (1941), the division was rebuilt under the leadership of a World War I VC-winner, MajGen Sir Bernard Freyberg, and became the elite corps within Montgomery's Eighth Army in the desert. After playing a vital role in the victory at El Alamein (1942) the 'Kiwis' were the vanguard of the pursuit to Tunisia. In 1943-45 the division was heavily engaged in the Italian mountains, especially at Cassino (1944); it ended the war in Trieste, facing down Tito's advancing communist partisans. Meanwhile, a smaller NZ force - briefly designated 3rd NZ Division - supported US forces against the Japanese in the Solomons and New Guinea (1942-44). Fully illustrated with specially commissioned colour plates, this is the story of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force's vital contribution to Allied victory in World War II. "2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force of World War II" (2 NZEF) omfattede ikke mange enheder sammenlignet med andre allierede styrker under 2. Verdenskrig, men var alligevel en vigtig del af de britiske Commonwealth styrker. 2 NZEF bestod af "2nd New Zealand Division" (2 NZDIV), der var indsat i Middelhavsområdet bl.a. i Ægypten og Nordafrika 1940-1943 og i Italien 1943-1945, og "3rd New Zealand Division" (3 NZDIV), der var indsat i kampene om øerne i Stillehavet 1943-1944. I bogen beskrives divisionernes organisation, uniformer, materiel og våben, samt en kort beskrivelse af operationerne Traces New Zealand's overseas army from Egypt in January 1940 to northern Italy in April 1945, by way of Thermopylae, El Alamein, Cassino and the South Pacific islands. Like their fathers in the Great War, the 'Kiwis' responded to Britain's peril in extraordinary numbers - 12 percent of the Dominion's entire population served overseas. Led by a much-wounded and much-decorated general, they endured, and learned from, costly defeats in Greece and North Africa, to become one of the most reliable and mobile divisions in the Allied armies.--Cover COVER......Page 1 TITLE PAGE......Page 2 INTRODUCTION......Page 3 COMMANDERS......Page 5 ORGANIZATION......Page 6 CAMPAIGNS......Page 12 UNIFORMS & EQUIPMENT......Page 35 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 43 PLATE COMMENTARIES......Page 44 INDEX......Page 48 IMPRINT......Page 49