New Zealand and Australian Division

New Zealand and Australian Division
Active April–December 1915
Country  New Zealand
 Australia
Branch New Zealand Military Forces
Australian Army
Type Infantry
Part of Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
Engagements

First World War

Landing at Anzac Cove
Battle of Sari Bair
Battle of the Nek
Battle of Chunuk Bair
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Alexander Godley

The New Zealand and Australian Division was a composite division raised for service in the First World War under the command of Major General Alexander Godley. With infantry and mounted brigades from both New Zealand and Australia, it served throughout the Gallipoli Campaign and was disestablished shortly afterwards. Its constituent infantry brigades were then used to form the Australian 4th Division and the New Zealand Division.

Background

Following the outbreak of the First World War in early August 1914, the New Zealand government made an offer to the War Office of a New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), which was duly accepted. Mobilisation quickly followed and by late September, the NZEF consisted of two brigades, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.[1] This was insufficient to form a conventional infantry division, which usually consisted of three infantry brigades.

In contrast, in Australia, there were more than enough volunteers for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) to form a complete division with the surplus being sufficient to form a brigade sized formation. By late 1914, the NZEF and most of the AIF were in Egypt, to where they had been diverted from their original destination of the Western Front in France.[2]

Formation

In December 1914, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General William Birdwood, was formed. A corps normally had a complement of two infantry divisions, but given the numbers of mounted troops in the AIF and NZEF, Birdwood envisaged that the corps would include a mounted division. As only one complete infantry division (the 1st Australian Division) was present in Egypt, the NZEF and remaining AIF forces in Egypt were to form the other infantry division. Birdwood decided to combine the New Zealand Infantry Brigade with the Australian 4th Infantry Brigade, with a third brigade to be included if one could be formed.[3]

By early 1915, Birdwood scrapped the plans for the corps to have an integral mounted division and instead included two mounted brigades with the two infantry brigades to form the second infantry division. This was to be known as the New Zealand and Australian Division (NZ & Aus Division), with Major General Alexander Godley as its commander. As well as the four infantry and mounted brigades, the division also included artillery. This was contributed by the NZEF, but only consisted of 16 guns, including four howitzers, much less than the normal divisional complement of artillery. Headquarters staff were also drawn from the NZEF.[3][4]

History

The division was the second division of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that made original landing at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. The Australian 1st Division made the initial landing and the New Zealand and Australian Division came ashore as the day progressed. Some of the 4th Brigade would not land until the evening. The division's battalions were swiftly drawn into the chaotic fighting on the left (or north) of the landing area. The first to enter the battle were the Auckland and Canterbury Battalions which joined the struggle on the Baby 700 around midday.

The New Zealanders took up positions along Walker's Ridge which formed the extreme left flank of the landing area. The Australian 4th Brigade, which landed last, was sent to fill the gap between the left and right flanks of the Anzac perimeter, which required holding positions across the head of Monash Valley. As a result of these dispositions, by the end of the first day the immediate division of responsibility had the New Zealand and Australian Division holding the left flank of the landing and the 1st Division holding the right and centre.

Normally a British or dominion division contains three brigades. At the time of the landing at Anzac Cove, the intention had been to complete the New Zealand and Australian Division with the 29th Indian Brigade, commanded by Major General Herbert Cox, however as the situation at the Helles landing deteriorated, General Sir Ian Hamilton directed Cox's brigade there to support the British 29th Division.

When in May 1915 the Australian and New Zealand mounted soldiers were sent to Gallipoli as infantry reinforcements, the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade joined the division. As mounted brigades contained fewer men than infantry brigades, and these brigades had left a portion of their strength in Egypt to attend the horses, each brigade mustered only about 1500 men and hence combined were roughly equivalent to the missing infantry brigade.

Battles

Commanders

1915: Major General Alexander Godley
1915: Major General Andrew Russell

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Waite 1919, pp. 4–6.
  2. ↑ Waite 1919, p. 29.
  3. 1 2 Bean 1981, pp. 117–119.
  4. ↑ McGibbon 2000, p. 359.

References

  • Bean, Charles (1981). The Story of ANZAC. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918, Volume I. St. Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 0-7022-1585-6.
  • McGibbon, Ian, ed. (2000). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Military History. Auckland, New Zealand: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-558376-0.
  • Waite, Fred (1919). The New Zealanders at Gallipoli. Auckland, New Zealand: Whitcombe & Tombs.
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