26th Battalion (New Zealand)

The campaign commenced on 18 November 1941, with 26th Battalion having moved to the starting point near Sidi Barrani along with the rest of the division.[30] Expected to cover a lot of terrain, and with the brigades possibly having to be deployed independently of each other, 6th Brigade made its own arrangements for supplies and medical support.[29] It spent the first days of the advance as a reserve, moving forward behind 4th and 5th Brigades.[31] The brigade entered the fray on 21 November, and moved to Bir el Hariga while the 4th Brigade targeted the Bardia–Tobruk highway and the 5th Brigade the area around Bardia and Sollum.[32] However, the following day, the 6th Brigade was ordered to advance to Point 175, set up a perimeter and then make contact with the 5th South African Brigade, which was in some difficulty, at Sidi Rezegh.[33] Leaving early in the morning of 23 November, the 25th and 26th Battalions led the advance. At daybreak, they stopped and bivouacked in a wadi. While looking for the headquarters of 25th Battalion, Page, traveling in a Bren carrier encountered a German tank and staff car and opened fire. It transpired that a headquarters element of the Afrika Korps were also resting in the wadi. This initiated a battle in which the battalion took 200 prisoners.[34]

The 6th Brigade moved on quickly to take Point 175, which was held by German forces. Point 175 marked the start of the Sidi Rezegh escarpment, 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Tobruk.[35] It was largely occupied by German forces with the 5th South African Brigade on a nearby escarpment. While 25th Battalion attacked Point 175, the 26th Battalion moved to link up with the South Africans, who were under artillery fire, and prepared rudimentary defences about 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) distant from them.[36] On reaching the South African headquarters, Page was advised that a German tank attack was imminent.[37] He returned to his own position and later in the afternoon watched the South African positions be overrun by the Germans, who then turned their attention to the nearby New Zealanders. The battalion came under attack and Page ordered its transport back to the rear, followed by the artillery that was under his command. The infantry held on until dusk and then retreated.[38] The situation at Point 175 had deteriorated following its seizure by 25th Battalion earlier in the day and 26th Battalion was ordered in the early hours of 24 November to form a reserve position in a wadi to the east of Point 175. They were in position before daybreak. By this time the two Panzer divisions that had attacked Point 175 had moved off to the Egyptian border so the battalion had a quiet day. A platoon that had gotten lost during the retreat off Point 175 linked up with the battalion.[39]

Casualties in 26th Battalion during Operation Crusader amounted to nearly 90 killed, over 130 wounded and 226 made prisoner of war.[40]

A period of rebuilding followed the withdrawal of 26th Battalion to Baggush, and Lieutenant Colonel S. Satterthwaite was appointed to take command from the wounded Page on 8 December.[41] It remained at Baggush until 23 January 1942, when it moved to Maadi.[42] Shortly afterwards it was called into Cairo to increase the Allied presence there and counter potential unrest amongst the civilian population of the city. Once tensions decreased it returned to Maadi[43] and resumed training, which included practice in amphibious operations.[44] Over the period from late February to mid-March, the 2nd New Zealand Division moved into Syria. The Allied high command was concerned that the Middle East was at risk from an invasion by the Germans and the New Zealanders were part of the force tasked with blocking their likely route from the Caucasus.[45] The battalion commenced its trip north on 12 March and after a few days arrived at Aleppo, where it manned a number of facilities. One company at a time was detached periodically to outposts on the frontier between Syria and Turkey.[46] In mid-April, the battalion shifted south to Bekaa Valley, where it worked on defensive positions alongside the rest of 6th Brigade.[47] However, following the attack in June on the 8th Army's Gazala Line by Panzer Army Africa, the 2nd New Zealand Division was recalled to Egypt.[48]

