MAORI BATTALION’S MARCH TO VICTORY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 3

MAORI BATTALION’S MARCH TO VICTORY

[Reviewed by

L.R.H.]

jfaori Battalion. By J. P. Cody. War History Branch, Internal Affairs Department. 514 pp.

In Maori villages up and down jiew Zealand, on the bookshelves of new bungalows in the towns and cities, almost everywhere where there are Maoris, the official history of the Maori Battalion’s six years of service in World War II will be a proud possession for generations to come. This history, written by a pakeha, is a straightforward account, full of colourful detail and character sketches of the overseas service, in good times and bad, of a unit of which Lord Frey berg says: “I believe that when this history is published it will be recognised more widely that no infantry battalion had a more distinguished record, or saw more fighting, or, alas, had such heavy casualties as the Maori Battalion.”

In all the major campaigns of the New Zealand Division—in Greece, Crete, North Africa, and Italy—the Maoris played an important, sometimes a decisive, part. After the part the Maoris played in Greece and Crete, they established for themselves a special position in the Division, and because it was a battalion of one race, it was enabled more than any other unit to keep its identity intact throughout the war.

No-one needs to be told now of the courage of the Maori, but what was equally important in the development of the Maori Battalion in its early phases was the skilful building up by its commanding officer of the special qualities of fighting skill, of endurance and of discipline which infantry work in World War II demanded. The Maoris, for instance, in the evacuation from Greece and Crete showed an example of disciplined marching under circumstances enough to try the morale of any unit. The writer, J. F. Cody, approaches a difficult job—covering six years of warfare in one volume dealing with one unitwith painstaking care to get the details right. Reports, diaries, personal recollections have been checked one against the other for hundreds of exciting days in an action-crowded six years, and yet the detail has been so skilfully woven into the full story as not to interfere with the primary aim —a balanced, accurate and straightforward account of the battalion’s service. The Maori Battalion in its first few months faced special difficulties, which must have given concern to its commanding officers. One was that the conditions of the war demanded a background of mechanical and technical knowledge for which most of those who had volunteered to join the battalion had had little peace-time preparation. The knowledge of many Maori soldiers of things mechanical had before September. 1939, been largely confined to a knowledge of how shearing blades worked, and how a motor-cai was driven. In the battalion they had to learn, and learn quickly, how to maintain not only complicated weapons but also a transport fleet on which the very existence of the battalion depended. They learned these things quickly and well, and developed also a special skill of adaptation to their own purposes of captured equipment which was often a source of surprise to British officers, outside the division, who met the Maoris for the first time.

What was also surprising about the Maoris, even to many New Zealanders, was the enthusiasm with which they managed to maintain Maori customs in years away from home. In Greece. Crete and Italy they found shellfish and other forms of sea-food to supplement the normal ration scale (which the Maoris never found over-sufficient) and no unit

m the army made such use of food parcels. (It was a sad day for instance when in North Africa the Maoris heard a German propaganda broadcast, by “Lord HawHaw claiming that the New Zealanders were short of rations since they had been reduced to eating salted seagulls. The Maoris knew then that a long-awaited shipment of muttonbirds had fallen into enemy hands.)

The turnover of officers and men m the Maori Battalion was always heavy, matching the casualties. And the . battalion was always fortunate in its commanding officers, some pakeha, most of them Maori. Those who came to command the battalion in its later days had the traditions and the experience of the past to guide them, and all of them found that perhaps more than any other unit the Maoris responded well to strong and vigorous leadership. They gave good officers remarkable loyalty. Pervading the whole book is the Maori sense of humour. Sometimes it seems incongruous, but it was always there and most of the time the Maori Battalion must have ranked as the most cheerful unit in the British Army, Maoris, too, had a singular gift for acquiring souvenirs. In the Florence campaign, one soldier had to be rebuked for appearing clad in a top hat, an overcoat with a fur collar, and a pair of shiny topboots. He carried an umbrella in one hand, a mandolin in the other, and his rifle was slung over his shoulder. The American Army onlookers who saw the sight were staggered.

The Maoris never really lost their individuality. There is a remarkable story, all Maori, of Major (then Captain) Rangi Royal leading a party of Maoris towards the evacuation point in Crete. Their retreat in the darkness had taken them to a high plateau, on to which the Germans had pursued them. The Germans were in no hurry to enforce the surrender they thought was inevitable. The far end of that plateau was a steep cliff, down which further progress seemed impossible.

For the Maoris it was a difficult problem. Then Captain Royal swears he saw a tuatara, with his head pointing over the cliff. He took it as a sign, and the Maoris went over the cliff, tough as it was for tired men to clamber down, and got away. Now there are no tuataras on Crete, or ever have been. There may be a lizard with a superficial resemblance to one, but the fact remains that the Maoris (according to the history, in something like the tradition of the Angel of Mons in World War I) took it as a genuine tuatara and a genuine sign. It certainly worked.

There are so many campaigns covered in this book, from the Maori viewpoint, that it is difficult to single out any special ones. But readers of infantry battles will probably be most enthralled with the action at Tebaga Gap at which Lieutenant Ngarimu won the battalion’s first Victoria Cross, and with the story of the intense fighting at Takrouna. The battalion was probably at its peak of efficiency at the end of the North African campaign. So smoothly was it running at times that at one stage General Montgomery urged (which was equivalent to a command) all senior officers to visit the Maori Battalion lines to see the very model of how infantry defence positions should be organised. For a few days the battalion was overrun with red tabs.

The Italian campaign was tough for the Maoris. The account they gave of themselves at Cassino will be remembered as long as that desperate action is kept in the memory of New Zealanders. They were in every campaign, and they grew to be legend both in and outside the Division, of which The Maoris were so proud to be a part. Casualties were extremely heavy—for which reason promotions came quick to the junior officers —and the battalion won a proud list of decorations.

Of all the unit war histories so far this one has the greatest scope to deal with individual characteristics, for the Maori Battalion was like no other. Its Y.M.C.A. van, driven by the genial “Charlie YM” put up a remarkable performance in attending to the needs of the troops in frontline areas. Maori generosity was shown at its best —although quite unappreciated by the Army—by the way in which the battalion’s rank-and-file freely helped the Italian population by making available Army blankets and clothing, and throughout the campaign in Italy the Maoris astonished everyone with their skill as linguists and their remarkable ability to make friends with a conquered people. One of the best chapters in the book is the final story of the last breakthrough beginning with the crossing of the Senio and ending with a few days of unpleasantness between the Jugoslavs and the New Zealanders. As a unit history, the Maori Battalion’s story is first-class, and well worth waiting for. The Maoris have certainly earned a reputation as good fighting-men and this book by a pakeha tells in unmistakable terms just how their reputation was achieved. The pictures and the maps are worthy of the book.