World War Two (battles and campaigns)

What were the main battles or campaigns of World War Two that New Zealanders were involved in?

(Years 7-10)

1945 black and white photo from WW2 of 2 No. 4 Squadran Venturas planes flying over Emirau in Papua New Guinea. — Image: PR4931 from RNZAF Official on Air Force Museum of New Zealand. CC BY-NC 3.0 NZ. Image cropped.

Entry last updated: 17/11/25

Introduction

World War Two took place from 1939 to 1945. Almost every country in the world was involved. It was the deadliest war ever, leaving millions dead and wounded. New Zealand fought alongside the Allies (Great Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China) against the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan).

Battles and campaigns of World War Two

Europe and Asia-Pacific were the two major fronts where the war was fought.

Some of the main battles and campaigns of the war that New Zealanders were involved in include:

1939: Battle of the River Plate
1939 to 1945: Pacific War
1940: Battle of Britain
1940 to 1943: North African Campaign
1941: Battle for Crete
1943 to 1945: Italian Campaign

Tips: To find information on individual battles or campaigns, use a keyword such as 'Al-Alamein' or 'Italian Campaign '. Try searching the different websites we mention in this entry.

General websites

Here are some reliable sites with facts, images and stories about where the battles were fought and what it was like for the soldiers and other people involved.

Britannica School

Britannica School is part of EPIC, a collection of reliable databases covering lots of different topics. It is put together especially for New Zealand school students and helps answer questions like this.

Select Middle, then enter the search words 'World War Two' into the search box.
The article World War II (1939-1945) has information about some of the major campaigns of the war.
Use the Navigator on the left of the page to go up or down a level.

Tips: To use the EPIC resources, you need a password from your school librarian. Or chat with one of our AnyQuestions librarians to help you online. Some EPIC databases may also be available through your public library.

World History (Gale In Context)

This is another EPIC database that provides an overview of world history, including World War Two. There are two ways to search this database.

Look down the page to select Wars and Conflicts. Then choose World War II.
Or search using keywords such as 'World War Two' or 'Battle of Crete' or' Battle of Britain'.
Results are shown by type eg biographies, images, videos, audio, and articles from magazines and the news.

History.com

This is the official website of the History Channel. Although it focuses on US history, it has information on world history, science and culture.

Go to the tab called World, then select World War II.
Look down the page for World War II Battles: Timeline to find a list of dates and battles fought.
Or you can look further down the page to find articles and videos.
Select the World War II Battles tag to find information on battles such as the Battle of the Bulge and Battle of Stalingrad.

Tips: You can't use Stream HISTORY in New Zealand.

Tips: Websites that have .com or .co in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. This site links to its parent company A+E Global Media which has a page about who we are.

New Zealand websites

Here are some websites to help you find information on the battles and campaigns that Aotearoa New Zealand was involved in, including a New Zealand perspective.

NZ History

NZ History is a great website for information about Aotearoa New Zealand. If we go all the way down the page we can see that the website belongs to the Ministry for Culture & Heritage, so the information is well-researched and reliable.

Look down the page for New Zealand at war, then select Second World War.
Select a topic, eg Battle of the River Plate, to learn more about a specific campaign.

Tips: We like sites that are from government or other reputable organisations, because we can trust the information. You can sometimes tell these sites by their web address – they might have .govt or .edu in their address – or by looking at their About us or Contact us pages.

Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

This website is also owned by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. Te Ara answers all questions about the people, environment, history, culture and society of Aotearoa New Zealand. Information is well-researched and reliable.

Enter 'Second World War' into the search box.
The article Second World War has a good overview of New Zealand's part in the war.
Select a heading eg Defeat in France, 1940 to read more about specific battles and campaigns.
Or search for 'World War Two' or the name of a New Zealand war hero.
Then filter results by Biographies (DNZB) to find life stories about people like Bernard Freyberg and Charles Upham.

Tips: A website’s address (URL) can give you a hint about how reliable it is. You can tell because of their web address – they have either .govt or .ac, meaning they are from government or educational organisations. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.

28th Māori Battalion

This is another site from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage. It has information about the Māori Battalion's contribution to World War One and World War Two. It can be read in te reo Māori or English.

Use the tab Story of the 28th to find out more about the 28th Māori Battalion.
Go to Greece and Crete, Desert Fighters and the Italian Campaign to read about the battles the Māori Battalion fought during World War Two.

Tips: Websites that have .org or .net in the address can have good information, but you need to assess how reliable it is. Check the About us link on the website, if you can find one. That can tell you what the organisation’s mission and values are.

DigitalNZ

DigitalNZ is a search site that focuses on all things New Zealand, especially history. It connects you to reliable digital collections (newspapers, articles, audio, video etc) from different websites.

Enter 'World War II battles' or 'World War II campaigns' into the search box.
Select the type of resource you want to see eg images, videos, or more to choose articles, newspapers, or books.
Select an item such as the article Veterans at El Alamein commemorate battle.
If you want to see it in more detail, select View original item to read it on the Radio New Zealand website.

Tips: Search words, or keywords, are the most important words in our question. Usually it's better to leave out small words like the, a and of and just choose the main ones, eg world war two battles. We can always change our keywords or add more if we need to.

The Aotearoa History Show

The Aotearoa History Show is a video series made by Radio New Zealand (RNZ). It tells the story of Aotearoa New Zealand from when the land was formed to today.