 New Zealand and Australian soldiers landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey. New Zealand Free Lance : Photographic prints and negatives. Ref: PAColl-5936-18. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22768446 New Zealand in the First World War 1914 – 1918 Almost 100,000 New Zealanders served in the First World War as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), out of a total population at the time of approximately 1.1 million. Of those who served, around 18,000 were killed and 41,000 were wounded – a staggering proportion. The main body of the NZEF left New Zealand in October 1914 and disembarked in Egypt to complete their training. From there, they headed to Turkish shores where they participated in the unsuccessful Gallipoli campaign of April – December 1915. A total of 2,779 New Zealanders died during the campaign, but their tenacity and ingenuity in the face of overwhelming odds helped to form an enduring military and national identity for New Zealand which continues to this day. It was on the killing fields of the Western Front that most New Zealanders saw action and where most of them died – almost 12,500 in total. The New Zealand Division fought in the battles of the Somme, Messines and Passchendaele (the Third Battle of Ypres). On 12th October 1917, New Zealand suffered what remains its ‘blackest day’ when 3,300 casualties were sustained at Passchendaele during a failed attack on Bellevue Spur. One notable success for the Division came near the end of the war, when on 4th November 1918 it successfully captured the fortress town of Le Quesnoy in Northeast France with minimal damage and casualties. In addition to Gallipoli and the Western Front, a mounted rifles brigade participated in the Sinai-Palestine campaign. A small number of New Zealanders served with British naval and air forces, while others sailed in British and locally owned merchant ships. New Zealand’s wartime strategy was to sustain the NZEF as its main contribution to the war effort, while also keeping up the food production that was vital to the survival of Britain. Reinforcement drafts left New Zealand at regular intervals during the war.  Gater Point, on the battlefield near Zonnebeke, Ypres Sector, Belgium, during World War I. Ref: 1/2-C-003343-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22749121  Kaye, George Frederick, 1914-2004. Soldiers during manoeuvres on the Cassino battlefront, Italy - Photograph taken by George Kaye. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: DA-05502-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22866316 New Zealand in the Second World War 1939 – 1945 The Second World War was the greatest conflict ever to engulf the world. It took the lives of 50 million people, including one in every 150 New Zealanders, and shaped the world that we have lived in ever since. The population of New Zealand in 1940 was about 1,600,000. About 140,000 New Zealand men and women served: 104,000 in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force (2 NZEF), the rest in the British or New Zealand naval or air forces. A total of 11,928 New Zealanders were killed in the war, the highest per capita ratio of any Commonwealth nation. One of New Zealand’s two cruisers, HMS Achilles, left immediately at the outbreak of the war to join a British squadron in South American waters. In December 1939, she helped destroy the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee off the River Plate – a huge boost to Commonwealth morale. New Zealand’s strategy was however inevitably Europe-focused. The first of three echelons of 2 NZEF departed for Egypt in January 1940. Its main component was an infantry division, commanded by Bernard Freyberg VC – a New Zealand-raised British Army officer. Following the German invasion of Greece in early 1940, the majority of the 2nd New Zealand Division conducted a fighting withdrawal and escaped to Crete, leaving much of its heavy equipment behind. The subsequent battle of Crete in May 1940 was a victory for the German airborne forces, but at a terrible cost. Following reconstitution, the Division subsequently fought as part of the 8th Army against Axis forces in North Africa from 1941-1943. Famous engagements included the battles for Tobruk, El Alamein, and the pursuit into Tunisia. The final years of the war saw the Division engaged in the slow advance through Italy. New Zealand forces suffered badly in an unsuccessful attempt to breach the Winter Line at Monte Cassino in May 1944 and it ended the war in Trieste in May 1945. New Zealand forces were active in the Pacific. Two infantry brigades were sent to Fiji to provide forward defence, and New Zealand itself provided a base for the US counter-offensive which included the capture of Guadalcanal in early 1943. The 3rd New Zealand Division was raised in November 1942, deploying to New Caledonia and subsequently taking part in three landings in the Solomon Islands. New Zealanders also played a part in the massive air bombardment of Germany mounted by the Allies. This campaign severely disrupted the German war effort, obliging the deployment of huge resources in defence – hampering industrial production and undermining morale. But the cost was heavy. 1,700 New Zealanders died flying with Bomber Command (of 6,000 who served), while others died in Coastal Command attacking German shipping and ports. 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