The
marching song of the 28th Maori Battalion, whose 3500
members went on to win fame in World War Two as
shock
troops in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy.
In the days that have now gone
when the Maoris went to war
They fought and fought until the last man died
for the honour of their tribe
And so we carry on
the conditions they have laid
And as we go on day by day
You will always hear us say...
Maori Battalion march to victory
Maori Battalion staunch and true
Maori Battalion march to glory
Take the honour of the people with you
We will march, march, march to the enemy
And we'll fight right to the end.
For God! For King! And for Country!
AU - E! Ake, ake, kia kaha e!
A loyal band of Maoris
Sailing from New Zealand
To win us freedom and peace
Marching shoulder to shoulder onward
And we will shout again
Ake aka kia kaha e
Haere tonu haere tonu ra
Kia - o - ra Kia - o - ra
Te Ope Maori Hikoi kia toa
Te Ope Maori kia kaha ra
Te Ope Maori hikoi kia kororia ai
Mauria te hōnore o te iwi.
Ka hikoi matou ki te hoariri
Whawhaitia tae noa ki te mutunga
Mo te Atua! Mo te kingi! Me te whenua!
AU-E!, ake ake kia kaha e!
Maori Battalion march to victory
Maori Battalion so very staunch
Maori Battalion march to glory
Be the living expression of the people's honour.
We will march to the enemy
Put them to flight at the end.
For God! For King! And for country!
AU - E! Forever and ever be strong!
This
Maori version of the chorus is from Rikihana's
songbook.
It is not in Amohau's original sheet music.
The song's origins
"The
song had its beginnings in Rotorua. Anania
Amohau, who wrote the words, had shaped the tune
during Te Arawa's preparation for the centennial
year of the Treaty of Waitangi, to be held in
February 1940.
"Cody noted that Amohau first whistled the tune
then sang it. Captain Royal had some copies
typed and soon the Te Arawa had its own marching
song. Rennie recalled a calm evening in November
at Trentham when Amohau for the first time
introduced the song.
"Within a short period the trainees had quickly
adopted the tune, with its now famous words, as
their rallying marching song. Over the next five
years it was to be sung in countless bars, music
halls and wherever Maori gathered together.
As well as being a stirring marching song it
also served as a nostalgic reminder of home to
all soldiers of the New Zealand Division."
- Wira Gardiner, The Story of the Maori
Battalion
The origin of the Maori Battalion
tune
Amahou borrowed the tune of the "The Washington
& Lee Swing."
In 1906 Mark Sheaf had taught the tune of the
chorus to guitar club of the Washington and Lee
University (in Lexington, Virginia, USA). In
1911 C. A. Robbins added words and Thornton
Allen composed music for the verses. The song
caught on as a college football "fight" song,
and by 1924 it was popular all over the USA.
When
Washington and Lee's men fall in line
They're bound to win again another time
For W-L I yell, I yell, I yell
And for the university I yell like hell
So fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for
every yard
Circle the ends and hit the line right
hard
And roll the enemy upon the sod, yes by
god
RAH! RAH! RAH!
The 28th (Maori) Battalion
The
28th Maori Battalion was formed following
pressure on the Labour government by the
Maori MPs and Maori organisations
throughout the country wanting a full
Maori unit to be raised for service
overseas. Its Companies were organised on
a tribal basis.
The
Maori Battalion followed in the footsteps
of the Pioneer
Battalion of WWI which had been very
successful, and was wanted by Maori to
raise their profile, and to serve
alongside their Pakeha compatriots as
citizens of the British Empire. It also
gave a generation of people with a great
military ancestry a chance to test their
own warrior skills.
The men were initially sent to Britain,
where the German threat was at its height,
but when this did not eventuate they
sailed from England, right around South
Africa, to Egypt, and then to Greece,
going into action in Greece for the first
time on April 15th 1941.
El
Alamein, 25th Aug 1942
The 28th Maori
Battalion launches its
attack. The men are
heavily loaded with
automatic weapons
(mostly captured) and
grenades. Few carry
rifles. The Maori
padre reads a prayer,
and the men disappear
into the gloom, and
those remaining behind
can only watch and
listen to the opening
barrage.
At the expected time,
the Maoris return with
PoWs, who are brought
to Kippenberger. The
total is 41, from the
Bologna Division. The
Maoris report having
annihilated two
Italian companies and
say they have left no
one unhurt or not a
prisoner. Maori
casualties are more
than 30, some due to
friendly fire.
The raid is the first
offensive operation of
8th Army under
Montgomery.
They
were evacuated, and were then involved in
the brief and bitter defence of Crete.
They had brief spells in Libya and Syria,
before joining the 8th Army's long desert
campaign that culminated in the battle of
El Alamein.
They pursued Rommel's Africa Korps until
it was driven out of North Africa. They
then went to Italy, where at Cassino the
Maori Battalion took part in some of its
fiercest fighting of the war, with 300 of
its men being killed there.
The
28th Battalion were pulled out of the
frontline on December 21st 1944.
A
270-strong contingent was sent to Japan as
part of the occupation force, and the rest
of the Maori Battalion returned
to Wellington on January 23rd 1946.
Mt.
Trocchio,
Italy, January
1944
With a cheery
farewell grin
they had
marched off
armed to the
teeth,
festooned with
Spandaus,
Schmeissers,
Brens,
tommy-guns,
carbines and
the odd rifle.
They were a
piratical
looking crew,
swathed in
greatcoats and
balaclavas
topped by
battered tin
hats, creaking
in their
harness with
necklaces of
Spandau belts
and bandoliers
slung about
them.
They headed
off down to
the road and
swung into a
staggered
formation with
an ominous
clicking of
cocking
handles.
From
Up the Blue
by Roger Smith
3500
joined the 28th Maori
Battalion.
