Led by Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg the New Zealand 2nd Division was part of the 13 Corps that were to enter Cyrenaica and engage with the Axis forces before rejoining the 30 Corps and relieve the fighting in Tobruk. Most of the action during Operation Crusader happened around Sidi Rezegh for the New Zealanders, but in the process of getting to Sidi Rezegh, the New Zealanders did capture some important objectives and even captured some Axis officers. But the New Zealanders did have a some trouble when it came to competing with the Axis armour which was stronger and had more fire power than Allied tanks, having many New Zealanders taken prisoner when Axis forces took over 5th Brigade headquarters.
At Sidi Rezegh the New Zealand 2nd Division fought to hold out Axis forces from entering the town, they did so very well, holding the much stronger Axis force out until the 1st of December, after numerous counter-attacks from the Axis forces the New Zealanders finally gave in and tried to retreat. Many of the New Zealand 2nd Division were not able to retreat as the German 15th Panzer Division had surrounded them and left no room to escape. Because of this 2042 troops from the New Zealand 2nd Division were taken prisoner and were subjected to terrible treatment and conditions.
Not many but some of those prisoners that were taken from the New Zealand 2nd Division were subjected to terrifying interrogations by the Axis interrogators. During these interrogations which were used to try to find Allied plans, the Axis Interrogators would resort to threatening the prisoner with a gun and even firing it next to them to scare them. The prisoners of the New Zealand 2nd Division would have also had to live in terrible conditions at POW camps with little shelter from rain, a lack of bedding, not many, if any places suitable to keep yourself clean, and the food was only enough to keep a man alive. These factors put together caused sicknesses such as Diarrhea and flies soon swept in to make the stay for the New Zealanders that much worse.
The New Zealanders who were still fighting in North Africa also had one major condition that they had to deal with, the heat. The heat was relentless during the day as there was little shelter and a shortage of water, but during the night, the cold swept in, these conditions caused men to become flustered and very tired, which was highly unwanted as the New Zealanders would soon be involved in a maneuver to open up a hole in the Axis front line at Gazala.
On the 13th of December the New Zealand 2nd Division, along with the 4th Indian Infantry Division were to engage with the Axis forces on the Gazala line in order to open up a gap for the British tanks to get through. The New Zealanders did this very well opening up a huge hole for the tanks to get through as all of the Axis forces were caught up with a planned counter-attack or the attacking New Zealanders. But that gap soon closed as Axis anti-tank guns and tanks forced the British tanks to hold their position and make no further ground.
Overall the New Zealand 2nd Division lost around 4600 troops, with 879 killed, 1699 injured, and a further 2042 lost as prisoners to the Axis forces. Operation Crusader was the most costly campaign of the whole of the second world war for the New Zealand 2nd Division, and this caused the New Zealand Government to insist that they be withdrawn from the fighting for a while to recover from such a costly operation.
At Sidi Rezegh the New Zealand 2nd Division fought to hold out Axis forces from entering the town, they did so very well, holding the much stronger Axis force out until the 1st of December, after numerous counter-attacks from the Axis forces the New Zealanders finally gave in and tried to retreat. Many of the New Zealand 2nd Division were not able to retreat as the German 15th Panzer Division had surrounded them and left no room to escape. Because of this 2042 troops from the New Zealand 2nd Division were taken prisoner and were subjected to terrible treatment and conditions.
Not many but some of those prisoners that were taken from the New Zealand 2nd Division were subjected to terrifying interrogations by the Axis interrogators. During these interrogations which were used to try to find Allied plans, the Axis Interrogators would resort to threatening the prisoner with a gun and even firing it next to them to scare them. The prisoners of the New Zealand 2nd Division would have also had to live in terrible conditions at POW camps with little shelter from rain, a lack of bedding, not many, if any places suitable to keep yourself clean, and the food was only enough to keep a man alive. These factors put together caused sicknesses such as Diarrhea and flies soon swept in to make the stay for the New Zealanders that much worse.
The New Zealanders who were still fighting in North Africa also had one major condition that they had to deal with, the heat. The heat was relentless during the day as there was little shelter and a shortage of water, but during the night, the cold swept in, these conditions caused men to become flustered and very tired, which was highly unwanted as the New Zealanders would soon be involved in a maneuver to open up a hole in the Axis front line at Gazala.
On the 13th of December the New Zealand 2nd Division, along with the 4th Indian Infantry Division were to engage with the Axis forces on the Gazala line in order to open up a gap for the British tanks to get through. The New Zealanders did this very well opening up a huge hole for the tanks to get through as all of the Axis forces were caught up with a planned counter-attack or the attacking New Zealanders. But that gap soon closed as Axis anti-tank guns and tanks forced the British tanks to hold their position and make no further ground.
Overall the New Zealand 2nd Division lost around 4600 troops, with 879 killed, 1699 injured, and a further 2042 lost as prisoners to the Axis forces. Operation Crusader was the most costly campaign of the whole of the second world war for the New Zealand 2nd Division, and this caused the New Zealand Government to insist that they be withdrawn from the fighting for a while to recover from such a costly operation.