Puna rauemi

Oro

<p>Lt Rangi Logan (Ngāti Kahungunu) speaks in a recorded public broadcast from North Africa, 24 September 1941.</p>

<p>Sound file from <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/">Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision</a>. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. (12872, 12873). Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p><br /><strong>Image reference:</strong> <br />Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa<br />Reference: Detail of PA.000038<br /><br />Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from Te Papa through its <a title="Te Papa collections" href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/&quot; target="_blank">Collections Online website</a>.</p><p>Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.</p>

<p>Captain Whetu Werohia (Ngāi Te Rangi) speaks in a recorded public broadcast from North Africa, 24 September 1941.</p><p>Site administrators notes:&nbsp; The soundfile is in te reo Māori.</p><h2>Transcript</h2><p>Ka horo, kahore.<br />Ka horo te pa, kahore.<br />Tenei ano te ngarara kopae ara te takawheta nei, kei te oreore tana hiku.<br /> Kei te komekome ana nga ngutu ki te karanga hoa mona, e Kupe, ko te ope taua.Ka whakarongo ake au ki te tangi a te manu e karanga mai e<br />Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora<br /> Ka mate, ka mate, ka ora, ka ora<br />Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru nana koe i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra<br />Upane, kaupane, upane, kaupane whiti te ra!<br />Te iwi, te motu, tena koutou. Aotearoa, Te Waipounamu me Wharekauri me nga motu o Te Moananui a Kiwa kia ora ano koutou i raro i te manaakitanga a te Runga Rawa.&nbsp;</p><p>Tena koutou e tangi mai na, e kakahu mai na, e te kakahu o aitua mo ratou me o matou hoa kua hinga atu nei i te marae o te pakanga.&nbsp; Tangihia mai ra i kona e tangihia atu nei hoki e matou i konei. Na koutou i tangi mai, na matou hoki i tangi atu.&nbsp; No reira te iwi, i hinganga rangatira, te hinga ki a Tu, ka pa hinga tera whare, na tona whare ano a ia hei tangi.</p><p>Me huri ake inaianei aku korero mo matou e noho atu nei i konei.&nbsp;&nbsp; Ko te ope tuatahi, tuarua, tuatoru, kua hui ki te wahi kotahi. &nbsp;Ko te ope tuawha kei te puni hoia te unga mai i kona.&nbsp; Kei te ako te whakatu waewae me te mau a te pu.&nbsp; Ka nui te ora o te tamariki e noho atu nei. Kei te hikaka te whakaaro o te tamariki inaianei kia piri ratou ki te hoariri.&nbsp; Tae mai ana te ihi me te wehi kia matou ki o ratou kaumatua, i te wana o te whiu o te waewae o te tamariki.&nbsp; No reira te iwi, ahakoa ra to matou toa, kaua hei tukuna ma etahi wahanga anake o tatou o te kainga na hei hoe i te waka.&nbsp; Me mutu ake te ahuatanga o enei korero i konei.&nbsp; Ka huri atu au ki taku iwi ki a Ngai Te Rangi.&nbsp;</p><p>Te iwi, nga hapu, tena koutou.&nbsp; Ka nui te aroha atu ki a koutou.&nbsp; E hoki ana ano te whakaaro, he aha rawa i takitahi rawa ai aku karangatanga maha i tae mai nei ki te hapai te rakau a o ratou tupuna.&nbsp; No reira, he uri katoa koutou no Tamapahore.&nbsp; Te tangata nana i takatakahi katoa te moana mai o Tikirau i Nga Kuri a Wharei, huri atu ki Waikato.&nbsp; No reira te iwi, awhinatia mai ra te reo o tenei rautahi e paho atu nei i tenei whenua ake.&nbsp; Kia ora koutou.&nbsp; E Patu, mea atu ki to whaea ka nui te ora o to koro, na ki to tipuna hoki.&nbsp; Tena koutou katoa.</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz">Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision</a>. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p><br /><strong>Image reference:</strong> <br />Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa<br />Reference: Detail of PA.000038<br /><br />Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from Te Papa through its <a title="Te Papa collections" href="http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/&quot; target="_blank">Collections Online website</a>.</p><p>Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.</p>

