1939 - 1946 World War II
3 September 1939
New Zealand joined Australia, France, India, and the United Kingdom in declaring war on Germany at 2130 hours on 3 September 1939 (New Zealand time).
12 September
New Zealand - voluntary enlistment opened for the Special Force. On the first day enlistments totalled 5419.
BATTLE OF BRITAIN, 15 September 1940
The 'hour of destiny" was September 15, a date thereafter commemorated as "Battle of Britain Day"
Sir Keith Rodney Park (1882-1975) - Saviour of Britain
"If any man won the Battle of Britain, he did. I do believe it is realised how much that one man, with his leadership, his calm judgement and his skill, did to save, not only this country, but the world." Lord Tedder - Chief of the Royal Air Force, February 1947.
Born in Thames, New Zealand on June 15th 1892 he was educated at Otago Boys High School, in 1914 he joined the New Zealand forces serving in Egypt and Gallipoli. In 1915 he served in France and was wounded and classed "unfit to ride a horse". This allowed Park to become a fighter pilot on the Western Front.
After WWI he remained with the RAF and rose to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal. With the outbreak of WWII he was in charge of air protection for the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940.
For more information http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/park.htm
Luftwaffe Repelled
With the Dunkirk evacuation at best a dignified retreat, Park's real reputation was to rest on "the resounding success" of the Battle of Britain campaign. "Operation Sealion" was the codename for Germany's intended invasion of England. The plan was for the initial air attack to destroy vital airfields, radar stations, ports and aircraft factories, and pave the way for a sea/land invasion. When the Luftwaffe attacked Britain in 1940 (flying nearly 1500 flights over England), Park controlled the urgent defence hour by hour, organising and managing his squadrons and men brilliantly. Using an innovative radar defence system, Park at Fighter Command, with the help of the Observer Corp, tracked German aircraft and passed on information to British fighters enabling them to intercept the raiders. When the early raids proved indecisive the assault switched to London. The Luftwaffe's efforts intensified, but so did its losses. On 17 September Hitler postponed Operation Sealion indefinitely. It was at the conclusion of the determined warding-off of the German attack that Sir Winston Churchill was to memorably proclaim, "Never in the history of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".
Hero Retires
In 1948, Sir Keith Park return to Auckland, New Zealand, eventually retiring and taking a prominent part in the Auckland City Council. He died February 6, 1975.
BATTLE OF THE SOMME, WWI
New Zealand's participation in the Battle of the Somme lasted 23 days and saw over 2000 Kiwi soldiers killed and more than 7000 injured. The New Zealand casualties were part of a total of over a million soldiers wounded or killed during one of the most significant campaigns of World War I, when the allied forces attempted to break through the German front line in northern France.
New Zealand remembers: The 90th Anniversary of the Somme, 15 September 2006
New Zealand Defence Force personnel joined French officials and military representatives on Friday 15 September 2006 to mark the 90th anniversary of New Zealand's involvement in the Battle of the Somme, in a special ceremony near Longueval, France.
Commemorations began with a guided tour of the battlefield, which retraced the steps of the New Zealanders' advance in pursuit of "Objective 27" - the capture of the town of Flers. This was followed by the principal event of the day, a wreath laying ceremony at the New Zealand monument about 1km north of Longueval. After the official representatives laid their wreaths, French and New Zealand children also laid flowers at the memorial. Defence personnel deployed with the Bosnia contingent provided a catafalque party dressed in WW1 uniforms to support the commemorations.
There a further small ceremony was held, with the official party laying wreaths at the French monument outside the town hall in Longueval. The New Zealand VCDF, Air Vice Marshall David Bamfield, presented prints of the Unknown Warrior to the Mayor of Longueval and the French military at a small reception held after the ceremony.
The local area has other significant sites such as Caterpillar Valley cemetery (where the remains of the Unknown Warrior came from), Deville Wood (where the South Africans fought an especially hard battle), and the town of Flers itself.