The Taranaki Regiment was a territorial infantry regiment of the New Zealand Military Forces. The regiment traced its origins to the Taranaki Volunteer Rifle Company, a volunteer corps formed in 1858 and which saw service in the New Zealand Wars. The volunteer corps also provided men to the New Zealand contingents sent to South Africa during the Second Boer War and in 1911 became the 11th Regiment (Taranaki Rifles). During the First World War, the regiment provided a company to each of the battalions of the Wellington Infantry Regiment and saw combat at Galipolli and on the Western Front. After the war the regiment was renamed the Taranaki Regiment and remained in New Zealand for home defense during the Second World War. Men from the regiment, however, served with the 19th, 22nd, 25th and 36th Battalions of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. In 1948, the Taranaki Regiment was amalgamated with the Wellington West Coast Regiment and became the Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regiment.
Two men of the Taranaki Volunteer Rifles, 1868
The Taranaki Volunteers at Parihaka, 1881
A Taranaki platoon of the Wellington Regiment, 1918
Officers of 1st Battalion, Taranaki Regiment, 1930
The New Zealand Army is the principal land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
New Zealand troops landing stores, Gallipoli in WWI.
New Zealand soldiers in France during 1917
Maori troops performing a haka in North Africa during July 1941
New Zealand soldier from W Company, RNZIR patrols in Vietnam, 1968