Hey blokes. I have a long running blog under ' Australia '~ http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/48497-wwii-aust-usa-in-far-north-queensland-australia/ I have always had a fascination with the Guadalcanal Campaign of 7th August 1942 ~ and I read the "First campaign" which was apparently the Official record of the 1st Marines and the campaign on Guadalcanal. But the part that has always 'ground on me', is that the 'record' made mention of the New Zealand contingent that was included in the campaign! But in that record ~ there is no further mention of the Kiwis post day one ! I would like to know what was the Kiwi part involved ~ after al we know how the Americans are prone to dropping any allies out of the story ~ ( After all Macarthur for, example ~ always was quoted as stated in the case of 'other' forces ~ e.g. Australians at Kokoda as 'Allied' forces' ~ But any US involvement as 'US forces' , e.g. ; Buna & Gona ~ and gave no credit to anyone outside the US ~ given US involvement ~ I If wrong~ I stand corrected !)
A number of New Zealand troops visited Guadalcanal in 1943, but there was a Fijian unit officered by New Zealanders that did some service on the island: The Eastern Independent Commando Raised Mid-1942 Disbanded 23 August 1945 The unit formed part of the Fiji Infantry Brigade Group. The unit helped form 1st and 2nd Commado, Fiji Guerillas. A special force was organized from 7 New Zealanders, 1 part-European and 22 Fijians from the Eastern and Southern Independent Commandos. This force was called Special Party and arrived in the New Hebrides on 15 December 1942. It then boarded another ship for the Solomons. It landed on Guadalcanal on 23 December 1942 and camped with the Solomon Islanders at Tenaru, near Lunga Point. It then operated in patrols on the island against the Japanese. The Special Party moved to Baunani in Maloita to train 200 Solomon Islanders on 14 January, but was recalled to Guadalcanal in February. Four patrols of the unit were sent to Maravovo by US destroyer for mop-up and then returned to Tenaru to continue training the Solomon Islanders. The unit was in camp at Aola on 8 March 1943 awaiting the arrival of more Fijian troops, so that they could take leave. It still did some patrols until 23 April 1943, when it was relieved by 1st Fiji Commando. The Special Party then returned to Fiji.
The 3rd NZ Division made a series of landings on Vella Lavella, The Treasury Islands and the Green Islands during 1943-44 and Guadalcanal was used as their advanced base before the landings, however the Division wasn't involved in the campaign to actually take Guadalcanal. The Royal New Zealand Air Force however first started sending aircraft there around November 1942. The most likely scenario for the period you are looking at is some form of Commando unit as mentioned in the post above.
Thanks for the prompt replies blokes ~ I was always intrigued that the reference ~ "The First Campaigns ; Guadalcanal" made reference as suggested to unit/s of NZ being sent along side the 1st Marines ! Cheers Stuart
As an extension of the book / reference was that when the Combined US fleet was loading at Auckland harbour , the process took two weeks. The first week went well ~ but the second week it rained ~ The problem was that so much of the stores were in basic cardboard boxes and the the entire process went to ~ ^%^&!! !! Alos later in the text was a photo of the Noumea dock ~ I have walked across that dock twice ~ the first time in 1978 ~ it had barely changed from 1942 ~ but the entire dock land was a total chaos!! AN intriguing extension on Logistics ~