The 26th Battalion, along with the rest of the 6th Brigade, now commanded by Brigadier George Clifton, was setting up camp at El Alamein while the 4th and 5th Brigades went south to Minqar Qaim. The 6th Brigade, now commanded by Brigadier George Clifton, was initially held in reserve before being ordered to man the Kaponga Box at Bab el Qattara. Arriving on 28 June, the 26th Battalion guarded the southern side of the box, while the 24th and 25th Battalions were responsible for the northern and west sides respectively.[48] The brigade remained here, watching first the retreating British stream by and then the Germans, at a distance, for several days before moving to Amiriya.[49] It missed the action of 14–15 July at Ruweisat Ridge which saw the destruction of a large part of the 4th and 5th Brigades when, after securing the ridge, no armour was available to defend a counterattack by the Germans.[50] The 6th Brigade was recalled back to the El Alamein lines to relieve what was left of the 4th Brigade. A few days later, it was involved in a night-time attack on the El Mrier Depression. The aim was to secure the depression to create a route through which British armour could penetrate.[51]

In the meantime, the Panzer Army Africa had withdrawn to the Mareth Line in Tunisia[52] and following a failed attack by the Germans on the 8th Army at Medenine in early March, the Allied response was for the New Zealanders, along with British and Free French forces, to drive forward to the Tebaga Gap, south of the Mareth Line. On 21 March, the 6th Brigade mounted a night-time attack on a feature known as Point 201, which was defended by Italian forces. The attack was on a two battalion frontage, with the 26th Battalion on the right and the 25th Battalion, tasked with the capture of Point 201 itself, on the left. Although the objective was achieved by midnight and with only five fatalities in the battalion, the breach that was achieved was not exploited by the supporting British armour.[53] The New Zealanders had to then endure three days of artillery bombardments.[54]

The next attempt to capture the Tebaga Gap was mounted on 27 March by the infantry of the 5th Brigade along with the 6th Brigade's 24th Battalion in a supporting role.[55] The 26th Battalion was placed in reserve, with 28th Battalion taking over its positions.[56] The attack was a total success and the next day the 2nd New Zealand Division moved forward to advance on Gabes.[57] It was not required for the next phase of fighting, a successful attack on the Wadi Akarit Line by 30 Corps, and spent several days resting at Gabes. On 7 April, it moved forward to Enfidaville, to where the Axis forces had withdrawn, with the rest of 10 Corps.[58][59] The outskirts of Enfidaville were reached on 15 April, but resistance prevented the rifle companies from entering the town that day. Preparations for a full-scale attack on nearby Takrouna commenced with the battalion tasked with attacking towards ridges to the east while 5th Brigade targeted Takrouna itself.[60] The attack commenced at 11:00pm and after an hour, the objective was secured with few casualties although in the days following more were incurred as a result of shelling.[61]

The fighting in Tunisia ceased with the formal surrender of the Afrika Korps on 12 May 1943, and the New Zealanders shortly afterwards began returning to Egypt. Within 26th Battalion, replacements were found for the three company commanders who were casualties of the last battle.[62] On 1 June, they arrived back at Maadi Camp and were greeted with news of the implementation of furlough leave for long serving personnel. The first draft of 162 men, mostly experienced commissioned and non-commissioned officers and making up nearly a fifth of the battalion's full complement, left for New Zealand on 14 June.[63] After a period of rest, training resumed in mid-July and this helped newly arrived reinforcements, bringing the battalion up to 780 personnel, integrate with the experienced soldiers.[64] Training was now focused on combat conditions that were to likely to be encountered in Europe rather than the open fields of the desert. In mid-September, the battalion began preparations for a move to Italy, where the 2nd New Zealand Division would rejoin the Eighth Army.[65]

A depiction of the fighting at Cassino by the official war artist of the 2NZEF, Peter McIntyre

Following its withdrawal from the Orsogna area, the 2nd New Zealand Division was one of a number of divisions that were transferred from the British Eighth Army to the U.S. Fifth Army, then engaged on the western side of the Apennines. This was part of an overall strategy to breach the Gustav Line and break an otherwise deadlocked Italian front. Together with the 4th Indian Division and supporting British and American artillery, the division became part of the newly formed New Zealand Corps, under the command of the New Zealand divisional commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg. The corps moved to Cassino, the defenders of which had resisted American forces for several weeks.[73]

It finished the war in Trieste and remained there for several weeks, until the large numbers of Yugoslav partisans also present in the city withdrew.[74] Not required for service in the Pacific theatre of operations, the regiment was disestablished in late 1945.[75] During the war, the 26th Battalion lost nearly 430 officers and men, either killed in action or died of wounds. Just over 400 personnel were made prisoners of war, half during the fighting in Libya in late 1941.[40]