<p><strong>A New Zealand soldier describes Sollum a day after the Māori Battalion’s capture of the barracks.&nbsp; He recounts the event including a Māori Battalion soldier’s keenness to rejoin the fray after being injured. He describes the environment, the German cemetery guarded by New Zealand soldiers, German and Italian prisoners of war and the continuing shell fire from German forces.</strong></p><h2>Transcript</h2><p>I have just motored back across the desert from the little battered town of upper Sollum.&nbsp; It is the place which the Māoris took this morning in their first battle in this new fight in Libya.&nbsp; Sollum is actually in Egypt.&nbsp; It was the old Egyptian frontier town in peace time and I passed the battered stone boundary sign which showed Egypt on one side and Libya on the other as I drove down the road over which the Maoris had advanced.&nbsp; But although it’s Egyptian it has been in German hands since last April when the Nazi’s rushed through Libya at the time our backs were turned in Greece.&nbsp; It was a cold dusty morning bleak as the worst of winter days somewhere, say on the plains of Southland.&nbsp; The desert strangely enough looked this morning rather like the area between the Bluff and Invercargill as we drove over it.&nbsp; For here it is tufted with a low scrub that is like tussock and the wind cut through us just as only some of those winds on the Bluff road can cut. &nbsp;We drove in convoy the trucks in one long line, the men gripping their tommy guns and rifles and staring out the side at every vehicle in the skyline.&nbsp; This desert war is like a war at sea. &nbsp;Any dock that looms in the horizon could be an enemy craft.&nbsp; But then we saw the ragged shape of Fort Capuzzo ahead of us and we jolted rapidly towards it.&nbsp; In the shattered courtyard of the fort, smashed by three great battles that have been fought here there were New Zealandsoldiers this time instead of German, or British or Italian.&nbsp; They wore their grey uniform jerseys or their battle dress and they stood around in real New Zealand fashion drinking tea at the cook shop lorries.&nbsp; Or they slept in their trenches in the fort outskirts, or they poked around among the hulks of the German, Italian and British tanks which lie around the fort walls.&nbsp; At one corner at the road junction the Germans had made a cemetery.&nbsp; There are neat rows there of wooden crosses all with black edges and on them are the words “Fallen for the Fatherland”.&nbsp; Here there were a couple of New Zealand Privates on guard and they stared at the swastikas and tried to pick out the ornate German lettering.&nbsp; A group of elderly Italians in uniform, prisoners from a labour corps who had been working on a road nearby stared miserably from the roadside.&nbsp; I went on along the tarmac road towards the barracks at Sollum.&nbsp; At the roadside the tanks were moving back after their action. &nbsp;Their cooplas were open the grimy faces of the commanders stared out tensely in the direction of Halfaya Pass, the enemy still lay there.&nbsp; Every two or three minutes a shell would slither over and burst near the road so we gave the truck all she had till we could get into the shelter of the first building.&nbsp; Here the Battalion Doctor was bandaging up the arm of a big Māori private.&nbsp; The private kept saying “I think it’s alright eh.&nbsp; You let me go back to my cobber’s; I don’t want to come out with the job half done.”&nbsp;&nbsp; But the job is already done.&nbsp; Across the open space between this first aid post and the shattered barrack walls the Māoris were filing back already leading in lines of German prisoners.&nbsp; There were Italians too, some in dark green uniforms.&nbsp; The Germans were dressed in a hideous pale khaki with jack boots and a silly cap like the one the ATS girls used to wear in England.&nbsp; I looked at the faces of these men.&nbsp; They had almost all the hard, brutalised expression of the real Nazi type.&nbsp; We learnt later this was a special unit made up of men who had volunteered for service in Africa, sort of imitation Nazi foreign legion.&nbsp; Over the last open space where the shells were bursting I ran towards the barracks that the Māoris had captured and were now holding in the face of enemy fire.&nbsp; They put in their attack before dawn.&nbsp; In the cold black night they’d bumped over the desert in their lorries till they got to their meeting place with the tanks.&nbsp; And they formed up alongside the great shapes of these dark tanks looming up in there in the starlight.&nbsp; They started off over the open slope towards the barracks.&nbsp; The Germans hearing the tanks suddenly realising the attack opened fire with machine guns and anti-tank guns and mortars.&nbsp; The attack went steadily on.&nbsp; Māori soldiers, grenades or rifles with fixed bayonets in their hands worked through the strongholds in the barracks, around them clearing out each point taking prisoners pressing home their attack here and there until at full light now the key points in the town were theirs.&nbsp; I crawled up behind a wall where two Māoris lay trying to spot a sniper in the buildings below.&nbsp; Ahead of us stretched one of the most magnificent views you could see, it was the blue Mediterranean and then, just inland the great sweep of the 300 foot escarpment.&nbsp; The desert here is a tableland that stops short about half a mile from the coast and then drops down one sheer cliff at which the only route is Halfaya Pass.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz">Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision</a>. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p>Photograph from <a href="https://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz/&quot; target="_blank">Alexander Turnbull Library</a>, see larger image <a href="/photo/captured-barracks-sollum-libya">here</a>.<br /> Title: Sollum barracks at top of escarpment above Sollum Bay, Egypt, during WWII<br />Reference: DA-8889<br />Photographer: W Timmins<br /> Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.</p>

