The 19th Battalion was a formation of the New Zealand Military Forces which served, initially as an infantry battalion and then as an armoured regiment, during the Second World War as part of the 2nd New Zealand Division.
The 19th Battalion was formed in New Zealand in 1939 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel J. S. Varnham. After a period of training it embarked for the Middle East and then onto Greece in 1941 as part of the 2nd New Zealand Division. It participated in the Battles of Greece and later in Crete. Evacuated from Crete, it then fought in the North African Campaign and suffered heavy losses during Operation Crusader. Brought back up to strength, the battalion participated in the breakout of the 2nd New Zealand Division from Minqar Qaim in June 1942, where it had been encircled by the 21st Panzer Division. The following month, the battalion suffered heavy casualties during the First Battle of El Alamein.
In October 1942, the battalion was converted to an armoured unit and designated 19th Armoured Regiment. To replace men lost at El Alamein, personnel were drawn from a tank brigade being formed in New Zealand. The regiment spent a year in Egypt training with Sherman tanks, before embarking for Italy in October 1943 to join the Eighth Army. It participated in the Italian Campaign, fighting in actions at Orsogna and later at Cassino. The regiment finished the war in Trieste and remained there for several weeks until the large numbers of Yugoslav partisans also present in the city withdrew. Not required for service in the Pacific theatre of operations, the regiment was disestablished in late 1945.
Formation The 19th Battalion was formed in New Zealand in 1939 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Varnham, a veteran soldier who had commanded an infantry company during the First World War, and was the second of three infantry battalions making up the 4th Infantry Brigade. Its personnel were drawn from the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand and formed into Wellington, Wellington/West Coast, Hawke's Bay and Taranaki companies. Most of the battalion's personnel entered Trentham Camp on 3 October, with officers and non-commissioned officers having commenced their training the previous week.
After completing their initial training, the battalion's 760-odd personnel departed on the liner RMS Strathaird for the Middle East on 5 January 1940 as part of the first echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Division, commanded by Major General Bernard Freyberg; the 4th Brigade was one of the division's three infantry brigades. The battalion arrived at its base in Maadi, Egypt on 14 February, and was involved in training and garrison duty at the Baggush Box, a defensive position in the Western Desert, for most of the next 12 months. Work improving the fortifications escalated in September, when the Italian Army crossed the Egyptian border and Baggush was bombed. The battalion was reinforced in December with personnel from the third echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Division, which had just arrived in Egypt having spent several months in the south of England. It was then tasked with the defence of the Royal Air Force's aerodromes in the Western Desert, which called for the wide distribution of the battalion's companies.
Greece The British Government anticipated an invasion of Greece by the Germans in 1941 and decided to send troops to support the Greeks, who were already engaged against the Italians in Albania. The 2nd New Zealand Division was one of a number of Allied units dispatched to Greece in early March. The 4th Brigade was tasked with the defence of the Aliakmon Line in northern Greece with the 2nd New Zealand Division positioned on the northern side of Mount Olympus. The 19th Battalion was the reserve for 4th Brigade and spent most of its time from late March to early April preparing roading and defensive positions. On 6 April, the Germans invaded Greece and advanced so rapidly that their forces quickly threatened the Florina Gap. The brigade was withdrawn to the Servia Pass.
The 19th Battalion was tasked with holding the mouth of the pass and spent the next few days digging in. On 13 April, German Stukas bombed the battalion causing its first casualties of the war. The following day, German armour reached the Servia Pass. The positions of the battalion's Wellington and Hawkes' Bay companies were the subject of an attack on the night of 14–15 April. The Germans were resolutely defeated and at dawn, 120 of them were prisoners of war and another 150 or so were killed, while the battalion's own casualties amounted to two dead. During the action, the battalion's commander, Varnham, was wounded and evacuated with its second-in-command, Major Blackburn, taking over for the next two months. Despite artillery fire and bombing, the battalion continued to hold up the Germans for three days before being withdrawn. Its new position was at Molos, near Thermopylae, which was reached after a bombing raid killed more personnel. The battalion was charged with monitoring the coast for the next few days although one company was detached during this time and sent to Thermopylae to man defensive positions there.
On 24 April, the 4th Brigade was moved to Kriekouki Pass through which the entire 2nd New Zealand Division was to withdraw. The 19th Battalion was in reserve. Again a company was detached for defensive duties, this time at Corinth Canal. In the early hours of 27 April, after contact with a German convoy of 100 vehicles, the brigade withdrew again, this time through Athens to Porto Rafti, from where it was to be evacuated. Once in position, the 19th Battalion was held in reserve on the road, just a mile from the beach. In the meantime, the company at the Corinth Canal was caught in a German attack and cut off; most became prisoners of war. On the night of 29 April, and into the early hours of the following morning, the brigade was evacuated with the battalion being the last unit to embark from Porto Rafti. The campaign in Greece resulted in 24 men of the battalion being killed, with 20 wounded. Nearly 150 were made prisoners of war.
