Good effort - Should have been more of it.

In man-gun-days, a leading artillery historian remarked recently, the Pacific War was a small affair. It was not small, however, if we look at the numbers of soldiers serving at one time-with over 38,440 embarkations to the Pacific by 1944

compared to 59,390 to the northern sphere2

- but still the efforts of B Force and 3 Div and the air and naval detachments there have faired badly in terms of Official Histories. Thank god, we say, for the 13 histories published by Reed for the Third Division Histories Committee in the late 1940s.1 The full set of these now fetch $500 at auction and are sought after by historians in the Pacific territories in which the division served. Despite being termed unofficial, they were a formal Army HQ project and started the ball rolling before the War History Branch. But they lacked authority by being anonymous - until now.

The desire for the 3 Div story being told started before the division was disbanded to feed industry in 1944. The 36 Bn history called The 36th in the Pacific was published before war's end, authored by Pte C Gordon Watson, but it only covered up to 31 March 1944. This book, however, showed what was possible and desired (and indeed the Third Division history of 36Bn was merely an updated version of this book, expanded by another historian).

A growing call for writing the division's full story led to a meeting at Narrow Neck on 16 October 1944 to get the job under way. The 13 topics were already determined by then, one each for the infantry battalions and the rest more-or-less by corps, though at that stage there was no mention of a Headquarters history, the Signals story with which it was eventually published being listed on its own.

From this meeting a Third Division Historical Trust was formed of Brig Row, Maj GR Powles (son of a first war official historian, later Sir Guy, frequent ambassador and Chief Ombudsman) and Maj DM Young. The trust was to oversee the Third Division Regimental Fund which was to bankroll the venture. Brig Dove, Officer in Charge Administration and Base Commandant of 2NZEF IP, appointed the Third Division Histories Committee which in turn appointed an editor and oversaw the project. Dove appointed Maj Guy Powles, Maj John Warrington and Capt IHB Dixon.

Oliver ('Jock') Gillespie MBE MM (right) was chosen to subedit the books (and indeed in Bagnall's NZ National Bibliography is listed as editor for all these histories). But he did not write them. He had served with divisional HQ, transferring from G Branch to Div Signals as Cypher Officer before the division went to Necal. By 1946 he was then working for the Archives Section

Black and white photograph of Oliver Arthur Gillespie

of Army HQ. Later he was seconded to the BCOF in Tokyo looking through translated intelligence documents on the Japanese war effort (which materially helped him in his 1952 official book The Pacific, and having apparently sent back "5 large cases of Japanese documents… on Japanese intentions towards New Zealand").

Gillespie was not acknowledged by name in the books as editor. "All the work associated with the writing and publication of these narratives has been done by officers, NCOs and men of the units and has been performed anonymously," the committee acknowledged. To actually research each volume, a historian from each unit was sought in 1944 and appointed, together with a 'delegate' to help organise and channel information.

The Third Division Historians, as at About 26 November 1944 Unit Historian Delegate Est DateMS completed Medical [see below] Capt RGG Wilson 31 March 1945 Base [See below] Capt MA Pattison 31 March 1945 29 Bn Lt EV Sale Capt JC Seton complete by Nov 1944 30 Bn Lt HL Bioletti Lt PL Horrocks 31 March 1945 34 Bn Capt KL Sandford Capt IN McKenzies 15 March 1945 35 Bn Lt AHL Brinkman Capt JD Rose 28 Feb 1945 36 Bn Maj O'Neill

Pte Gordon Watson, author of the original book, was listed as historian in Nov 1944: O'Neill by February 1945.

Lt W Tricklebank 31 March 1945 37 Bn Lt Col AHL Sugden

Lt Col Sugden, Bn OC, headed a history committee for 37 Bn which included Maj DE Trevarthen and Capt NHR Young, the latter being listed as historian on 26 Nov 1944.

Maj DE Trevarthen 28 Feb 1945 Artillery [See below] Maj John Warrington 31 March 1945 ASC Sgt JA Evans Maj C McL Brown 30 June 1945 Signals S Sgt F Nicol WO2 NE McNaughton 30 April 1945 Engineers Sgt Clive B Sage Sage/Sgt JR McIvor 30 March 1945 'Ordnance' book, made up of the following disparate parts:- Ordnance WO1 AK Bristow Lt H Sargison 31 March 1945 Tanks Sgt PP Henley Lt H Sargison 15 March 1945 8MMG Coy Pte WJR Turner Lt H Sargison 28 Feb 1945 14MMG Coy LCpl GH Polglase Lt H Sargison 28 Feb 1945

For the 'corps' histories, sub-historians (as they were described) were appointed for each sub-unit, as below.

