The Kiwi men listed below enlisted in England in 1939-1940 .
They were the first lot of anti-tank gunners that NZ had trained up in WW2.
Quote:
From "Weekly News" 27 March 1940
New Zealanders who enlisted in England for War service; Members of Anti-Tank Battery.
(Group photo)
The battery has been training for some time at Aldershot and a report last
week stated that it would leave for Egypt soon.
ACLAND M D
ALCOCK S B
ALLEN J T
ALLEY W V
ALLUM R W
ALSTON D V
AMOORE G W
ATKINSON A C
BAGLEY F K
BAIRD R D
BAKER D
BARCLAY W C
BEATTIE D
BEERE D J
BELLRINGER T C
BIDWILL E R W
BLOW E H
BOOTH E
BORROWS F
BROWN C V
BROWNSCOMBE E O
BRUNSDEN F E
BURBOROUGH F J
CAMPION H J
CARMODY V I
CLARK P
COOMBE D C
COOTE C
CORBYN E A F C
CUTBUSH W I
DALGETY W S
DENYER R J
DUFF C J
DUPIN H S
EDGAR D G
EDGAR R M
FOWLER A C
FRANCIS B W
FROMERTON H J
FULLARTON J H
GARCIA J
GAULD L
GILMORE R J
GRAY J D
GREEN J A
GRIMSEY C O
GRUNDY W
HALL H
HALL-KENNEDY J H
HENNESSEY D C
HILL C
HITCHIN M K
HOPE J W
INNES N F
JARVIS L
JOB A J
KENNEDY J M
KERSHAW F C
KINGSTON A R
KINNIBURGH K
KORNER K
LEONARD N A
MACKENZIE D C
MALONE W B
MARTIN O
MATHIAS F B
McBRYDE C B
McDONALD W M
McINTYRE P
McINTYRE T A A
McLENNAN D W
MESS D V
MILLENS J T
MURPHY E O
MURPHY J A
MURPHY W E
NAYLOR T
NIVEN M G
NORRIS J A
OAKLEY F J
OWEN D E
PARKS C H
PATTERSON D B
PEES A G
PEES R G
PETERS R J
PHILLIPS L
PLANE G E
POLHILL F F E
PUNTER S F
PRICE F W
REIDY J C
RESPINGER A E
RITCH J R
RITCHARDSON J N
ROWORTH J F T
SANDERS E
SAUNDERS E I
SHEAT W G
SHEPHERD S A A
SIMCOCK K R
SIMPSON C R
SLOAN R G
SMITH H K
SMITH O M
SMITH W S
SPONG A T
STARK R C
STEPHENS R W
STOBIE R
STODDART H C
STRANG D N
SUNLEY H N
THOMAS R F
THOMPSON B
THORPY F T
TITLEY K
TRAIL R J
TRISTRAM H J
TROBRIDGE S J
VAUGHAN T
WARREN R E
WATKINS O G
WELLS I M
WESTON H J
WHITE K J
WHITE R F J
WHITEHORN F J H
WILKINS H F C
WILLIAMS J
WILLIAMS M H
WILSON H R
YOUNG R A
Also included in the battery but were not present for the photo:
W A BIDWELL, J S CHISHOLM, G S DANNIELL, M E KNIGHT, J F N LINDUP, W
F MONK, J PAVEY,D N SHUTTE
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I have no idea what insignia these Kiwis , who interrupted their OE to sign up , wore while in training , nor how many stayed with the Gunners , and how many moved across to other NZ units .
But , given the sketchy details we have to work with sometimes , this may be of assistance in one way or another .
Quote:
The first instalment of the 7th Anti-Tank enlisted in England.
As in the First World War, New Zealanders there were allowed, if they wished, to join the NZEF. Since no anti-tank guns had reached New Zealand and no anti-tank gunners could be properly trained there, it proved convenient to accept the volunteers in England for training as such. They were therefore formed into the New Zealand Anti-Tank Battery, later numbered the 34th, under Major C. S. J. Duff.
After a very thorough training at Aldershot, this battery of individualists with remarkably varied backgrounds and experiences, attracting much attention and gaining much publicity for New Zealand, sent an advanced party to Egypt early in April and arrived there itself on Anzac Day.
The journey across the English Channel to Cherbourg, then across France by train (three weeks before the Wehrmacht struck), then from Marseilles through the Mediterranean in HMT Devonshire, calling at Malta, was brief but interesting and might have been much more so had it been delayed a few weeks.
Joining the 4th Field at Maadi Camp, the newcomers attracted interest because of their low army numbers: the 146 other ranks were numbered from 501 upwards and the handful of officers from 999 downwards.
Unusual talents or interests soon took many members of this battery to other units or services.
Four of them became foundation members of the Kiwi Entertainment Unit (the Kiwi Concert Party), which survived the war unofficially by many years.
Four more joined the first Long Range Patrol, which blossomed into the Long Range Desert Group.
One became Freyberg's draughtsman; another became his cook.
One, Peter McIntyre, became the official New Zealand war artist.
One was soon supervising a large engineering project in the Sudan, and so on;
but an earnest core of anti-tankers remained.
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http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/schol...Arti-c1-2.html
cheers ,
Jock