NEW  ZEALAND
FO LK * SONG
Maori Battalion
Ake! Ake! Kia Kaha E!
Cpl Anaia Amohau
, 1940
music, Mark Sheaf, 1906

The marching song of the 28th Maori Battalion, whose 3500
members went on to win fame in World War Two as shock  
troops in Greece, Crete, North Africa and Italy.                  

  1. In the days that have now gone
    when the Maoris went to war
    They fought and fought until the last man died
    for the honour of their tribe
    And so we carry on
    the conditions they have laid
    And as we go on day by day
    You will always hear us say...

    Maori Battalion march to victory
    Maori Battalion staunch and true
    Maori Battalion march to glory
    Take the honour of the people with you
    We will march, march, march to the enemy
    And we'll fight right to the end.
    For God! For King! And for Country!
    AU - E! Ake, ake, kia kaha e!


  2. A loyal band of Maoris
    Sailing from New Zealand
    To win us freedom and peace
    Marching shoulder to shoulder onward
    And we will shout again
    Ake aka kia kaha e
    Haere tonu haere tonu ra
    Kia - o - ra Kia - o - ra

Te Ope Maori Hikoi kia toa
Te Ope Maori kia kaha ra
Te Ope Maori hikoi kia kororia ai
Mauria te hōnore o te iwi.
Ka hikoi matou ki te hoariri
Whawhaitia tae noa ki te mutunga
Mo te Atua! Mo te kingi! Me te whenua!
AU-E!, ake ake kia kaha e!
Maori Battalion march to victory
Maori Battalion so very staunch
Maori Battalion march to glory
Be the living expression of the people's honour.
We will march to the enemy
Put them to flight at the end.
For God! For King! And for country!
AU - E! Forever and ever be strong!

This Maori version of the chorus is from Rikihana's songbook.
It is not in Amohau's original sheet music.
                          


   The song's origins

"The song had its beginnings in Rotorua. Anania Amohau, who wrote the words, had shaped the tune during Te Arawa's preparation for the centennial year of the Treaty of Waitangi, to be held in February 1940.

"Cody noted that Amohau first whistled the tune then sang it. Captain Royal had some copies typed and soon the Te Arawa had its own marching song. Rennie recalled a calm evening in November at Trentham when Amohau for the first time introduced the song.

"Within a short period the trainees had quickly adopted the tune, with its now famous words, as their rallying marching song. Over the next five years it was to be sung in countless bars, music halls and wherever Maori gathered together.

As well as being a stirring marching song it also served as a nostalgic reminder of home to all soldiers of the New Zealand Division."
                                   - Wira Gardiner, The Story of the Maori Battalion


    The origin of the Maori Battalion tune

Amahou borrowed the tune of the "The Washington & Lee Swing." In 1906 Mark Sheaf had taught the tune of the chorus to guitar club of the Washington and Lee University (in Lexington, Virginia, USA). In 1911 C. A. Robbins added words and Thornton Allen composed music for the verses. The song caught on as a college football "fight" song, and by 1924 it was popular all over the USA.

When Washington and Lee's men fall in line
They're bound to win again another time
For W-L I yell, I yell, I yell
And for the university I yell like hell
So fight, fight, fight, fight, fight for every yard
Circle the ends and hit the line right hard
And roll the enemy upon the sod, yes by god
RAH! RAH! RAH!

   The 28th (Maori) Battalion

          


The 28th Maori Battalion was formed following pressure on the Labour government by the Maori MPs and Maori organisations throughout the country wanting a full Maori unit to be raised for service overseas. Its Companies were organised on a tribal basis.

The Maori Battalion followed in the footsteps of the Pioneer Battalion of WWI which had been very successful, and was wanted by Maori to raise their profile, and to serve alongside their Pakeha compatriots as citizens of the British Empire. It also gave a generation of people with a great military ancestry a chance to test their own warrior skills.

The men were initially sent to Britain, where the German threat was at its height, but when this did not eventuate they sailed from England, right around South Africa, to Egypt, and then to Greece, going into action in Greece for the first time on April 15th 1941.

El Alamein, 25th Aug 1942

The 28th Maori Battalion launches its attack. The men are heavily loaded with automatic weapons (mostly captured) and grenades. Few carry rifles. The Maori padre reads a prayer, and the men disappear into the gloom, and those remaining behind can only watch and listen to the opening barrage.

At the expected time, the Maoris return with PoWs, who are brought to Kippenberger. The total is 41, from the Bologna Division. The Maoris report having annihilated two Italian companies and say they have left no one unhurt or not a prisoner. Maori casualties are more than 30, some due to friendly fire.

The raid is the first offensive operation of 8th Army under Montgomery.

They were evacuated, and were then involved in the brief and bitter defence of Crete. They had brief spells in Libya and Syria, before joining the 8th Army's long desert campaign that culminated in the battle of El Alamein.

They pursued Rommel's Africa Korps until it was driven out of North Africa. They then went to Italy, where at Cassino the Maori Battalion took part in some of its fiercest fighting of the war, with 300 of its men being killed there.

The 28th Battalion were pulled out of the frontline on December 21st 1944.

A 270-strong contingent was sent to Japan as part of the occupation force, and the rest of the Maori Battalion returned to Wellington on January 23rd 1946.

Mt. Trocchio, Italy, January 1944

With a cheery farewell grin they had marched off armed to the teeth, festooned with Spandaus, Schmeissers, Brens, tommy-guns, carbines and the odd rifle. They were a piratical looking crew, swathed in greatcoats and balaclavas topped by battered tin hats, creaking in their harness with necklaces of Spandau belts and bandoliers slung about them.

