The 2nd Māori Battalion was a territorial battalion of the

New Zealand Military Forces , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

during the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The battalion was formed in February 1942 as the 3rd battalion, North Auckland Regiment by converting a battalion of the National Military Reserve. The 2nd Māori Battalion garrisoned fortress areas in Northland and also provided training for personnel who would be latter posted overseas with 28th (Māori) Battalion. It was disbanded in 1944 along with most other territorial units.

History

In 1942, at the request of Sir Apirana Ngata, the

war cabinet A war cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war to efficiently and effectively conduct that war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers, although it is quite common for a war cabinet to have senior ...

authorised the formation of a Māori territorial battalion. The new Māori unit was to be the 3rd Battalion,

North Auckland Regiment The Northland Regiment was a territorial infantry regiment of the New Zealand Military Forces. The Regiment was formed in 1911 and provided service companies to the Auckland Infantry Regiment during the First World War. Men from the Regiment al ...

which was formed by redesignating the 7th Battalion of the National Military Reserve in February 1942. The Battalion under went a name change in June and became the 2nd Māori Battalion (the "first" battalion being the 28th (Māori) Battalion of the

2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force The New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight alongside other British Empire and Dominion troops during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). Ultimately, the NZE ...

). The companies were organised along tribal lines. A Company was composed of Māori from Northland,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth Dist ...

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

; B Company from

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

and

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region is ...

; while C Company was recruited exclusively from

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

. Both D (support) and HQ Companies were made up of Māori from all

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. The 2nd Māori Battalion became part of the 12th Infantry Brigade of the 1st Division and had its camp setup at the Remuera Estate, near

Ōhaeawai Ōhaeawai is a small village at the junction of State Highway 1 and State Highway 12 in the Far North District of New Zealand, some from Auckland. The town of Kaikohe is to the west, and the Bay of Islands is a short drive to the east. The N ...

in Northland. Despite discussions of sending the 2nd Battalion (or a hypothetical 3rd Māori battalion) overseas, it remained in New Zealand for the rest of the war. The 2nd Māori provided training for reinforcements to the 28th Battalion and constructed and maned coastal defences in Northland. In June 1943 the

war in the pacific The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the Theater (warfare), theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, ...

was looking favourable for the Allies and a general stand-down was ordered in New Zealand. The 2nd Māori Battalion's camp was dismantled in August and by the end of the year most of the personnel had been transferred to other units or demobilized. The Battalion was formally disbanded in April 1944.

Notes

; Citations ; References * *{{Cite book , last1=Cooke , first1=Peter , last2=Gray , first2=John , last3=Stead , first3=Ken , title=Auckland Infantry , publisher=3rd Battalion (Auckland (Countess of Ranfurly's Own) and Northland) Regimental Association , year=2010 , location=Auckland , isbn=978-0-473-17452-1 Infantry battalions of New Zealand in World War II Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Māori in the military