Last Line Of Defence

In the dark days of the Second World War after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor New Zealand stood vulnerable and exposed before numbers in the home Army Navy and Air Force were built up and women joined as WAACs and Wrens and WAAFs. Together they guarded New Zealand on land and sea: some tracked approaching aircraft some monitored signals some maintained essential equipment. They were stationed from the far north to the deep south and together they were our Last Line of Defence. As well as the armed forces men served in the Home Guard and women in the Women's War Service Auxiliary or Women's Land Service. Some people were held in detention camps because of their conscientious objection to the war. Whether it was carrying out top-secret radar work making sure that the kitchens at Trentham Army camp were kept supplied or running the first aid station at Papakura camp the men and women in this book give us an insight into the vital backroom tasks so necessary in wartime.
These moving and evocative stories of a nation at war complete the groundbreaking seven-volume Oral History series which began with A Unique Sort of Battle: New Zealanders Remember Crete and which is destined to become a significant part of our cultural record.