Artillery sub-historians

HQ 3 NZ Div Arty Capt JLM Horrocks 17 Fd Regt Maj JG Warrington 28 Hy AA Regt Lt HH Grey 29 Lt AA Regt Sgt RJ Harris 33 Hy Regt Sgt JD Bennet 38 Fd Regt Lt VC Graham 144 Ind Bty Maj GR Powles 53 A Tk Bty Capt JC McClennan 54 A Tk Bty Maj RM Foreman 4 Svy Tp Capt NR Anderson Arty Training Dep Capt IHB Dixon

No mention is made of the Norfolk chapter in The Gunners at this stage: it presumably was added later.

Medical sub-historians

Capt RGG Wilson was listed as historian and delegate though the following sub-historians seem also to have been at work:

HQ Med NZEF IP S/M WAJ Perry HQ 3 NZ Div 2/Lt HHS Wood 7 Fd Amb S/Sgt EAR Langsford 22 NZ Fd Amb Capt LN Hudson 24 Fd Amb Lt KH Parker 4 NZ Gen Hosp Sgt R Harvey 2 NZ CCS Lt WF Green 2 NZ Conv Depot Lt EG Spraggon Base Camp Reception Hospital SG HA Service Base Hygiene Sec Lt SP Pushman 6 Fd Hygiene Sec Cpl WJ Hogan 1 Malaria Control Unit Capt LJ Dumbleton Adv Depot of Medical Stores Cpl J Delowe 4 Motam Con [Motor Ambulance Convoy, MAC] S/Sgt DA Petrie

Base sub-historians

Advance Party Lt Pool Hq Nzef Ip Sgt RA Durham BRD S/M Bentley Records Lt Hayward Pay Corps Sgt Barrett Graves Regist Unit Lt AG Lowry NZEFIP Band Lt Fox [approached but unconfirmed?] BTD [blank, presumably yet to be found] Bourail Camp S/M Bentley Arty Training Depot Capt IHB Dixon AEWS Cpl Buick-Constable Public Relations Lt RIM Burnett Kiwi Coy Nzwaac [blank, presumably yet to be found] NPFB/YMCA Capt L Graham 29 MT Coy Sgt Poulter FD Bakery Lt Preston Works Service Unit St McIvor Base Ordnance WO1 Bristow Noumea Units Lt CB Lewis Base Signals S/Sgt F Nicol Canteen HQ Maj RB Murray Fd Maint Centre Cpl Collingwood Postal Lt WG Head Base Censor Capt C Coles [despite having returned to civil life in Palmerston Nth] Movement Control Pte Donohue Force Rear Party Maj Warrington

This source makes no mention of (nor notes the historians appointed for) chapters eventually published in Base Wallahs on 15 Bde HQ, 1 Scots, 1 Ruahines and Mangere Camp, which again were presumably later additions.

From December 1944 most historians were released from their unit at Mangere Crossing or Papakura camps and, once the collected material was ready for writing up, sent to Wellington for 10-14 days to work with Gillespie and pore over war diaries. Simple 'dos' and 'don'ts' were agreed on for style, though some minor variations in style did creep through.

The unit history drafts were sent to the Director of Publicity for censoring but the records do not indicate that much was excised. Items of controversy did come up in the course of editing the histories. One was a contention that NZ men were being fed US canned food in the forward areas while US troops ate fresh NZ rations, a claim that Gen Barrowclough had denied in February 1944.

The Committee's aim was to give one free book to each soldier who

Maj Warrington, Third Division Histories Committee member and The Gunners history delegate.

served in the Pacific theatre. Additional volumes would be sold to them at 2/6 each, a figure subsidised by the Regimental Fund, and orders were taken. The intended cost per book to the public was set at 7/6. By May 1945 orders ranged from 1305 for Tanks, MMG & Ordnance to 2,618 for the artillery volume (not surprising as gunners were second in numbers to the infantry). Most books attracted 1400-1700 orders. Maximum estimated orders at this time led to a probable print quantity of 45,500 of all volumes: 2,500-6,000 of each.

By the end of 1944 the Committee was ready to seek a commercial publishing partner. A format of octavo 8.5x5.5in, 10pt leaded type, with no dust jacket, was selected as most eco-nomicaleconomical. They talked to Collins Bros first. Other firms approached, including the NZ Herald, Dominion, Evening Post, Whitcomb & Tombs, Coulls Sommerville & Wilkie, and Wright & Jackson, were not interested. Soon, however, the committee had signed with AH & AW Reed.

Capt Pattison, Base Wallahs delegate now on the Histories Committee, requested of the Under Secretary of Internal Affairs in May 1945 that Reed be license to publish the books. Reed also needed approval to import the paper (from Canada), to go between Whakatane Mills card covered in Book Cloth No.1. By this stage coverage of Headquarters had been included with the Signals story. By then Reed had al-ready started production, with proofs of the Signals and Engineer rolls ready for checking.

