MAORI BATTALION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 12, 5 October 1943, Page 8

MAORI BATTALION

SPLENDID WAR EFFORT FEARED BY GERMANS The Government booklet, "New Zealand at War," issued by the Director of Publicity, says that as a volunteer unit of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, the Maori Battalion lias played a distinguished part in every engagement from Greece and Grete in ]!)].() until the cclipsc. of the enemy in North Africa. The Battalion won special fame for the valour of its. bayonet charges. General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C., said of his Maori soldiers: "The record of the Maori Battalion has been equal to, if not better than, any of the units in our Division." Rommel, complained that "the Maoris penetrate a position and. simply 'kill everybody." Storming of Takroun* At Takrouna, a handful of Maoris stormed a height of extreme strategic importance. Led by a sergeant, they scaled a sheer cliff, overwhelm-, ed the astonished enemy on the height, and withstood, furious eoun-ter-at tacks. The lirst Victoria Cross Avon by a Maori was posthumously awarded a Second Lieutenant Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa Ngarimu for gallantry at Tebaga Gap in Tunisia. A second Afaori Battalion has been formed, and personnel recruited for a third is to be used as reinforcements for the famous force overseas. Some is(>(>o Maoris have volunteered for service overseas; over 2000 are in the Territorial Force, close on 10,000 have joined the Home Guard. It is a splendid record of Maori war effort.