<p>In the final item of the open air concert from El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt on 23 September 1941, A Company sing <em>Koutou katoa rā, Me ata tukutuku</em> and <em>Pō ata rau</em>.</p>
<p>The items are introduced by an unknown speaker.  Other speakers include Waaka Rewa, Alf Pitman, Maru Wharerau, Ben Porter and Maurice Robson.</p>
<p>[Site editors note: there is some static intermittently through the sound file] </p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p>

<p>C Company performs this action song as part of the open air concert broadcast on September 23 1941.  The Māori Battalion is at El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt.</p>
<p>This is part five of the broadcast.  <a href="/audio/a-company-sing-three-songs-egypt-1941">Listen to the final performance of the broadcast from A Company</a>. </p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p><a href="http://natlib.govt.nz">Alexander Turnbull Library</a><br />Reference: DA-01229-F<br />Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.</p>

<p>On September 23, 1941the Māori Battalion is at El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt.  While there an open air concert was conducted and broadcast to the people back home. C Company performed two items including this haka.</p><p>This is part four of the broadcast. Listen to part five - <a href="/audio/c-company-action-song">C Company action song</a>.</p><p>[Site editors note:  there is some static intermittently through the sound file]</p>

<h2>Transcript</h2>
<p>Ngati Porou, Toka-a-Taiau, Tarakeha, Tawhiti, Patangata, take o Hikurangi, me te ngutuawa o Waiapu, tena koutou katoa. Tenei a koutou tamariki te haka atu nei ki a koutou. </p>
<p><em>Kaea:</em>  E, ko te
iwi Maori e ngunguru nei!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Au, au,
aue ha. Hi!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  E, ko te
ope hoia e ngunguru nei!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Au, au,
aue ha. Hi!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Ahaha!  Hitara koa! Kanga mai ra!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Taku upoko!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  He tapu!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Taku
upoko!<em><br />Kaea:  </em>No tuainuku!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Taku
upoko!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  No
tuairangi!<em><br />Katoa: </em>Taku upoko!<em><br />Kaea:  </em>Ahaha! <br />A, he koia, he koia, he koia ra. Hei kai mahau te whetu! Hei kai mahau te
marama! Piki tonu, heke tonu te Ika-ki-te-Reinga, i au! Au, au, au, hi! </p>

