Maori Battalion fighters reunite

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 630, 2 April 1996, Page 8

Maori Battalion fighters reunite

By

Michele

Monaghan

Avery special ceremony will be held in Waiouru on Easter Saturday when soldiers of the 28th Maori Battalion will join together at the Queen I Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum to lay the colours of their forbears who fought with the Pioneer Battalion. Raised from tribal groupings three days after the start of World War I, the Pioneer Battalion was initially not

intended to provide combat troops. On 15 February 1915 the Battalion sailed from New Zealand bound for Egypt where they were deployed to Malta as garrison troops. They were fi-

nally given imperial permission to fight and on 3 July 1915, 69 days after the initial landing, the Battalion landed at Gallipoli to serve as infantrymen. Initially attached to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, the 477 men of the Pioneer Battalion manned outpost Number One that became known as the Maori Pa. From August 6 -10 the Battalion fought its first Gallipoli offensive with 100 men being killed or wounded. After the withdrawal from Gallipoli the Battalion was taken back to Egypt and transferred to France on 1 4 April 1916 where they worked digging and repairing trenches. It has been said that the Pioneer Battalion was worth two of the other pioneer battalions and the constant patrols and sneak raids carried out made sure they dominated 'nomans land'. In June 1 9 1 6 the Pioneer B attalion was made up of two European and two Maori companies. Six months later there were three Maori and one European or Pakeha battalions. By September 1917 the battalion became a full Maori unit and were named the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. The badge of Te Hokowhitu a Tu was re-adopted. The colour was carried every where and became a rallying point. When there was confusion during a battle, soldiers would look to their colour. "People gave their lives for the colour," said museum curator Lieutenant Mike Brown. "It is a very significant colour and we are very pleased for the museum to be the resting place." Around 400 people are expected to attend the 28th Maori Battalion reunion of soldiers that lived up to the Pioneer Battalion reputation gaining a fearsome reputation during World War II campaigns in Greece, Crete, the Western Desert and Italy.