The Battle of Monte Cassino, in World War II, was among the most brutal the famed Māori Battalion was involved in with more than half of its soldiers killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
Monte Cassino - a German stronghold in Italy - was finally taken in May 1944, after the deaths of more than 55,000 Allied soldiers and 20,000 German defenders. The Māori Battalion’s A and B Companies suffered terrible losses, with 128 out of 200 men killed, wounded or captured.
On Tuesday, 15 cadets from Whangārei’s Leadership Academy of A Company at Te Kāpehu Whetū, school leaders and Ngati Hine leader Pita Tipene will leave for a two-week trip that includes visits to Monte Cassino and Florence in Italy - the Māori Battalion liberated Florence from the Nazis during its Italy campaign - Greece and Crete, which was the HQ for the battalion.
The Leadership Academy of A Company pays tribute to the 28 Māori Battalion A Company and aspires to ‘build Māori leaders’ so that young men may contribute to and benefit from the wider world. Every intake is named after a member of the 28 Māori Battalion with the first intake named after Sir James Henare.
Academy leader Louis Paul, who will be accompanying them on the trip, made the same tour 10 years ago as a student and said the cadets would have an amazing experience they would remember for the rest of their lives.
Paul said he and his fellow cadets had an extreme experience on their trip in 2014 for the 70th anniversary of Monte Cassino’s falling.
‘’We could feel the presence of our ancestors there. It was like a paranormal experience. We had them there with us as we were following their footsteps, seeing where this famous battle took place and hearing of their role in it - it was deeply moving.
‘’We get brought up being told of the battles and the efforts and heroism of the battalion and you have that knowledge, understanding and respect there already. But to go there takes it up a whole other level, just feeling the wairua from those that have gone before is powerful. It gives you a good understanding of our tupuna and their efforts.’’
He said one of the overwhelming parts was the respect and aroha shown by the Italian people for the efforts, and sacrifices, the Māori Battalion made.
‘’The Māori Battalion is celebrated and honoured more in Italy than it seems to be here. Going over there and experiencing that respect they have is really humbling.’’
Academy of A Company students, Corporals Kreize Cooper-Brown, Sandreuss Shortland and Tamati Paraone, are among those going on Tuesday and they are looking forward to the trip and learning more about what the famed Māori Battalion endured and contributed towards liberating Italy.
Cooper-Brown said the trip meant a lot to him and his fellow students who were keen to find out more about what their tupuna did in the war 80 years ago.
Shortland said it would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for them all.
‘’We will get a lot out of it. We will feel that wairua of our ancestors and we will follow in their footsteps, on the ground they stood on all those years ago,’’ he said.
Shortland said he also had a specific task to do while there - find the graves of several family members of his and friends who fell in the battles.
Paraone said the trip meant so much and was a way to honour their tupuna. He was also looking forward to the reception they received from the Italian people and experiencing their aroha, respect and gratitude for the Māori Battalion.
The battalion is also honoured in the Te Rau Aroha Museum at Waitangi.
For Pita Tipene the trip will have extra poignancy.
His father Solomon fought in Crete with the battalion and was captured in 1941. He spent four years in prisoner of war camps before before being freed by the advancing Americans in Munich in 1945.
Tipene was at Monte Cassino with the academy in 2019 for the 75th anniversary - along with the last surviving member of the battalion, Sir Robert ‘Bom’ Gilles, but didn’t get to Crete on that occasion and he was expecting a very emotional time when he visited the Mediterranean island this time.
Several of his siblings have visited Crete and it was something he always wanted to do to honour his father and the other battalion members who fought there.
Tipene said, ‘’The man mountain Harding Leef, from the Hokianga, was killed in Crete and his body was never found.’’
Leef is one of the 10 battalion members who intakes at A Company have been named after.
Solomon Tipene was captured by the Germans at Malame Airfield after they launched a massive assault to capture the island. The prisoners were then made to bury all the dead from the battle before being marched to Greece, then to a stalag - POW camp - on the Polish German border. With the Russians advancing from the east, they were forced on the ‘death march’ towards Germany and he was finally put into a POW camp in Munich.
From there Solomon was flown to Margate Hospital, in England for recuperation and did not arrive back home until 1946, months after the famous return of the Māori Battalion to Wellington led by Sir James Henare.
Tipene said his dad did not speak much to him about that time, but he got information about it from his mum, who Solomon gave some insights to.
‘’He spoke of the sky being dark with parachutes (from the German paratroopers landing). It was a bit like a duck shoot, but that didn’t sit comfortably because they were largely defenceless, but that was war.
‘’He also talked about how terrifying it was to hear a Stuka (Junkers Ju 87) dive bomber coming straight at you - you could hear them scream.’’
Despite his incarceration and the battle, Tipene said his father had total respect for the German soldiers.
‘’He found they were really good warriors in battle and fully respected their efforts. Sometimes Dad, when talking, would slip in German words without realising it. He’d say ‘jawohl’ [yes in German] automatically some times. I suppose when you get a question from a German POW guard you answer straight away in the language they understand.
‘’We were lucky though, we got our father back from the war, many didn’t.’’
Tipene said while the trip would be emotional for all taking part, he was looking forward to honouring his father and all the other battalion soldiers who fought there.
Of all the battles involving the Māori Battalion in the Second World War, none was more brutal or costly than the struggle for Cassino in early 1944. The towering 500m Monte Cassino, topped by a Benedictine monastery, dominated the route to Rome through the Liri Valley. Below it lay the Rapido River and the heavily defended town of Cassino. Several Allied attacks had failed before the New Zealanders arrived.
On the night of February 17-18, 1944 the Māori Battalion attacked the town’s railway station, but when supporting tanks were unable to get through they were forced to withdraw under heavy fire. A and B Companies suffered terrible losses, with 128 out of 200 men killed, wounded or captured. After another unsuccessful attack in March, which saw desperate close-range fighting in the ruins of the town, the New Zealanders were withdrawn in early April. Cassino eventually fell to Polish troops in mid May 1944.