<p><em>Kaea:  </em>A, i torona titaha!  Haramai tonu ra nga ope hoia i runga i te
upoko hau, i te po marangai i te  puehutanga mai o te kingi!<em><br />Katoa: </em>Ahaha! U whakarauiri ki Ihipa. Ka ki te whare ki te hoia uhia mai. Uhia mai to
kanohi ki te rau o te aroha.<em><br />Kaea:  </em>Ahaha!<em><br />Katoa: </em>Aue, kia hiko au e! Te okaoka o taku
pu!<br />Kia hiko au
e! Te okaoka o taku pu!<br />Kei hinga
au e, kei mate au e.<br />Kei takoto
tonu, aue ha!<em><br />Kaea:  </em>A, mate atu he toa!<em><br />Katoa: </em>Ara mai ra he toa!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  Mate atu he toa!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Ara mai
ra he toa!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  Tena
karawhiua!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Aue, aue,
aue! </p>

<p><em>Kaea:</em>  A, ko komako, ko komako!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Ko te
hautapu e rite ki te kai na matariki.  Tapareireia
koiatapa.  Tapa konunua koiana tukua hi
aue hi!</p>

<p><em>Kaea:</em>  Ka mate,
ka mate!<em><br />Katoa:</em> Ka ora ka
ora!<em><br />Kaea:</em>  Ka mate,
ka mate!<em><br />Katoa: </em>Ka ora ka ora!  Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru nana nei i
tiki mai whakawhiti te ra! <br />Upane, ka upane. Upane, ka upane, whiti te ra!</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p><a href="https://natlib.govt.nz">Alexander Turnbull Library</a><br />Reference: DA-01229-F<br />Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.</p>

<p>Part three of the open air concert broadcast from El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt on 23 September 1941.  B Company sing two songs, <em>Moe mai e hine </em>and the <em>E pari rā</em>. </p>
<p>Listen to part four - <a href="/audio/c-company-haka">C Company peform a haka. <br /></a></p>
<p>[Site editors note:  there is some static intermittently through the sound file]</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p>

<p>Sonny Waretini sings <em>He wawata </em>as part of an open air concert broadcast from El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt on September 23, 1941.  This is part two of the broadcast. Listen to part three - <a href="/audio/b-company-sing-two-songs-egypt-1941">B Company sing two songs</a>.</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p>

<p>September 23 1941, the Māori Battalion is at El Diyura near El Alamein, Egypt.  While there an open air concert was conducted and broadcast to the people back home. </p>
<p>New Zealand National Broadcasting Service announcer Noel Palmer introduces the programme and describes the environment.  Private Tiaki (Jack) Tapiri then sends greetings to the people at home and introduces the songs to be sung by B Company. The first <em>E te ope tuatahi</em>, was written by Sir Apirana Ngata as a recruiting song for the First Māori Contingent in World War One and then <em>Awhinatia mai mātou</em>. </p>
<p>This is part one of the broadcast.  Listen to part two - <a href="/audio/private-sonny-waretini-sings-he-wawata">Sonny Waretini sings <em>He Wawata.</em> </a></p><p>[Site editors note:  there is some static intermittently through the sound file] </p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p>

