Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment
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The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment is a Territorial Force unit of the New Zealand Army. It was formed in 1964 during the reorganisation of the army by the amalgamation of two separate regiments:
- Canterbury Regiment
- Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast Regiment
In turn, those two regiments had originally been formed from the 1st (Canterbury) & 2nd (South Canterbury) and the 12th (Nelson and Marlborough) & 13th (North Canterbury and Westland) Regiments which had been initially raised in the early 1900s.
The amalgamation saw the new regiment become a TF battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment. This was until the later reorganisation of 1999, which saw the TF battalions split from the RNZIR to become multi-function battalion groups. The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment became the 2nd Canterbury (Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast) Battalion Group, with the following unit types:
- Infantry - North Canterbury Company, South Canterbury Company, Nelson Company, Marlborough Company, West Coast Company
- Artillery - 32 (Observation Post) Battery, RNZA
- Engineers - Support Company
- Medical
- Signals - Support Company
- Logistics - Logistics Company
- Brass Band
- Battle Honours (the regiment perpetuates the battle honours awarded to the 23rd, 26th, 30th and 37th Battalions, Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force)
- South Africa 1900-02
- First World War: Somme 1916,1918, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Passchendalle, Hindenburg Line, France and Flanders 1916-18, ANZAC, Gallipoli 1915, Suez Canal, Egypt 1915-16
- Second World War: Greece 1941, Crete, Sidi Rezegh, Minquar Qaim, El Alamein, Tebaga Gap, Orsogna, Cassino I, The Senio, South Pacific 1942-44
- Second World War (awarded to NZEF Battalions): Solomons, Vella Lavella, Green Islands, South Pacific 1942-44
[edit] Alliances
- United Kingdom - The Light Infantry
- United Kingdom - The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire)
- United Kingdom - The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and The Ulster Defence Regiment)
- Australia - The University of New South Wales Regiment