Denis Mclean - Howard Kippenberger: Dauntless Spirit

ADC: Aide-de-Camp, personal staff officer

ADS: Advanced Dressing Station

Army Ranks:

Other Ranks (ORs): Private, Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, Colour Sergeant, Sergeant-Major (WO2), Regimental Sergeant Major (WO1)

Officers (Commissioned Ranks): 2nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier, Major General, Lieutenant General, General, Field Marshal

Army Formations:
(NB: A guide only. New Zealand formations in the First World War differed in structure and size from those adopted in the Second World War.)
Section (Sec): c.10 soldiers
Platoon (Pl): 3 sections, c.30 soldiers
Rifle Company (Coy): 3 platoons, c.100 infantry plus HQ, signals etc.
Battalion (Bn):
4 rifle companies and the HQ Company (Battalion HQ, Intelligence Section, Signals, Anti-tank and Anti-aircraft, Mortar, Pioneer and Transport Platoons; Quartermaster and Medical Section) c.800 soldiers
Brigade (Bde): 34 battalions 3000 plus soldiers
Division (Div): 34 brigades c.1719,000 infantry along with cavalry, artillery, anti-aircraft, engineers, medical, tanks and transport units
Corps: 23 divisions
Army: 2 or more corps

battery: an artillery unit of 3 or 4 troops of guns

box: an all-round defensive position used for a time in Western Desert campaigns

Bren gun: a British light automatic weapon

Bren gun carrier: a light armoured tracked vehicle equipped to carry Bren guns and widely used for reconnaissance and for transport over difficult terrain

cavalry: in modern times the name adopted by reconnaissance/light armoured units

CB: Companion of the Order of the Bath

CBE: Commander of the Order of the British Empire

CMG: Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

CCS: Casualty clearing station

CDS: Chief of Defence Staff, commander of all national defence forces

CGS: Chief of General Staff (Head of the Army)

C-in-C (Commander-in-Chief): overall commander in the region

CO: Commanding Officer

DCM: Distinguished Conduct Medal, gallantry award for ORs

D-Day: date fixed for commencement of an operation

deploy: to move units into defensive or offensive positions; to spread out troops for action

DSO: Distinguished Service Order, officers award for outstanding courage and battlefield performance

GOC: General Officer Commanding

group: an all-arms formation (inclusive of guns, armour etc.) under separate command intended for independent operations

H-hour: time set for launch of an operation

HQ: headquarters

HMS: His Majestys Ship

IO: Intelligence Officer

Jock column: Two infantry companies a battery of artillery, anti-tank troop etc. to be brought together for independent operations in the Western Desert (A concept advanced by Brigadier Jock Campbell, which Kip thought not serious)

KBE: Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

LMG: light machine gun

LRDG: Long Range Desert Group

Luftwaffe: German Air Force

Mersa/marsa: Arabic place name for a fort

MC: Military Cross, gallantry award for officers of Captain rank or below

MDS: Medical Dressing Station

NCO: Non-Commissioned Officer

2 NZ Div: Second New Zealand Division (first being the First World War), the principal New Zealand Army fighting force of the campaigns in the Middle East and Italy

2 NZEF: Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (first being the First World War), includes 2nd NZ Division plus all support personnel

O Group: Orders Group, for transmission of instructions to subordinate commanders

OCTU: Officer Cadet Training Unit

OP: Observation Post

POW: prisoner of war

QMG: Quartermaster-General

RAF: Royal Air Force

recce: reconnaissance, to reconnoitre

Regiment: In the New Zealand Army the term has been applied to regional as well as specialist units: Canterbury Regiment (infantry); the 16th Field Regiment (medium artillery); and 20th Armoured Regiment (heavy tanks). (The 1st Bn the Canterbury Regiment became the 20th (Infantry) Battalion at the outbreak of the Second World War and then the 20th Armoured Regiment when it was converted to the tank role

Reinforcements: successive drafts of troops sent to maintain force levels following attrition from casualties, illness etc.

RN: Royal Navy

Sidi: title of honour given to Moslem notables

Spandau: German light machine gun

The Div: familiar term for the 2nd NZ Division

Troop: a basic cavalry, artillery or armoured unit

VC: Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry

Wadi: Arabic for watercourse (usually dry)

WO: Warrant Officer (senior NCO)

As a small boy, I watched two very large and grand former ocean liners, painted in wartime grey, slide slowly back from the wharf. Every ledge, every cranny of shipboard space, was festooned with men in khaki; some had clambered up the rigging; there were heads at every porthole. The minds eye now from a span of all those years paints the scene in a dull monochrome and recalls little noise: a few paper streamers and shouts of encouragement and farewell between the packed ships and a woeful dock side. Serious and sombrely dressed men, hats off in silent salute, and women in tears looked on as the troopships turned to go down the harbour. A child registered neither cheers nor band music, rather a solemn anguished silence broken only by a silly, patriotic song drifting back: We are the boys from way down under. Were not afraid of Hitlers thunder. Sons of the ANZACs are we. Then the great ships took them away many forever.

This was a huge event inconceivable now. It was 1940. A small country was sending many thousands of its young men to fight in a war on the other side of the world. Why? The aim of this book is to throw light on that question through the life of Howard Kippenberger, a small-town lawyer who became a national hero. As a soldier Kip was determined, sure of himself but compassionate towards the men he led. He developed exceptional leadership skills. As a man he remained quiet, dignified and unassertive. He was the reverse of the swashbuckling military commander. And for these qualities the hard-boiled rank-andfile soldiery would give him their trust and admiration. More, he gained national standing as a man of the hour, a New Zealander who led from the front in the most difficult and demanding of enterprises and along the way helped forge a reputation for his country and countrymen as a people of commitment and courage.