<p>Padre Harawira continues with a final update on the activities of the Māori Battalion during December 1941. &nbsp;<br /><br />The officers of the Māori Battalion at this time are all young and except for the commanding officer, Colonel Dyer, are all Māori.&nbsp; The final days in battle before Christmas were difficult, with many casualties and a service was held for those who had been killed in the recent battles.&nbsp; On Christmas day the Battalion had a huge feast - a hangi with all kinds of Māori food sent from home, including Patriotic parcels.&nbsp; In early January Padre Harawira visited injured Māori Battalion soldiers in hospitals across Egypt. &nbsp;<br /><br />This recording is the final part of a broadcast made by the Māori Battalion about the Libyan campaign.&nbsp; It was primarily directed at the Battalions' people at home in New Zealand.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><h2>Transcription</h2><p>[Macrons are not shown as users have the advantage of listening to the recording to see which vowels require emphasis.] &nbsp;<br /><br />Kua kite mai koutou e te iwi kua tamariki anake nga kaihautu i te waka nei.&nbsp; Kua Maori katoa hoki.&nbsp; Kotahi ano te Pakeha inaianei, ko te kanara.&nbsp; Me aha?&nbsp; He mokopuna na o ratou tipuna.&nbsp; Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi.&nbsp; No tekau ma rima o nga ra, ka whakaekengia te paati noa uaua o te hoariri.&nbsp; No te po te tekau ma ono ka taea.&nbsp; No konei te hinganganui o te whanau.&nbsp; Engari no konei ano hoki te whatinga nui o te hoariri me te whakaotinga hoki o te mahi whakaritea ma nga Niu Tireni katoa.&nbsp; Tae rawa mai nga Poles ki te mau i ite pakanga, kore rawa i kitea kei hea te hoariri.&nbsp; No te tekau ma whitu o nga ra ka whakanga te whanau, ka huihui hoki.&nbsp; Tekau ma iwa o nga ra, ka whakahaeretia te karakia mo nga mea i hinga. No te rua tekau ma toru ka timata ta matou hoki mai. Kirihimete mai ki te rori.&nbsp; No te rua tekau ma iwa o nga ra o Tihema ka tutuki matou ki te wahi haere atu ai.&nbsp; I te ra o te Nuia katahi ano te hakari o te kirihimete; nga hangi poaka, tuna, kumara, titi, otira nga kai Māori katoa i tukua mai na e koutou.&nbsp; Ka tae katoa mai ano hoki nga pahara a te patriotic.&nbsp; E rua i te tangata kotahi.&nbsp;&nbsp; No te wha o nga ra o Hanuere ka haere mai matou ki konei.&nbsp; No te rima ka tae mai.&nbsp; No te whitu o nga ra ka haere ahau kia kite i nga mea i tu kei nga hohipera maha o Ihipa e takoto haere ana.&nbsp; Tata tonu ki te rau nga mea i kite au.&nbsp; Ka nui te ora.&nbsp; He mamao nga hohipera o etahi.&nbsp; Engari ka nui katoa te ora.&nbsp; Kei te whakawhaititia mai ratou inaianei ki nga hohipera o Nu Tireni.&nbsp; Tena koutou, tena koutou.&nbsp; E Api, tena koe.&nbsp; Paraire, kua panuitia o mihi.&nbsp; Pihopa o Aotearoa kua rongo atu matou i o mihi mai.&nbsp; Ma te Atua tatou katoa e manaaki, e tiaki, a koutou i kona, a matou hoki i konei, tena koutou.</p><h2>Translation</h2><p>People, you will be aware the officers of the Battalion are [now] only young men.&nbsp; They are also all Māori. There is only one European now, the colonel. They are the grandchildren of their ancestors. The old net is cast aside, the new net goes fishing. On 15 [December 1941] we ascended the enemy's stronghold.&nbsp; It was here we suffered heavy casualties. But it was also here that the enemy broke and the offensive by all the New Zealanders ended. The Poles (i.e. Polish) took over but could not find the enemy anywhere. On the 17th the Battalion rested and regrouped. The 19th we held a memorial service for our fallen comrades.&nbsp; On the 23rd we set out on our return journey [to Egypt].&nbsp; Christmas was spent on the road. On 29th December we reached our destination. On New Years Day we got to have our Christmas meal; pork cooked in a hangi, eel, sweet potato, muttonbird, indeed all the food that you all have sent us.&nbsp; Also all the patrotic parcels have arrived.&nbsp; Two for each man.&nbsp; On 4th January we moved to were we are now.&nbsp; We arrived on the 5th.&nbsp; On the 7th I visited the wounded laid up in the many hospitals of Egypt.&nbsp; I saw close to one hundred.&nbsp; They are well.&nbsp; The hospitals that some are in are far away.&nbsp; But they are all doing well.&nbsp; They are now being transferred to the New Zealand hospitals.&nbsp; Greetings, greetings to all.&nbsp; O' Api, regards to you. Paraire, we have read your message of greeting. Bishop of Aotearoa we have heard you well-wishes.&nbsp; May God look after and protect us all, you over there [in New Zealand] and us here also, geetings.</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p>Image: M. L. Underhill et al., 1950, New Zealand Chaplains in the Second World War, War History, p.30&nbsp;</p>

