View a selection of books from our Military Collection

1. Lest We
Forget
ANZAC Day
25 April
2023

3. by William David McIntyre
How does a small country
prepare for war? How well
prepared was New Zealand in
1939? ... this is the first
comprehensive study of
defence policy in peace-time.
It considers everything from the
grand strategy of alliances to
military organisation and 'nuts
and bolts'. It poses vital
questions which all
Governments have to face.
What must we defend? What
can be threatened? Who
might have the motive and the
capacity to pose a threat?
What circumstances might permit an attack? How could
an enemy be deterred? If deterrence fails, how can an
attack be countered? What allies will assist?

4. Patsy Adam-Smith read over
8,000 diaries and letters to
write her acclaimed best-seller
about the First World War.
Soldiers sought her out to tell
her why they went, what they
saw, and how they felt about
that great holocaust. Their
simple accounts are more
vivid than any novel; the years
have not dimmed their
memories of lost comrades
and the horrors of war. These
are the extraordinary
experiences of ordinary men -
and they strike to the heart.

5. by John Gordon
What was it really like for the
soldiers of 2nd New Zealand
Division in the Second World
War? How did they spend their
time and how did they see
their lives as servicemen, from
training at home and sailing off
to war, to setting up camp,
relaxing off - duty, fighting in
hostile environments and
possibly being taken prisoner?
This anthology is a personal
selection of material describing
the experiences of these men,
with the great majority of the
collection written from within its
ranks.

6. An account of the
author serving aboard
Royal Navy corvettes
during the Battle of the
Atlantic. As First
Lieutenant on the
flower class corvette
HMS Lavender and
later as Commanding
Officer of HMS Crocus,
including the epic
battle between this
corvette and U-333 off
Freetown in October
1942.

7. by John H. Gray
From The Uttermost Ends of
The Earth is much more than
a travel guide to New
Zealand battlefields of the
Western Front. Its history of
the New Zealand Division in
France and Belgium is solid,
its great strength is the
wealth of detail and visual
material it contains. Readers
are informed of places to
stay, given the relevant GPS
co-ordinates of sites of
interest, the makeup of the
New Zealand Division is
thoroughly explained, informative websites are
featured, the glossary of military terms and abbreviations
is comprehensive.

8. by Terry Vaughan
A military unit of the 2nd New
Zealand Expeditionary Force
formed to play in the field under
all conditions, it earned the
respect and affection of Allied
Forces in the Middle East and
Italy. At a wartime performance
for the children of Malta, the
concert party was given a
souvenir of the occasion - a
silver model of a fishing boat
from the nearby island of Gozo.
That little boat became the
group's mascot and good luck
charm.

9. A detailed account of what
happened to the Australian, New
Zealand and Turkish troops on the
beaches and hills of the Gallipoli
Peninsula on that fateful day - the
day the ANZAC legend was born.
On the 25th of April 1915 Australian
troops landed on the Gallipoli
Peninsula in what is now called
Anzac Cove. They rushed from the
beach up to Plugge's Plateau into
Australian military history suffering
many casualties on the way. Just
after midday troops from New
Zealand landed at Gallipoli and together the
Australians and New Zealanders created the Anzac
legend.

10. by Monty Souter
This is a major publication
about Maori participation in
WWI. A fascinating look at
the Pioneer Battalion (the
Battalion created for Maori
to serve) that sheds light on
the reasons why some men
signed on to serve, and
others who staunchly
resisted the call to join the
imperial conflict.

11. The book begins with a story of 488
Squadron, hastily rushed to
Singapore to bolster the defences
there, and first combat in the
Pacific before the island's
surrender. It hen traces events
across the Pacific leading up to
the New Zealand deployment on
Pacific Islands and Guadalcanal
in early 1943. It is interesting to
read this lead-up history written
from the perspective of New
Zealand. In the Solomons, they
served alongside the American
13th Air Force, Navy and Marine
Corps against the Japanese.

12. by Matthew Wright
In the summer of 1873, New
Zealand was rocked by a
scandal: Russian terrorists
had, newspaper editor
David Leckie insisted, taken
over a British warship in
Auckland harbour and
held the town to ransom. It
was a hoax, but the
moment served to highlight
New Zealand's growing
sense of vulnerability, as one of Britain's furthest-flung
colonies. The First World War - when New Zealand naval
forces and personnel fought from the North Sea to the
Pacific - to the Second, when New Zealand's naval forces
joined combat in most of the major theatres, and finally
the Cold War.

13. This book approaches the First World
War from new perspectives. Using
the soldiers' personal service files,
Scott presents a study of the
character, background, fortunes
and fate of a group of men who
went to war together. These 'warrior
brothers' speak of experiences of
fun, endurance and tragedy; stories
about relationships, companionship
and above all the powerful bond of
mateship. Woven through the
research, the events of the war are
narrated by the soldiers themselves.
It also presents the story of a
community on the homefront. It is a community that is
determined yet divided, anxious yet angry. Scott reveals
the fear behind the flag waving, the sadness behind the
stoicism, and the bitterness behind the band playing.

14. In 2014, as an initiative towards the
nationwide commemoration for the
Centenary of World War I, members of the
Panmure Branch of the New Zealand Society
of Genealogists were invited to write an
essay on one or more of their World War I
soldiers, nurses and their families with a
view that, by 2018 we would publish the
results and essays in a book. Members set
about researching the gaps they had in the
information about their ancestor and it is
interesting to see that there were common
themes in the essays - as an example several
made reference to Sling Camp on Salisbury Plain, and Codford Camp, a
few miles to the south. Both were staging posts for New Zealand
forces in the United Kingdom. The resulting publication tells the story
of more than 22 soldiers and their families.

15. You may borrow any of these
books from the Library, in person or
by reserving the book on the
Library Catalogue on the NZSG
Website https://genealogy.org.nz/
The Volunteers, really look forward
to hearing from you.
Cheerio from the Library Cat
ANZAC Day, 25 April
We will remember the
Men and Women of
the Armed Forces.