655
died.
1,949
were wounded or taken
prisoner.
17,000 Maori took part
in WWll.
Such
was the respect for the Maori Battalion
that they were frequently used as a spearhead
unit. General Freyburg, the General Officer
Commanding of the 2nd NZEF, commented "No infantry
had a more distinguished record, or saw more
fighting, or, alas, had such heavy casualties, as
the Maori Battalion."
The Maori Battalion was held in high regard by
both their fellow Allied soldiers and the enemy
they faced. A fellow NZ soldier was heard to say
of them : "I'd rather fight the Germans any day
than have to clash with the Maori."
Not
all members of the Maori Battalion were Maori:
Lance-Corporal C. J. McCalman - 'Mac' as he was
called by all - joined the Maori Battalion
during the Sangro campaign.
He actually belonged to 27 Battalion, but was
frustrated by the fact that it saw very little
real action - so he went AWOL, joined 28
Battalion and saw action with B Company at
Sangro and Orsogna.
He was built like a front row All Black, and
going into action was always loaded down like a
pack-horse - food, ammunition, weapons, cooking
utensils, you name it, Mac carried it! On long
marches and going into battle, you would find
Mac carrying not only his own heavy load but
also packs or heavy weapons belonging to some of
the smaller members of the platoon.
He always carried a 'Benghazi burner,' a billy
and pot for tea and fowls, and a frying-pan for
pancakes. But we only had to stop and - given
sufficient time - the platoon would soon be
sitting down to hot pikelets covered in butter
and jam and a cup of hot tea.
Mac served with the battalion from the Sangro to
the final stages of the advance on Florence. On
August 1, 1944, he and several other members of
his platoon received a direct hit and were
killed.
- Aubrey Balzer,
Wartime Memories (Dolphin)
Anania
Amohau
Corporal
Anania Amohau began composing the words for
Maori Battalion while he was in Rotorua in late
1939.
He was the grandson of prominent Te Arawa leader
Te Kiwi Henare Mete Te Amohau and his
wife, Tukau Te Hira of Ngati Pikiao. Their
eldest son, Taiamai Te Amohau, was
Anania's father, and their youngest child,
Rotorua Guide Mere Taiamai Amohau
(1895-1964) was Anania's aunt.
Anania
had two sisters, Pipiana Tamehana and Maramena
Rauhina.
When the returning Battalion landed on
Wellington wharf in 1946, it was Sergeant
Major Anania Amohau, an original member of
the battalion, who pranced and leapt towards
Colonel Henare to re-enact the ancient ceremony
of the wero, in order to pay repect to their
reputation as warriors of high renown.
Anania married June, and in 1959 was teaching
concert items to the Waihenga Maori Club at
Martinborough. Details of of Anania and June
Amohau's children are HERE.
Anania would have been strongly influenced by
his great-aunt, Merekotia Te Amohau
(1898 - 1978), Henare Te Amohau's youngest
sister and a well-known singer, entertainer and
composer. As a young woman, Merekotia
embarked on her musical career in 1915 in
Bennett's Maori Opera Company. She was a
foundation member of Te Ropu o te Ora (Maori
Women's Health League). She composed traditional
and contemporary Maori music and was one of the
foremost authorities on historical chants of Te
Arawa.
Mo
te Atua, mo te Kingi, mo te Kainga
Waihoki ko era toa o Te Ope Maori,
ko nga toa o Maunga Takrouna ko Haihana Hone
Rogers o Ohinemutu i hinga ki reira mate atu, ko
Haihana Haane Manahi o Ohinemutu ano, ko
Matarehua Wikiriwhi, he apiha, no Te
Whakarewarewa tenei. Ko te korero e tika ana
mehemea hoki i whakawhiwhia hoki a Rogers ki te
Ripeka a Wikitoria pera me Te Moana, hei tohu mo
tona toa. I whakawhiwhia a Manahi ki te D.C.M,
ko te tohu toa kei raro tata iho i te VC. mo te
hoia ehara i te apiha.
I whakaatu a Matarehua Wikiriwhi i tona
tamatanetanga i te hingahinganga o ona apiha
pakeke ka tu ko ia hei kaihautu mo Te Ope Maori,
a, i whakawhiwhia ia ki te tohu toa D.S.O., mo
te apiha kanara piki atu tenei tohu toa, a,
tokorua ano raua o Te Ope nui tonu o Niu Tireni
katoa, he Pakeha tetahi, i whakawhiwhia ki tenei
tohu toa, he apiha noa ehara i te kanara.
I whakaatu enei nga tama o Te Arawa i te wairua
o taua, o te Maori, i u ki te kotahitanga iwi,
ki te kotahitanga hapu me te whakamanamana hoki
ki o nehera whakangungunga rakau. Tamatuatahi
tonu ko Te Arawa e tu ana ki te tuku i ona
taitama hei hoa mo Ingarangi ki te whawhai ki te
Tiamana. I tukua whakareretia te katoa o tona
kaha tamatane kia mau ai te kawa Maori, te kawa
tangata.
Ehara i te mea ko Te Arawa anake te iwi e tika
ana kia whakamihia mo tona maia, engari ko te
iwi nui tonu, kia tika ai hoki te apakura a
Haihana Te Anania Amohau, te mokopuna a Te
Amohau i whakaingoatia ra hei Kingi, i tana
waiata mo Te Taua Maori:
Ka
kokiri, kokiri tonu matou ki te hoariri,
Ka whawhai tonu ake, ake
Mo te Atua, mo te Kingi, mo te Kainga!
Aue!
Ake, ake, kia kaha e!
Not
all members of the Maori Battalion were Maori:
Lance-Corporal C. J. McCalman - 'Mac' as he was
called by all - joined the Maori Battalion
during the Sangro campaign.