<p>Captain Frederick Tiwha Bennett commander of B Company gives an update of the activities of B Company.  Along with other New Zealand and British forces they supported C Company in taking Point 152.  They also supported A Company the following day at Point 154 when they had come under a counter-attack. <br /><br />Tiwha was the third son of the first Bishop of Aotearoa.  His brother Charles Moihi Te Arawaka Bennett also served with the Māori Battalion and he later became its Commanding Officer.  Read more about <a href="/memory/sons-bishop-captain-frederick-tiwha-bennett" target="_blank" title="Tiwha Bennett">Tiwha Bennett</a>.  </p><p>This recording is part nine of a fuller broadcast made by the Māori Battalion about the Libyan campaign. </p>

<h2>Transcript (edited)<br /></h2><p>You have heard that Major Rangi Royal was wounded at Gazala together with his only remaining officer  Mr  Don Stewart.  It was here that I was commanded to take over B Company.  It was a big responsibility to undertake and we fully realised this when we went forward and began to organise what was remaining of the Arawas.  The men were fit and eager to get into it again even though they had been fighting strenuously for some time.  We had been allowed two subalterns by the CO to take over two of the three platoons, all of which had been without officers.  One of the officers allowed me was Mr  [Waipaina] Awarau of the Ngāti Porou and the other Mr [Ted] Pohio of Hawkes Bay.  There was also the company Sergeant Major, Martin McRae,  who through the whole campaign has proved himself a tireless and energetic warrior devoted to his men and devoted to his duties.  For platoon sergeants there was Sergeant Les Hall, Sergeant Tommy Lawrence and Acting Sergeant Jack Tapiri.  And so, there was an air of confidence that afternoon on the 17th of December when it was planned that Ngāti Porou C Company were to take a certain Point 152 and the Arawa B Company  would  support their attack on the left flank.  Thus we went into action.  Two great Māori tribes, fighting together, each with its own myths and fighting traditions behind it.  For support we had New Zealand Vickers machine gunners in our ranks and in the rear New Zealand artillery and Royal Force Atillery. Tanks  were there if required and also the planes of the RAF.  But they were never called upon and before nightfall point 152 was no longer in enemy hands.   <br /><br />That night we slept in enemy trenches and looking at the perfect construction the next morning and gazing at the mass of weapons, which the enemy had had at their disposal, we observed that had our boys been in the enemy positions nothing short of floods and famine would have shifted them from their seemingly impregnable position.  Our casualties return for that day was nil.  We looked forward to a nice long spell after that.  But during the morning orders came that the Arawas were to move forward and support the left flank and the Ngapuhi A Company who were being threatened at Point 154 with a counter attack by a considerable enemy force.  The boys responded unhesitatingly.  Tired, dirty, hungry and war weary their response was magnificent when they were told the Ngapuhi  were in danger.  And ten minutes later we were moving towards them.  At eleven o'clock we came under heavy fire but we moved forward and finally took our position on the right flank of the Ngapuhi.  And that is where we stayed all day until dark.  One wonders now, how any of us managed to get out alive as we were shelled by their big guns, their mortars and their machine guns all day long.  But we hung on and as after events proved our support of the Ngapuhi was not in vein.  We suffered casualties and so did A Company.  But our reward came the next morning when we awoke and found the enemy had fled.  And that was the start of a retreat that took him right back beyond Derna and Benghazi and which is still continuing.    <br /><br />And so another great chapter is written. And all of you at home who are grieving over the deaths of your sons, and your husbands and your sweethearts take heart from the knowledge that their sacrifice is not in vein.  The fight we are fighting is for freedom against servitude, right against might, good against evil.   And it is only through your sacrifices that the things we love and cherish can ever survive.  People in Ōhinemutu, Whakarewarewa, Maketū, Ōpotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Te Puke, all Arawas you have lost sons  who died fighting fiercely for everything that is good and clean in life.  </p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p>

