The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment is a Territorial Force (Army Reserve) unit of the New Zealand Army

New Zealand Army

The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...

. 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, following the formation of gazetted militia units in 1859.

The 1964 amalgamation saw the new Territorial Force battalion become the Second Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment

Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment

The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the main combat unit in the regular New Zealand Army. It was formed 9 January 1947 as the New Zealand Regiment with a single infantry battalion as part of the newly created infantry corps....

. This was until the later reorganisation of 1999, which saw the Territorial Force battalions split from the RNZIR to become multi-function battalion groups. The 2nd Battalion (Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast) RNZIR became the 2nd Canterbury (Nelson, Marlborough, West Coast) Battalion Group, with the following sub-unit types:

• Infantry – North Canterbury Company, South Canterbury Company, Nelson Company, Marlborough Company, West Coast Company
• Artillery – 32 (Observation Post) Battery, RNZA
  Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery
  The Royal New Zealand Artillery forms the artillery section of the New Zealand Army. In its current form it was founded in 1947 with the amalgamation of the regular and volunteer units of artillery in New Zealand.-Modern structure:...
  
  
• 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
      Crete
      Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
      
      ,
    • Sidi Rezegh,
    • Minquar Qaim,
    • El Alamein
      El Alamein
      El Alamein is a town in the northern Matrouh Governorate of Egypt. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, it lies west of Alexandria and northwest of Cairo. As of 2007, it has a local population of 7,397 inhabitants.- Climate :...
      
      ,
    • Tebaga Gap
      Tebaga Gap
      The Tebaga Gap of southern Tunisia is a low Mountain pass located in rough rocky broken country giving entry to the inhabitable and inhabited coastal plain to the north and east from much less hospitable desert dominated terrain in southern and south-western Tunisia.The pass separates the Matmata...
      
      ,
    • Orsogna
      Orsogna
      Orsogna is a comune and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy....
      
      ,
    • Cassino I,
    • The Senio,
    • South Pacific 1942-44
    • Solomons,
    • Vella Lavella
      Vella Lavella
      Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group...
      
      ,
    • Green Islands

Alliances

– The Rifles

The Rifles

The Rifles is the largest regiment of the British Army. Formed in 2007, it consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, plus a number of companies in other TA battalions, Each battalion of the Rifles was formerly an individual battalion of one of the two large regiments of the Light...

 – The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire)

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment

"PWRR" redirects here. For the railroad with these reporting marks, see Portland and Western Railroad.The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division...

 – The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and The Ulster Defence Regiment) – University of New South Wales Regiment

University of New South Wales Regiment

The University of New South Wales Regiment is an officer training regiment of the Australian Army Reserve.-Unit history:The University of New South Wales Regiment was originally founded as the New South Wales University of Technology Regiment in 1952. Army Headquarters approval to form the unit...

External links

• NZ Army Official Website: 2 Cant NMWC

First World War, 1914–1919;

• The Canterbury Regiment, 1914–1919
• The History of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles 1914–1919

Second World War, 1939–1945;

• 23 Battalion Official History
• 26 Battalion Official History
• 30 Battalion Official History
• 37 Battalion Official History

Other

• http://www.regiments.org/regiments/newzealand/volmil/inf/64cnmwc.htm