Hawke's Bay Regiment

The Hawke's Bay Regiment
Cap badge of the Hawke's Bay Regiment
Active1863–1964
Country New Zealand
BranchNew Zealand Army
TypeInfantry
Garrison/HQNapier
Motto(s)Kia toa (Māori: "be brave")
EngagementsSecond Boer War
First World War
Second World War
Commanders
Colonel-in-ChiefThe Duke of Edinburgh
Notable
commanders
Richard Harrison

The Hawke's Bay Regiment was a territorial infantry regiment of the New Zealand Military Forces. The regiment traced its origins to the Napier Rifle Volunteer Rifles, a volunteer corps formed in 1863 and which would later amalgamate with other volunteer corps to form the 9th (Hawkes Bay) Regiment in 1911. During the First World War, the regiment provided a company to each of the battalions of the Wellington Infantry Regiment and saw combat at Galipolli and on the Western Front. After the war the regiment was renamed the Hawke's Bay Regiment and remained in New Zealand for home defense during the Second World War. Men from the regiment, however, served with the 19th, 22nd, 25th and 36th Battalions of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. The regiment had a close relationship with the Ruahine Regiment, which was detached and reabsorbed by the Hawke's Bay regiment on two separate occasions. In 1964, the Hawkes Bay regiment was amalgamated with the Wellington Regiment and become the 7th Battalion (Wellington (City of Wellington's Own) and Hawke's Bay), Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment