Campaigns
A selection of documents and artworks we hold about Campaigns: Read more below 
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New Zealand was able to move rapidly to put together an expeditionary force to join the British war effort. The initial offer to the British governbment was off an Infantry Brigade, a Mounted Rifles Brigade and some additional support units (Artillery, Engineers etc.). There was no shortage of volunteers at the outbreak of hostilities – most New Zealander’s thought of themselves as British, and thus their duty to fight for ‘King and Country’. Recruitment material was aimed at patriotism for Empire, and a sense of ‘Britishness’.
Some recruits were already trained in military discipline, the use of weaponry, horse management, and trench digging and were able to form a cadre of experience around which a force was built. In mid-August a smaller, separate force - the Samoa (NZ) Expeditionary Force - was despatched from Wellington to take possession of German Samoa (in particular the wireless station operating there) to prevent the its use by the German navy. In late September 1914, the main body and early reinforcements of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) were ready to leave for Britain.
Diverted to Egypt, the first military campaign involving the NZEF (as part of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps – ANZAC) began 25 April 1915 at Gallipoli. Back home news of the landing was met with excitement and pride. A half-day holiday was given to government offices, flags were flown, and patriotic meetings were held. However the reality of Gallipoli became apparent as the operation dragged on into a stalemate - and even more so as the casualty lists were published. By the time the troops were withdrawn from the peninsular on the 19 & 20 December 1915, the official number of New Zealand deaths was 2721.
Next, the NZEF fought on the Western Front. There they faced muddy quagmires, massive artillery barrages, barbed wire, and the use of gas. Many images show the appalling conditions the soldiers endured. The places they saw action became household names; the Somme, Messines, Bapaume, Flanders, Ypres, Passchendaele, and Le Quesnoy. 12,483 New Zealander’s lost their lives, and over time the Western Front became a symbol of horror, waste, incompetence and futility.
The New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (NZMR), left in Egypt when the rest of the NZEF was shipped to France, fought in Egypt and Palestine – Suez Canal, Sinai, Beersheba, Jericho, El Salt, Amman, Damascus. Casualties were not as high as on the Western Front, which led many at home to speculate that the campaign was a ‘holiday’, much to the disgust of the members of the NZMR.
Video and Sound Clips
