205,000 IN FORCES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25345, 29 October 1945, Page 4

205,000 IN FORCES

NEW ZEALAND'S BECOfcD THE TWO WARS COMPARE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, c* • During the Second World Wa r 57 ■ cent of all men in New Zealand betwf* the ages of 18 and 45 were niobi]i !j' for either home or overseas service pared with less than 45 per cent in similar age groups in the First World War, according to comparative fi 2u of mobilisations to the three Servi*' released by the Minister of Defen" 5 Mr Jones. nce > From 1939 to 1945, 135,000 men women of the 205,000 mobilised®! New Zealand for service oversea'; J•{ in the First World War of 124 211 mobilised 100,444 served oversea lea Of the total of 205.000 in the qL, , World War (including 9700 womS 1 16,000 were in the Armv, 48,000 Air Force and 11.000 "in the X, 0 Figures for the 1914-18 war show tffi 192 men from New Zealand served tiff tl„. Km-,,1 ' ~>n 111 111.' N:iVy. [ll I'll:; t( ]prt , fe 37,10(1 men with the Air Force 1j tin* stmiglli of the U.N.Z.k &£ last was 9100. gust Part of the Maoris Approximately 5300 Maoris Wer . aeeepted for overseas service in th Second World War and a few more tW 2000 left New Zealand in 1914-18 Complete and true figures of the num' ber of volunteers for the throe during the war of 1939-45 are not avail able, nor can they be estimated W in October. 1940, when the first ballot was drawn, there were serving n-iti ! the Army 64.000 volunteers, including I Territorials. In the 1914-18 war, of SS 124.211 men who served at home id I overseas, only 32.000 were sent to cam* after being called by ballot; the greater proportion were volunteers. Thousands of Women

Women have taken a more active part with the Services in the war of 1939-45 and at the end of .March, 1944 nearly 8000 women, including members of the New Zealand Arm.r Nursing' Service, which had a peak strength of more than 400, were serving in New Zealand and overseas with the three Services. The Women's War Service Auxiliary had a total membership c f 75.000 and the strength, in 1044 of the Women's Land Service, exceeds 2000. In the First World War 550 women of the New Zealand Nursing Service left for overseas.

The greatest number of men witndrawn from industry at the one time was 170,000 in September. 1942. In addition to those serving in the armed forces, thousands of New Zealand men and women were enrolled in the civilian defence forces. The peak strength of the Home Guard was 123.242 and tk E.P.S. 160.000.