Military history of New Zealand during World War II
The military history of New Zealand during World War II began when New Zealand entered the Second World War by declaring war on Nazi Germany with the United Kingdom in 1939, and expanded to the Pacific War when New Zealand declared war on Imperial Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Soldiers of the 2nd NZEF, 20th Battalion, C Company marching in Baggush, Egypt, September 1941.
Memorandum of 9 December 1941, providing for mobilization of New Zealand troops.
New Zealander soldiers recapture a Matilda tank and take prisoner its German crew during Operation Crusader, 3 December 1941.
New Zealand members of the Long Range Desert Group pause for tea in the Western Desert, 27 March 1941
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island and the South Island —and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.
The Waitangi sheet from the Treaty of Waitangi
A meeting of European and Māori residents of Hawke's Bay Province. Engraving, 1863.
The snow-capped Southern Alps dominate the South Island, while the North Island's Northland Peninsula stretches towards the subtropics.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest point in New Zealand, at 3,724 metres.