Crete From Greece, the 19th Battalion was shipped to the island of Crete where it arrived on 28 April with 475 personnel. Designated as the reserve battalion for 4th Brigade, it was stationed just to the east of Galatas. By mid-May it was increasingly apparent that the Germans would mount an invasion of Crete. The airborne invasion by the Germans commenced in the morning of 20 May, while many of the battalion's soldiers were eating breakfast. Most of the descending paratroopers over the area were shot as they parachuted down and their equipment integrated into the defences.
A field hospital in the 18th Battalion's sector was captured by paratroopers and about 500 wounded soldiers and medical staff were made prisoners of war. When the Germans left the area, they took their prisoners. Elements of 19th Battalion came across them and after a short engagement killed the guards and freed their captives although some had inadvertently received friendly fire. By the afternoon, it, like the neighbouring 18th Battalion, was in control of its area of responsibility and had killed or captured around 150 paratroopers. However, a prison to the southwest was in the hands of the Germans. That evening, two companies of the battalion mounted a counterattack after a report that the paratroopers at the prison were clearing an airfield. Although supported by some light tanks, the New Zealanders became lost and the next morning were ordered to return to their defensive positions. The battalion was then engaged in fighting over a hill that overlooked the road to Chania, key to preventing the Germans from advancing to the town.
In the afternoon of 25 May, the Germans attacked along the road from the prison, towards Galatas. After defending for two hours, the 4th Brigade withdrew, with 19th Battalion temporarily being attached to the 5th Infantry Brigade, positioned to the west of Chania. Two day later, while manning a rearguard defensive line at Chania, it supported a counterattack mounted by Australian and New Zealand forces in an action later known as the Battle of 42nd Street, following an advance by the 141st Mountain Regiment. The Germans were routed but the Allied forces withdrew that evening as the Germans began reinforcing their lines.
The withdrawal was at a forced march up and over the mountains to the port town of Sphakia. The 5th Brigade was part of the rearguard, fighting delaying actions to prevent chasing Germans of the 85th Mountain Regiment from cutting the road to Sphakia. The evacuation commenced on the nights of 28 and 29 May, with 19th Battalion departing on the latter date aboard Australian destroyers. Its casualties during the fighting on Crete amounted to just over 60 dead, around 70 wounded and 80 made prisoners of war.
North Africa Once back in Egypt, the 19th Battalion began to receive reinforcements to bring it back up to strength and Varnham, recovered from the wounds received in Greece, resumed command. By 24 June it was at its full complement although still short on equipment. Training was initially limited to route marches and lectures on the learnings of the campaigns in Greece and Crete but by August it was getting re-equipped and battlefield training was underway. The 2nd New Zealand Division was now preparing for a role in the upcoming Libyan offensive, and several divisional and brigade level exercises were carried out. By September, the battalion was based at the Baggush Box, building up the defences there with the rest of the 4th Brigade alongside the 6th Infantry Brigade, while also doing intensive training in open desert warfare. During this time, Varnham was sent back to New Zealand to perform special duties. His replacement as commander of the battalion was Major S. F. Hartnell, who had been one of its company commanders.
The battalion's training was in preparation for the 2nd New Zealand Division's role in the upcoming Operation Crusader, which was planned to lift the siege of Tobruk. The New Zealanders were part of the 8th Army's XIII Corps, which was tasked with isolating and capturing the frontier posts held by the enemy while XXX Corps moved to the south to defeat the armour of Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. At the same time, the Tobruk garrison was to attempt a breakout.
Operation Crusader
The 19th Battalion began moving forward to the starting positions for Operation Crusader on 12 November, leaving just over 60 men behind around which a new battalion could be formed in the event of heavy losses. The operation commenced on the night of 18 November, with the division moving forward across the Libyan border. The 4th Brigade, with 19th Battalion as its reserve, cut off the road between Bardia and Tobruk on 22 November, and rounded up Italian prisoners of war. The New Zealanders were then ordered to support British armoured units of XXX Corps at Sidi Rezegh, which had suffered heavy losses from Rommel's armour. Meanwhile the outbreak from Tobruk was progressing slowly, having met with an unexpected German division.
The 4th Brigade was tasked with advancing to Tobruk, via an escarpment linking Zaafram and Belhamed and onto Ed Duda; the 6th Brigade was to advance to Sidi Rezegh along an escarpment to the south. The 19th Battalion led the brigade for part of this advance before providing flank protection during its attack on an airfield at Gambut. It then was involved in the brigade's nighttime attack on 24 November which captured Zaafran. The 6th Brigade in the meantime had secured Sidi Rezegh although unexpectedly strong resistance that there were many casualties.