The Hawke's Bay Regiment | |
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Active | 1863–1964 |
Country | New Zealand |
Branch | New Zealand Army |
Type | Infantry |
Garrison/HQ | Napier |
Motto(s) | Kia toa (Māori: "be brave") |
Engagements | Second Boer War First World War Second World War |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | The 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