They headed off down to the road and swung into a staggered formation with an ominous clicking of cocking handles.

From Up the Blue by Roger Smith


3500 joined the 28th Maori Battalion.

655 died.

1,949 were wounded or taken prisoner.

17,000 Maori took part in WWll.

Such was the respect for the Maori Battalion that they were frequently used as a spearhead unit. General Freyburg, the General Officer Commanding of the 2nd NZEF, commented "No infantry had a more distinguished record, or saw more fighting, or, alas, had such heavy casualties, as the Maori Battalion."

The Maori Battalion was held in high regard by both their fellow Allied soldiers and the enemy they faced. A fellow NZ soldier was heard to say of them : "I'd rather fight the Germans any day than have to clash with the Maori."

condensed from a study by Steven Biggs

The 28th's Pakeha warrior

Not all members of the Maori Battalion were Maori: Lance-Corporal C. J. McCalman - 'Mac' as he was called by all - joined the Maori Battalion during the Sangro campaign.

He actually belonged to 27 Battalion, but was frustrated by the fact that it saw very little real action - so he went AWOL, joined 28 Battalion and saw action with B Company at Sangro and Orsogna.

He was built like a front row All Black, and going into action was always loaded down like a pack-horse - food, ammunition, weapons, cooking utensils, you name it, Mac carried it! On long marches and going into battle, you would find Mac carrying not only his own heavy load but also packs or heavy weapons belonging to some of the smaller members of the platoon.

He always carried a 'Benghazi burner,' a billy and pot for tea and fowls, and a frying-pan for pancakes. But we only had to stop and - given sufficient time - the platoon would soon be sitting down to hot pikelets covered in butter and jam and a cup of hot tea.

Mac served with the battalion from the Sangro to the final stages of the advance on Florence. On August 1, 1944, he and several other members of his platoon received a direct hit and were killed.
                           - Aubrey Balzer, Wartime Memories (Dolphin)

 Anania Amohau

Corporal Anania Amohau began composing the words for Maori Battalion while he was in Rotorua in late 1939.

He was the grandson of prominent Te Arawa leader Te Kiwi Henare Mete Te Amohau and his wife, Tukau Te Hira of Ngati Pikiao. Their eldest son, Taiamai Te Amohau, was Anania's father, and their youngest child, Rotorua Guide Mere Taiamai Amohau (1895-1964) was Anania's aunt.

Anania had two sisters, Pipiana Tamehana and Maramena Rauhina.

When the returning Battalion landed on Wellington wharf in 1946, it was Sergeant Major Anania Amohau, an original member of the battalion, who pranced and leapt towards Colonel Henare to re-enact the ancient ceremony of the wero, in order to pay repect to their reputation as warriors of high renown.

Anania married June, and in 1959 was teaching concert items to the Waihenga Maori Club at Martinborough. Details of of Anania and June Amohau's children are HERE.

Anania would have been strongly influenced by his great-aunt, Merekotia Te Amohau (1898 - 1978), Henare Te Amohau's youngest sister and a well-known singer, entertainer and composer. As a young woman, Merekotia embarked on her musical career in 1915 in Bennett's Maori Opera Company. She was a foundation member of Te Ropu o te Ora (Maori Women's Health League). She composed traditional and contemporary Maori music and was one of the foremost authorities on historical chants of Te Arawa.

 Mo te Atua, mo te Kingi, mo te Kainga

Waihoki ko era toa o Te Ope Maori, ko nga toa o Maunga Takrouna ko Haihana Hone Rogers o Ohinemutu i hinga ki reira mate atu, ko Haihana Haane Manahi o Ohinemutu ano, ko Matarehua Wikiriwhi, he apiha, no Te Whakarewarewa tenei. Ko te korero e tika ana mehemea hoki i whakawhiwhia hoki a Rogers ki te Ripeka a Wikitoria pera me Te Moana, hei tohu mo tona toa. I whakawhiwhia a Manahi ki te D.C.M, ko te tohu toa kei raro tata iho i te VC. mo te hoia ehara i te apiha.

I whakaatu a Matarehua Wikiriwhi i tona tamatanetanga i te hingahinganga o ona apiha pakeke ka tu ko ia hei kaihautu mo Te Ope Maori, a, i whakawhiwhia ia ki te tohu toa D.S.O., mo te apiha kanara piki atu tenei tohu toa, a, tokorua ano raua o Te Ope nui tonu o Niu Tireni katoa, he Pakeha tetahi, i whakawhiwhia ki tenei tohu toa, he apiha noa ehara i te kanara.

I whakaatu enei nga tama o Te Arawa i te wairua o taua, o te Maori, i u ki te kotahitanga iwi, ki te kotahitanga hapu me te whakamanamana hoki ki o nehera whakangungunga rakau. Tamatuatahi tonu ko Te Arawa e tu ana ki te tuku i ona taitama hei hoa mo Ingarangi ki te whawhai ki te Tiamana. I tukua whakareretia te katoa o tona kaha tamatane kia mau ai te kawa Maori, te kawa tangata.

Ehara i te mea ko Te Arawa anake te iwi e tika ana kia whakamihia mo tona maia, engari ko te iwi nui tonu, kia tika ai hoki te apakura a Haihana Te Anania Amohau, te mokopuna a Te Amohau i whakaingoatia ra hei Kingi, i tana waiata mo Te Taua Maori:

Ka kokiri, kokiri tonu matou ki te hoariri,
Ka whawhai tonu ake, ake
Mo te Atua, mo te Kingi, mo te Kainga! Aue!
Ake, ake, kia kaha e!

Copied from the tki.org.nz website.