<p>Padre Kahi Harawira continues his description of the activities of the Māori Battalion in Libya during December 1941.  As the Battalion advanced it was unsure of the location of the Germans until they began shelling.  They kept driving forward on their vehicles somethingthe Italians had not seen beforer. The Italians were stunned and surrendered, moere than 600 of them. On the 12th the Battalion moved forward again onlt to come under fire again, <br /><br />The padre mentions that Major Royal has been injured and Captain Tiwha Bennett is now leading B Company with other officers' including his brother Captain Charles Bennett, Ruhi Pene, Eddie Morgan, Kuru Waaka and Meta Francis.</p>
<p>He then introduces Captain FT Bennett whose recording can be heard <a href="/audio/captain-tiwha-bennett-speaks-about-libyan-campaign" target="_blank" title="FT Bennett on the Libyan campaign">here</a>. </p><h2>Transcript <br /></h2><p>[Macrons are not shown as users have the advantage of listening to the recording to see which vowels require emphasis.]  <br /><br />I a matou e haere nei, kore rawa e mohiotia pehea te mamao o te hoariri.  Na te pakaru ra ano ko te mahi a te shell ki waenganui o matou taraka, katahi ano ka mohiotia na tata ano ia te hoariri.  Otira kahore i taea te hoki ki muri.  Engari ka kaha ke te haere o nga taraka ki roto i te mura o te ahi.  He kokiri hou tenei, kahore ano tona rite i mua ano. No te tino piringa ano katahi ano ka pekepeke ki raro i nga taraka, takoto tapapa ai ki te whenua tatari ai ki te wa tika hei kokiritanga.  Otira, kahore te hoariri tatari ki taua kokiri.  Ka putaputa mai ki waho i o ratou rua, me o ratou ringaringa ki runga tu haere mai ai.  Te ingoa o tenei wikitoria &quot;he waimarie.&quot;  E ono rau nuku atu ranei nga herehere i konei.  Tekau ma rua o nga ra ka haere whakamua ano matou.  Kahore i mamao te haeretanga atu, ka timata ano te puhia mai e nga pu nui o te hoariri.  No konei ka mau mai te noho a te hoariri.  Ka mohiotia atu koia nei to ratou pa uaua.  Ka mauria ake nga pu nunui hei awhina i a matou. No tenei wa ka tu a Major Royal. Na reira ko Captain F.T. Bennett hei arahi i a Te Arawa. Koia nei nga apiha o B Company inaianei.  Captain C. M. Bennett, Ruhi Pene, Eddie Morgan, Kuru Waaka, Meta Francis.  Koia tenei ko Captain F.T. Bennett e korero atu nei ki a koutou.</p>
<h2>Translation </h2><p>As we proceeded along we did not know how far away the enemy was. When shells burst among our trucks only then did we realise the enemy were close at hand. Despite this we could not turn back. Instead we pressed on amidst the battle.  This was a new style of attack, its like had not been seen before.  When we were very close we jumped off and lay on the ground and waited for the appropriate time to attack.  However, the enemy did not wait for that attack.  They came out of their trenches with their hands raised as they approached.  The name of this vistory was &quot;good fortune.&quot;  Six hundred or more were taken prisoners here.  On the 12th we went forward again.  We had not gone far when we were fired upon again by the enemy's big guns.  Here the enemy held their positions.  We knew this was their main fortress.  We brought up our big guns to assist us.  This is when Major Royal was wounded.  Thus Captain F.T. Bennett took charge of B Company.  These are B Companys' officers now: Captain C. M. Bennett, Ruhi Pene, Eddie Morgan, Kuru Waaka, Meta Francis.  Here is Captain F.T. Bennett to speak to you.</p>

<p><strong>Sound file</strong> from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, ref: <a href="https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/collections/catalogue/catalogue-item?recor…;. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright.</p><p>Image: M. L. Underhill et al., 1950, New Zealand Chaplains in the Second World War, War History, p.30</p>