2ND N.Z. DIVISION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 102, 27 October 1939, Page 9

2ND N.Z. DIVISION

SPECIAL FORCE

CONTINUITY MAINTAINED

NINE BATTALIONS

Continuity of the military history in war of New Zealand has been provided for in the designation of the Special Forces formed for service Avithin' New Zealand or overseas. According to information made available by Army Headquarters today the neAV force wiU be known as the Second New Zealand Division and its units will be numbered in continuation of the serial numbers of its predecessor, which was formed in Egypt after the close of the Gallipoli campaign and served in France in 1916-18. The division is being organised on the -nine-battalion basis, which :s deemed to be more compact and handier »than the twelve-battalion organisation adhered to by the New Zealand Division in the last war, but abandoned by some British divisions in favour of the smaller grouping. Recently the nine-infantry or rifle battalion division was made the standard throughout the Empire. There were three service brigades in the New Zealand Division, each having four battalions? and there was also the Machine-gun Battalion. The Second Division starts with the Fourth New Zealand Infantry Brigade, its units being the 18th. (Auckland) Battalion, the 19th (Wellington) Battalion, and the 20th (Canterbury and Otago) Battalion. By including the territorial designation, the association of the, units with the military districts in New! Zealand is preserved. MORE ECHELONS. | The Fifth Brigade, to be provided by the Second Echelon, will'have the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Battalions respectively, and the Sixth Brigade, to be recruited from the Third Echelon, will have the 24th, 25th, and 26th Battalions. The machine-gunners, now in training at Burnham, will be organised into the 27th (Machine-Gun) Battalion. The Maoris, who provided a battalion of pioneers in the last war, will be known as the 28th (Maori) Battalion. The new organisation for the artillery is brought into being with the Second Division. Hitherto the artillery was organised into brigades of four sixgun batteries. A battery now has 12 guns divided into two troops, and two batteries become a field regiment. Designations are the 4th Field Regiment, New Zealand Artillery, comprising the 25th and 26th Batteries; the sth Field Regiment, with the 27th and 28th BaLteries; and the 6th Field Regiment, consisting of the 29th and 30th - Batteries. The Fourth Regiment is provided, in the.First Echelon and the sth and 6th will be recruited from the second and third respectively. ' ■ . An addition to the artillery is the 2nd Anti-Tank Regiment, comprising the 31st, 32nd, 33rd, and 34th Batteries, the last-mentioned being recruited among NeAV Zealanders in England. Each infantry brigade will also have an anti-tank company. NEW UNITS NAMED. ; Engineers are divided into the 6th,1 7th, and Bth Field Companies, Avith the addition of a new unit in the sth Field Park Company. Among other additions to the force which were not known in the New Zealand Division are the 4th Reserve Motor Transport Company, of the Army Service Corps, whose function it is to provide transport for troops; and. 11 Light Aid Detachments of the *New Zealand Ordnance Corps. These are numbered 9 to 19 and their part is to render assistance and effect repairs to mechani-1 cal transport and the anti-tank units.' There is also a divisional petrol company of the Army Service Corps An 'outstanding addition to the divisional troops for this war is the mechanised cavalry, which operates light tanks and cross-country vehicles of the Bren machine-gun carrier type. It will be known as the 2nd New Zealand Divisional Cavalry Regiment.