28th (Māori) Battalion soldiers wait to go into action at Cassino, Italy, in 1944. The soldier facing the camera is Second Lieutenant William Sutherland Laurence McRae, of Christchurch, great-grandson of Horonuku Te Heuheu, paramount chief of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. The battalion served in Italy from 1943 to 1945 and was once again engaged in fierce combat. The Battle of Cassino was particularly hard fought, with heavy casualties resulting from close-quarter combat.
Using this item
Penguin Random House
Reference:
Wira Gardiner, Te mura o te ahi: the story of the Maori Battalion. Auckland: Reed, 1992
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