Under Secretary Heenan approved the paper imports on 12 June and notified Customs accordingly. Delays with the paper supply, however, led to delays in printng the first book. The medical book Shovel, Sword and Scalpel was the first published, in August 1946, followed by the Engineers' Pacific Pioneers in October. Base Wallahs was being bound and expected to appear this month RSA Review said in February 1947. The rest were under production except the artillery work the MS for which Reed had not yet received. They had all, though, been published by 1948. In early June 1949, the greased photographic blocks were delivered to John Pascoe, War History Branch photo editor, at Kippenberger's request, even though he said the "Branch does not handle 3 Div histories".

That the historians were also the authors is confirmed by Lt Harry Bioletti, 30Bn historian, who later stated that he authored Pacific Kiwis.3 In November 1944, when fingered for the job, he was based at D Block Papakura Camp, though "at present [in] hospital".

Now that we know who wrote these volumes, their excellence as a source could only be further improved by indexes. Is anyone game to index them?

The full list of books published, all prefixed '2NZEF IP', in rough order (with probable numbers printed) is: Shovel, Sword and Scalpel [medical units]19463,500Pacific Pioneers [NZ Engineers]19463,000Base Wallahs.19463,000Headquarters & Communications [Signals]19472,500Pacific Kiwis[30 Battalion]19473,500Pacific Saga[37 Battalion].19473,500Stepping Stones to the Solomons [29 Battalion]19474,000The Story of the 34th[Battalion].19473,500Tanks, MMGs & Ordnance19473,500The 35th Battalion19473,500The 36th Battalion19472,500Pacific Service[NZ ASC]19483,500The Gunners[NZ Artillery]19486,000

Now that we know who wrote these volumes, their excellence as a source could only be further improved by indexes. Is anyone game to index them?

Fiji

At the same time as all this, other aspects of the Pacific campaigns were under consideration for official histories. Brig Dittmer said on 1 November 1945 that Capt NA Fraser was at present compiling a history of 2NZEF Fiji Section, the NZ-officered and run brigade group which held Fiji from November 1942. Fraser had the day before been attached to Archives Section for this work. Brig Dittmer discussed the project on 26 November with the War History Branch, from which WA Glue suggested it be printed in a format like the Third Division books, with 50,000 words and 12 pages of pictures.

Created a couple of years after the Archives Section of Army HQ, the War History Branch was eventually to inherit all the work that Archives Section had done - and was clearly the wiser for it. The relationship between these two bodies probably would repay closer attention.

Little however seems to have come of this work by Fraser. Apart from compiling a Nominal Roll of the 2,595 men who served with the Fiji Section 2NZEF from 1942, the project seemed to have died. A history of the Fiji Military Forces was by then getting under way in Suva.

One who was on the Fiji Section

The first public record of 3 NZ Division's service was this book, The 36th Battalion in the Pacific, which was revised and updated by the Third Division Histories Committee as The 36th Battalion.

Nominal Roll was Sgt Colin R Larsen, living at the time at 4 Saxby Rd, Nae-nae. Now a WO1, Larsen had been charged by Army HQ with writing the story of another Fijian unit, 1 Commando Fiji Guerillas. As Intelligence Sergeant with the unit from inception, he had been "in a unique position to view the commando activities from all angles" except when removed from the front with malaria. A narrative on this unit was under way in March 1944, and a History Committee for it had been formed in March 1945 under the chair of Capt DE Williams, with 2 / Lt KW Dane and S/Sgt LV Jackson. Larsen's draft was ready in July 1945 and £66 in regimental funds left over from when the unit was disbanded in May 1944 was earmarked to go to-wards its publication.

While HQ Fiji Military Forces were happy with Larsen's manuscript, the OC FMF Brig Dittmer told Army HQ in August that it "cannot be accepted as Official History or for inclusion in the general history of the Fiji Military Forces because of its length and personal nature". Bill Glue also had problems with it, saying Larsen had "deified Maj Tripp and the New Zealanders in the unit", and was guilty of trumpet blowing. Glue said it had been "written with too much feeling".

For the War History Branch Larsen also wrote the two-volume '2NZEF IP Narrative' and, in May 1945, a 12-page narrative on Special Companies. Larsen's 126-page narrative on the Fiji Guerillas did find a publisher in New Zealand, in 1946. AH & AW Reed picked it up and, as Pacific Commandos, printed it in the same format as the Third Division stories on which the firm had started production. Apart from the Reed logo on the spine and slight yellow tinge to its book cloth, it could pass as a 14th (or 1st) book in Reed's series.

No further action is recorded on NZ history of its service in Fiji until 1949, when Sir Howard Kippenberger received a copy of Lt RA Howlett's The History of the Fiji Military Forces 1939-45, from Lt Col Stafford of the FMF Historical Committee, Colonial Barracks, Suva. By then Gillespie was writing his official volume on the Pacific, published three years later, in which he acknowledged Capt Fraser (and therefore, presumably, used his research and narrative to some extent).

