New Zealand preparing for war
by Published on 18th January 2016 12:05 PM
Hi team
Hoping everyone has had a nice seasonal break and ready for another year of work, play or whatever fills your days. I have two articles of interest for 'This Month in History', the first going back to 1940 when WW2 was well under way, and had not ended by Christmas, as many thought it might.
The New Zealand Prime Minister of the time Michael Joseph Savage summed this up at the outbreak of war with a quote that would become a popular cry in New Zealand during the war:
"It is with gratitude in the past, and with confidence in the future, that we range ourselves without fear beside Britain, where she goes, we go! Where she stands, we stand!"
In New Zealand troops were preparing for war and thousands of young people were getting excited about heading overseas to back the 'mother country'. Troopships were alongside wharves loading equipment and supplies and troops were returning from final leave before embarking. In Wellington the navy were well represented with the British battleship HMS RAMILLIES, the light cruiser HMS LEANDER and the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS CANBERRA; these warships to provide an escort for the departing troopships.
The second story is of the capture of an Enigma cypher machine from a German U-boat by a boarding party from the British destroyer HMS BULLDOG led by Sub Lt David Balme. He later served on the battleships RENOWN and QUEEN ELIZABETH. Lt Cdr David Balme passed away earlier this month on January 3rd in Hampshire, England.
Regards
Peter Hogg
RNZNA South Canterbury N.Z.
"peterhogg222@gmail.com"
HMS RAMILLIES ARRIVES IN WELLINGTON HARBOUR JANUARY 1940
Visitors day on HMS Ramillies, Pipitea Wharf, Wellington, January 1940
On Sunday, New Year's Eve 1939............
HMS RAMILLIES
The first British battleship to visit Wellington, appeared in the harbour and berthed at Pipitea Wharf. Within a few days the Leander and Canberra, which with the Ramillies were to form the ocean escort for the First Echelon's transports, were also in port.
HMS LEANDER
was to provide the local escort for sailings between Wellington and Lyttelton. By this time six large ships waited in the port, all or most of them now clad in their wartime garb of drab grey. By arrangement with the Harbour Board, barricades were erected at the entrances of Glasgow and King's wharves and placed under police guard. Each transport was examined by the naval authorities to ascertain it's defensive state, armament and convoy equipment, and the approaches to the ports of Wellington and Lyttelton were swept by mine- sweepers.
Meanwhile, with the return of the troops from final leave, the mobilisation camp at Trentham had awakened from its fortnight's spell of calm and was now the scene of much bustle and seeming confusion. General leave was discontinued and the issue of overseas kit and similar preparations
Archives New Zealand
January 5th 1940, the first echelon of Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force set sail from Wellington
At the outbreak of war in 1939, it was decided that New Zealand would provide an Expeditionary Force of one division, under then Major-General Bernard Freyberg. This force became known as the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2NZEF) and the division as the Second New Zealand Division. The first echelon set sail on 5 January 1940. Their departure excited little of the enthusiasm felt for such departures during the First World War. The second echelon was diverted to Britain on Italy's entry into the war and did not reach Egypt until March 1941. The third echelon arrived in Egypt in September 1940. The force remained as part of the British Eighth Army to the end of WWII in 1945 during which it fought in the Battle of Greece, the Battle of Crete, Operation Crusader, Minqar Qaim, the Battle of El Alamein, Libya and Tunisia, the Sangro, the Battle of Monte Cassino, Central Italy, and the Adriatic Coast. Under the command of Major-General William Stevens, the 2NZEF began demobilising in late 1945, a process that was largely completed by mid 1946.
Shown above is a photograph of the Wellington wharves as troops of the First Echelon prepare to embark on troopship HMT DUNERA from railway cars drawn up alongside.
The Strathaird leaves Wellington, 5 January 1940
THE 4 Field Ambulance and 4 Field Hygiene Section embarked on HMT Dunera at Lyttelton on 5 January 1940. The Dunera was a regular Army troopship owned by the British India Line and was used before the war to take drafts of British troops to Indian and Eastern stations. The other five transports conveying the First Echelon overseas were passenger liners—Orion, Strathaird, Empress of Canada, Rangitata, and Sobieski—and on them were medical groups, each including three nursing sisters chosen by the Matron-in-Chief, Miss I. G. Willis, to run the ships' hospitals. The naval escort for the first stage of the voyage was HMS Ramillies, HMAS Canberra, and HMS Leander.
An announcement on 23 January that Egypt was the destination of the First Echelon put an end to many shipboard rumours. Lectures on Egypt, the religion and customs of it's people, and the precautions to be taken against disease in that country proved very interesting.
The convoy anchored at Colombo on 30 January. No sooner had the transports moored than they were surrounded by swarms of small boats laden with a varied assortment of curios and fruit. For most of the troops it was their first experience of native vendors and their wiles. Sales were made after much haggling. Shrewd practices in the boats below drew a bombardment of pineapple tops from the troops on deck—after that the pineapples were sold with the tops removed. Men from the Dunera had shore leave on 31 January, after a long wait for passenger lighters to take them from the roadstead. Most spent the greater part of their leave sightseeing or strolling around the native quarter looking for bargains in poky little shops. Another popular leave diversion was rickshaw racing.
The voyage across the Arabian Sea from Colombo was calm and uneventful. In the Red Sea the troops could see stretches of bare, rugged coastline on each side—Eritrea and Arabia. On the run to Port Tewfik the convoy increased speed, leaving the Dunera, the slowest ship, to bring up the rear. At Port Tewfik a swarm of Egyptian hawkers tried to dispose of oranges, cigarettes, wallets, Turkish delight, and toffees. Besides the warnings given in medical lectures, the dirtiness of the boatmen and the filth on the wharf deterred most of the troops from making purchases. Scrambling
amid the dirt and refuse on the wharf, small children and adults begged baksheesh from the troops and fought for coins and cigarettes thrown down to them. Most of the men were weary of life on board ship and were glad when orders came to disembark.
Brian Probetts (site admin)
R760142
