N.Z. WAR LOSSES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 207, 1 September 1943, Page 2

N.Z. WAR LOSSES

LESS THAN IN 1914-18 FIVE VICTORIA CROSSES (0.C.) WELLINGTON Tuesday. Mobilisation of New Zealand s manpower and womanpower at the peak period was 573,000. At the outbreak of the war there were 804,000 males, including 355,000 of military age. These figures are given in the second edition of "New Zealand At War," which has just been issued by the Director of Publicity, Mr. J. T. Paul. Men enrolled in the army, navy and air force totalled 189,000. Men sent overseas totalled 95,340, and the peak enrolment in the Home Guard was 124,000, while men enrolled in the civil defence organisation numbered 160,000. In addition there were 100,000 women enrolled in the civil defence and other auxiliary services. Nearly 8500 women are shown as being in the armed forces as follows: Army nurses, 350; air force, 3500; army, 4000; navy, 400. Casualties, it is shown, have been lighter than those suffered by New Zealand in a similar period of the last war. The figures for all services, with those for the last war in parentheses, are as follows:— Deaths, 6104 (13,222). Missing, 926 (1288). Prisoners, 7934 (367). Wounded, 10,886 (33,251).

New Zealand has an imposing array of honours and awards to her credit, among them being five New Zealand winners of the Victoria Cross. They are: Sergeant-Pilot James Allen Ward, of Wanganui, who lost his life on active service; Captain Charles Hazlett Upham, Sergeant Alfred Clive Hulme, Sergeant John Daniel Hinton, Second-Lieuten-ant Keith Elliot, .and Second-Lieu-tenant Moana-Nui-A-Kiwa Ngarimu (posthumous award). There have also been 52 D.S.O. awards made to New Zealanders, 103 Military Crosses, 66 D.C.M.'s, 251 Military Medals, 274 D.F.C.'s, and 116 D.F.M.'s.

"New Zealand at War" deals separately with section of the Dominion's armed forces. The magnificent fighting record of the New Zealand Division in the Middle East is told, with special reference to the Maori Battalion. The part played by the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Merchant Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force is also dealt with in detail.