Takrouna Garrison Memorial..

 Tunisian Free French constructed Memorial at Takrouna dedicated to those who were killed and wounded during the days of 19-23 of April 1943.

Takrouna was locally known as the "Saw Tooth" and it was the 2 NZ Division's 5 and 6 infantry Brigade's who were given responsibility to "extract" as it were, the venom from it. The 28 (Maori) Battalion being part of 5 NZ Infantry Brigade combined with it's two brother Battalion's 21 and 23 and 24, 25 and 26 Infantry Battalion's of 6 NZ Infantry Brigade were the assault pioneers upon the Takrouna garrison outpost, effectively the last major action of the bitter three year long North African campaign.

It is roundly accepted that this 200 metre high rock rising from the desert plains was the Maori Battalion's most difficult assault that it attempted during WW2, altough the Italian campaign to come provided massive obstacles at Orsogna and later Cassino.

Takrouna was widely acknowledged by all the 2NZEF top brass as one of the finest moments in New Zealands military history. Of course made more notorious by the Victory Cross deserving actions of 28 (Maori) Battalion's B Company (Te Arawa) Lance-Sergeant Haane Manahi, who was unfortunately caught up in political jealously by the English military powers and subsequently denied what was clearly Victory Cross awarding service.

The VC recommendation for Haane Manahi came from General Horrocks GOC 10 Corps, General Freyberg and soon to be Major-General Kippenberger.

New Zealand casualties at Takrouna were heavy:

3 officers and 43 other ranks were killed, 29 officers and 375 other ranks wounded, and 2 officers and 84 other ranks missing- a total of 536.

The proportion of killed to wounded was luckily much lower than usual. The three Battalions of 5 Brigade incurred the major number of casualties. The total for 21 Battalion was 169, for 23 Battalion 115 and 28 (Maori) Battalion 124, a total of 408. Interestingly the casualties were high among the officers of the Maori Battalion in losing 12 of its 17 officers, including it's Commanding officer in Lt. Col. C.M. Bennett.

Reference:

NZ Official History,Denis Clough archive

Submitter:
Submitted by aircrew on

Comments (0)