While we do have the Army's formal account of its Pacific campaigns in one volume, with another on medical services in this hemisphere, no other of the big histories focus on this theatre. The Navy and Air Force histories cover the Pacific as part of general accounts of their overall war efforts. Even the two-volume '2NZEF IP Narrative' already mentioned was treated differently to the extensive northern hemisphere narratives (of which 80 volumes were written for the Army alone). The 2NZEF IP Narrative was sent to Barrowclough by Kippenberger when Gillespie was starting the Pacific volume, and 'Barrow' surprised 'Kip' by sending them back, after reading them, "without comment". And whereas the other narratives sit in Defence Library (albeit shelved on the floor) the Pacific narrative was sent on high. Maybe it was Colin Larsen's style or methodology that did not endear the Generals. Or maybe it was because, as Bill Glue remembers to this day, "Neither General Kippenberger or Monty Fairbrother… showed much interest in them." The focus of these Editors-in Chief, both being 2 Div men, was not surprisingly on NZ experiences in North Africa, Crete, Greece and Italy.

Home Service History

A final sad chapter in our soldiers' story telling was the history of the military efforts in New Zealand. The War History Branch did start with the idea of a home defence history in 1947 after requests for such by many ex-servicemen. The Gisborne Herald reported on 11 July 1947 that branches of the NZ Home servicemen's Assn had been asked by Gen Kippenberger to collect information on camps and camp life experiences for a possible home service history. Also other NZ-based units received attention. Major JL Turnbull worked out of Room 117 at Army HQ compiling a narrative on the NZ Home Guard, a force that took in 7.5% of the population. Individupals were invited to write histories of their own units and narratives, for example, on 1 and 2 Special Companies, 18 AA Bty, Field Ambulances or the Ravensthorp hospital were written and submitted.

This home service history project, however, fell by the wayside as the branch concentrated on its overseas histories. The Editor-in-Chief had to let down the Home servicemens Assn in August 1952: "I regret to have to in-form you that it is not intended to prepare a history of the NZ Army in NZ, 1939 /45. The task would be a prodigious one and it would be impossible to prepare a history of any interest without giving away secrets and infringing security regulations to a dangerous degree." This scare mongering is presumably doffing the hat towards Cold War defence paranoia, but it didn't assuage the HSA.

The Association lobbied Hilda Ross MP to support its call for "a war history of the three armed services" but in her letter to the Minister of Internal Affairs WA Bodkin in November 1952 she did not put their case. "Personally speaking [she said], as one of the women of NZ who rendered some service, I think this is a very unreason-able attitude to take. I do not think that any of us who did the work expected or wished to be put in a book…" The Minister agreed, saying "The proposal does not seem to have much merit." Kippenberger did write a short history of the NZ Army, published in article form in the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute in 1957 and is said to have been planning a one-volume coverage of the NZ Army's efforts in WWII, but his death that year robbed us of it.

The Homeservicemen's Annual Conferences in 1959, 1960 and 1961 continued to ask the Internal Affairs Minister (now WT Anderton) for a home defence history, seeing its absence as "a lack of tribute to all Servicemen concerned". They even managed to get a question asked in the House in July 1960 from EP Aderman, New Plymouth. To this the Minister said "the late Gen Kippenberger and present editor [Fairbrother]… have stated that there is not sufficient interesting material to justify the expense involved in producing a separate volume." A final 'No' to the lobbying came from the Minister on 17 November 1961. Two decades later Dr Nancy Taylor was under contract to write a book that was published in 1986 as the two-volume The Home Front. But this also would not have satisfied ex-home servicemen as it is more a social history of the war effort, made without reference it seems to a single service file, than a history of military defence of these islands.

So while NZ was not lavished with volumes of information on defending New Zealand, our ramparts on the sea are getting better coverage now that the awareness of the home and regional defence effort is growing.

Question:Are any of these authors still alive?

1 Sources for this article include the War History Branch Card File Index at Archives NZ, Wellington: Internal Affairs files IA1 181/7/4 War History. Unit Histories. Third NZ Division Histories; IA1 1 81/7/5 War History. Unit Histories. 2NZEF Fiji; IA1 181/7/6 War History. Unit Histories. (First) Commando Fiji Guerillas; IA1 181/7/39 War History. Unit Histories. Home Defence Units; IA1 1 81/53/2 War History Branch. Publications. ; IA1 181/32/8 War History Branch. Authors-Gillespie OA; Ian Wards, pers comm April 2001; WA Glue, pers comm April 2001. 2 , Charles Marsack. NZ Army, 1944 3 Bioletti made this statement in a book about the American forces in NZ called The Yanks Are Coming (Century Hutchinson, 1989). F&W