A Bloody Road Home: World War Two and New Zealand's Heroic Second Division by Christopher Pugsley

$75.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II | Reading Level: very good

'This is a story worth telling and deserves to be read by all New Zealanders.' --Lieutenant General The Right Honourable Sir Jerry Mateparae GNZM QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand A Bloody Road Home is the story of 2 New Zealand Division in World War Two. Commanded by the New Zealand-raised and educa ted Lieutenant General Sir Bernard 'Tiny' Freyberg, in six years of war it became one of the finest fighting divisions in the British and Commonwealth Armies. The first ever single-volume history of the Division, A Bloody Road Home is a story of trial and error, failure and success. Told in the words of the officers and soldiers who served, it charts the Division's formation in Egypt through to the campaigns of Greece, Crete and North Africa. From the battle for Tobruk to the advance on Tunis; to the onslaught up the spine of Italy from Orsogna via Monte Cassino, Florence; and to the final encounter at Trieste in 1945, no stone is left unturned. Acclaimed military historian Christopher Pugsley skilfully examines the Division's operations at a tactical and leadership level - according both praise and blame - and relays the experiences of everyday soldiers in their own words, to powerful effect. A magnificent story of New Zealand endeavour and achievement, and a landmark text in every sense of the word, A Bloody Road Home is an exacting revision of accepted history and a celebration of the men who so bravely served. ...Show more

A Life's Roundabout by E. Arnott Anderson

$25.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Against the Rising Sun: New Zealanders Remember the Pacific War by Megan Hutching

$42.50 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

The next book in the ongoing series tells the stories of Kiwis in the Pacific theatre: based in New Caledonia, in action on Mono and Nissan Islands, women working in communications, and a few Air force and Navy personnel. The Pacific War was different: more 'downtime', more contact with the Japanese and Americans, closer to home, a shorter war. Fifteen men have been interviewed, six served in the Army; five in the Navy and four in the Air Force. Army experiences include the garrison in Fiji, life in New Caledonia, time in Guadalcanal and the attacks on Vella Lavella, Nissan/Green Island and Mono Island (the first opposed landing New Zealanders had taken part in since Gallipoli). There are men from the infantry, Divisional Signals, Medical Corps (Field Ambulance), Provosts (military police) and Army Service Corps. One of the naval men was a radar operator working as a coast watcher behind Japanese lines, and met John F Kennedy on the island of Lumbaria (nr New Georgia in the Solomons). Another radar operator was seconded to the US Marines and took part in the landing at Peleliu in Belau. Two served on the New Zealand ships Achilles and Leander, and one was a seaman aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, witnessed the invasion of Okinawa and survived a kamikaze attack on his ship. The air force men come from bomber squadrons, fighter squadrons, air ground crew and reconnaissance squadrons. A couple were in Singapore at the time of the Japanese invasion, and one was taken prisoner by the Japanese, ending up in a POW camp in Japan. The others operated out of the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. There are some good stories of contact with Japanese-POWs and those living on the run in the Solomons. ...Show more

Air-Borne Invasion by John Hetherington

$30.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Angel of the Anzacs The Life of Nola Luxford by Carole Van Grondelle

$30.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Battle for Egypt The Summer of 1942 by J.L. Scoullar

$90.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Beckoning Skies A Pilot's Story 1936-1960 by Bryan Elliot Young

$37.50 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Breakout Minqar Qaim North Africa 1942 by Tristan Brehaut

$32.50 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Why revisit Minqar Qaim? Some writers ignore it; some regard the action as merely part of a broader canvas. Others, using it as an example of unrestrained brutality, seek to place it in a context from which to make a political argument. The artillery battle at Minqar Qaim on 27 June and subsequent break out during the very early morning of 28 June 1942, is regarded as one of the New Zealand Division's best actions in World War II. Minqar Qaim Day, 27 June, is now also the defining moment, the anniversary date for 2 Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast Regiment. Currently (1994) the official Australian position is that the atrocities which reportedly occurred have been caused by the New Zealand troops. It is doubtful now if any of these claims can be fully substantiated, except perhaps in the case of Minqar Qaim. As the authors point out, During the night breakout of Minqar Qaim, at the time of Mersa Matruh, the frenzied New Zealand troops bayoneted wounded and surrendering Germans when they burst into their laager. Frenzied and burst are emotive words. They need a full and proper context. A similar accusation has been echoed in 2004 by Sir Max Hastings in his Introduction to Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45. There is a growing assertiveness in Germany about the war crimes of Allies. The author shares the view of German historians, such as Georg Friedrich, that the British and Americans should more honestly confront their undoubted lapses, some of them serious New Zealanders massacred medical staff and wounded men at a German aid station in North Africa in 1942. No one was ever called to account, though the episode is well documented. Indeed it has been but Hastings use of the word massacre not only creates a wrong impression but it also suggests that the action at Minqar Qaim was solely against a German RAP and nothing else. It ignores the fact that New Zealanders were in the midst of a battle. Fix Bayonets: Minqar Qaim does not seek to pour oil on troubled waters. We have presented the available facts as we see them with the intention of allowing the reader to make his or her own judgement. We do ask you to bear in mind that in the noise and confusion of adrenalin-pumping action, many things occur which later may draw criticism. Hindsight, some sixty years after the event, may be conducive to scholarly as well as popular analysis but it must also take into account the passion of the moment and the culture of the time. Despite the calls for peace, the 1930s and 1940s were decades of extreme violence world-wide. The action at Minqar Qaim needs to be viewed in that context. ...Show more

Bringing up the Rear - The Sequel to Freyberg's Circus by Noel 'Wig' Gardiner

$37.50 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Captive Kiwi by R.H. Thomson

$50.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Cavalry! You Mean Horses? by L.H. Lovegrove MM

$45.00 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

Day After Day by Max Lambert

$37.50 NZD

Category: NZ & World War II

In his bestselling Night after Night, Max Lambert wrote about New Zealanders in Bomber Command. In this long-awaited companion volume, he features their daytime counterparts - fighter pilots who fought in Europe, Asia and the Pacific during World War Two. From the mid-1930s to 1945, young New Zealanders in their hundreds trained as fighter pilots. Initially outnumbered, outgunned and effectively lambs to the slaughter, they were an intrepid part of Churchill's celebrated few, defending Britain and her allies. Against huge odds they were an integral part of the RAF as it fought and won the Battle of Britain and finally cleared the skies in all major theatres of aerial conflict. Their exploits were legendary, and their names celebrated: Cobber Caine, Alan Deere, Colin Gray and Bill Compton among them. Many were also highly decorated - Des Scott, Hawkeye Wells, Ray Hesslyn, Johnnie Checketts and Evan Mackie were popularly known as 'aces'. While many featured in post-war biographies, this is the first book to include them all, as well as the lesser known whose contributions were just as significant. Covering campaigns in France and Holland, as well as North Africa and besieged Malta and the record-breaking achievements of a Kiwi pilot with the highest Commonwealth tally against the Japanese, this absorbing tribute to our fighter pilots is long overdue. ...Show more