Military history of New Zealand during World War II
The military history of New Zealand during World War II began when New Zealand entered the Second World War by declaring war on Nazi Germany with the United Kingdom in 1939, and expanded to the Pacific War when New Zealand declared war on Imperial Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
New Zealand's forces were soon serving across Europe and beyond, where their reputation was generally very good. In particular, the force of the New Zealanders who were stationed in Northern Africa and Southern Europe was known for its strength and determination, and uniquely so on both sides.
New Zealand provided personnel for service in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and in the Royal Navy and was prepared to have New Zealanders serving under British command. There were many instances of New Zealanders commanding troops on their own, whether their own or a mixture of theirs and foreign ones; notable commanders include Lieutenant-General Bernard Freyberg and Lieutenant-Colonel Fred Baker. Their stationing in North Africa and Greece, specifically during the First and Second Battles of El Alamein and the Freyburg-commanded Crete campaign, was generally well known on either side for its strength, effectiveness and "spiritual" connection.[1] Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) pilots, many trained in the Empire Air Training Scheme, were sent to Europe but, unlike the other Dominions, New Zealand did not insist on its aircrews serving with RNZAF squadrons, so speeding up the rate at which they entered service. The Long Range Desert Group was formed in North Africa in 1940 with New Zealand and Rhodesian as well as British volunteers, but included no Australians for the same reason.
The New Zealand government placed the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy at the Admiralty's disposal and made available to the RAF 30 new Wellington medium bombers waiting in the United Kingdom for shipping to New Zealand. The New Zealand Army contributed the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF).
Declaration of war on Nazi Germany[edit]
The state of war with Germany was officially held to have existed since 9:30 pm on 3 September 1939 (local time), simultaneous with that of Britain, but in fact New Zealand's declaration of war was not made until confirmation had been received from Britain that their ultimatum to Germany had expired. When Neville Chamberlain broadcast Britain's declaration of war, a group of New Zealand politicians (led by Peter Fraser because Prime Minister Michael Savage was terminally ill) listened to it on the shortwave radio in Carl Berendsen's room in the Parliament Buildings. Because of static on the radio, they were not certain what Chamberlain had said until a coded telegraph message was received later from London. This message did not arrive until just before midnight because the messenger boy with the telegram in London took shelter due to a (false) air raid warning. The Cabinet acted after hearing the Admiralty's notification to the fleet that war had broken out. The next day the Cabinet approved nearly 30 war regulations as laid down in the War Book, and after completing the formalities with the Executive Council the Governor-General, Lord Galway, issued the Proclamation of War, backdated to 9.30 pm on 3 September.[6][7]
Intelligence[edit]
New Zealand had a "Combined Intelligence Centre" in Wellington. In 1942 papers from the centre to the Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Fleet in Colombo and the RN signals intelligence at Anderson outside Colombo were captured on the Australian steamer Nankin when she was intercepted in the Indian Ocean by the German raider Thor.[27][28]
In the 1930s the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy established a chain of radio direction finding (D/F) stations from Awarua Radio on the Awarua Plains in Southland, Musick Point near Auckland, Waipapakauri in the far north and Suva, Fiji. There were radio intercept stations at Awarua, Suva, Nairnville in Khandallah near Wellington, and from 1943 HMNZS Irirangi at Waiouru. Transmissions were sent to the Far East Combined Bureau via the Navy Office in Wellington.[29]
New Zealand's network of radio intercept and D/F stations sent its material to Central Bureau in Brisbane despite its main area of responsibility being outside the SWPA.[30] The network was supplemented in 1943 by a Radio Finger-Printing (RFP) organisation staffed by members of the Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service ("Wrens"). These were valuable for identifying Japanese submarines, and RFP alerted the minesweepers HMNZS Kiwi and HMNZS Moa, who attacked and rammed the Japanese submarine I-1 running supplies to Guadalcanal on 29 January 1943.[31]
In 1943 the New Zealand (naval) operation was run by a Lieutenant Philpott assisted by Professor Campbell (Professor of Mathematics at Victoria University of Wellington) plus a part-time civilian Japanese interpreter and two women assistants both of whom were of above average ability and one of whom knew quite a bit of Japanese. It was said to be remarkably productive despite its small size and apparent lack of assistance or direction from FRUMEL in Melbourne (where Rudi Fabian was reluctant to cooperate with the Royal Navy or the US Army's Central Bureau).[32]