Maori Battalions of the New Zealand Army?

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Andy H
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Maori Battalions of the New Zealand Army?

#1

Post by Andy H » 13 Jan 2004, 13:35

When reading about the action fought by New Zealand forces in WW2, the Moari's seem to have there own seperate formation. Was this a historical feature, a racial or social issue or were the Maori units seen akin to the Gurkha units in the British Army?

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#2

Post by Larso » 13 Jan 2004, 15:11

I'm not an expert on this topic but I think the Maories were formed into an engineer battalion in World War 1. In World War 2 they had a full infantry battalion (the 28th) in the 2nd NZ division. I don't think it was like the Ghurkas, perhaps more like the Black and Nissie (?) units in the American army. However I don't know what the social standing of the Maories was at this time, so I may well be mistaken. They are certainly a unit remembered with much pride by all New Zealanders (though I've read they were criticised for their behaviour towards prisoners) New Zealand also fielded several Fijian battalions though I don't know if they saw service.


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DrG
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#3

Post by DrG » 13 Jan 2004, 17:16

This site has a very detailed history of the 28th Maori Battalion: http://28bn.homestead.com/home.html.
One of the most heroic battles fought by that battalion was in Takrouna (Tunisia, April 1943): http://28bn.homestead.com/history11.html.
(Italian article: http://www.amicifolgore.com/congedati/r ... _0353.html).

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#4

Post by Gwynn Compton » 16 Jan 2004, 03:51

The Maori Batallion was first formed as the Pioneer Batallion in the Great War and served at Gallipoli. No Maori was allowed to be an officer, and thus none of the Maori were armed for fears that they were shoot their officers. The Batallion acted as an engineering batallion, though bits of it did see combat, but only when the officers were in need of desperate assistance.

In World War II the Maori Batallion returned as a fully fledged formation, completely armed, and serving alongside it's white counterparts. Though Maori becoming officers was limited, I believe there were a few cases of it.

The Maori Batallion was a "racial" thing at the time, but mainly to help increase Maori enlistment. Many Maori tribes did not support the war effort in either war, and campaigned against Maori joining any formation, whether it be a regular formation, or a Maori one. However iwi (tribes) who had traditionally been loyal to the crown (from memory these were the large East Coast iwi) who saw that this was a chance to be seen as equals to the europeans, encouraged participation.

There is no longer a Maori Batallion in the New Zealand Army, though it is remembered fondly for it's fierce fighting abilities and spirit.

Though I've heard many stories from veterans who served along side the Maori batallion that suggest that its fierce spirit turned to outright brutality on odd occasions.

Gwynn

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#5

Post by 13thredarmy » 04 Feb 2004, 14:19

"and thus none of the Maori were armed for fears that they were shoot their officers"

I am going to have to contradict you Gwynn. The Maori Pioneer battlion of WW1 was not armed for the simple reason it was not expected to go into combat and had receieved no training with fire arms.

During WW1 the NZ government as very reluctant to have Maoris volunteer for the war due to the Maori population having fallen so low in recent years. The Maori Pioneer Battalion was a compromise between this position and a desire by Maori leaders to be included (or at least be seen to be included) in the big fight.

For the same reason Maori's were specifically excluded from conscription.

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#6

Post by Polynikes » 04 Feb 2004, 16:00

The British army often formed units from distinct ethnic groups where there existed a martial background.

The most famous are the Gurkha battalions but there were also battlalions of Sikhs as well as Fijians and Maoris.

Many have claimed that, for the empire's enemies, facing the Maoris was worse than facing the Gurkhas.

Today in Britain, there's an argument that many Sikhs would be willing to join an under-recruited British army but fear institutionalised racism & are deterred from joining & becoming isolated. A suggested solution is to form a (British) Sikh regiment.

The New Zealand army would benefit from a Maori regiment I think.

Cheers from Rich

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#7

Post by 13thredarmy » 05 Feb 2004, 05:58

The modern NZ army DOES have a Maori battalion ... almost all of them are such !

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#8

Post by adrian » 05 Feb 2004, 22:31

The Kiwi's Army does have a very high level of Maori serving - and its not fun when you play them in Rugby either!

I've had dealings with the NZ Army and found them to be super professional - both pakeha and Maori. Their lack of numbers and lack of funding is a major problem for them.

adrian

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#9

Post by Balrog » 06 Feb 2004, 04:14

how many maoris are currently serving in the NZ army?

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#10

Post by 13thredarmy » 06 Feb 2004, 04:30

Official figures are not kept but an anecdotal count up would put it at about 45% of the total. BTW the NZ Navy has an even higher percentage.

Maori make up about 15-18% of NZ's total population.

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