Matthew Wright is the prolific author of over 60 books on a wide range of topics for all ages, principally on New Zealand history. A respected historian, he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His other works with Oratia are Freyberg, The New Zealand Wars and The New Zealand Experience at Gallipoli and the Western Front. Matthew lives in Wellington.

Foreword 9 Preface 10 Author's introduction 14 Part 1 * Colonial era 1 Colonial cavalry 18 2 The Waikato war 25 3 Enthusiastic amateurs 38 4 Volunteer defenders 52 5 The Second Anglo-Boer War I: New Zealand sends the cavalry 64 6 The Second Anglo-Boer War II: mounted rifles 74 7 A professional revolution 87 Part 2 * Mounted rifles 8 Standing up for Empire 97 9 Fighting on foot: Gallipoli 106 10 Into the Bible Lands: the Sinai 122 11 The mounted rifles in Palestine 135 12 Tanks and the Western Front 150 13 New traditions and the decision to mechanise 162 Part 3 * Armoured Corps 14 Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force 176 15 Divisional Cavalry: two tests of fire 186 16 The New Zealand Armoured Corps and the Pacific war 200 17 The North African war and the formation of 4 Armoured Brigade 215 18 First battles in Italy: Orsogna and Cassino 229 19 Italy: from Cassino to the stop-banks 243 20 Reconstruction and the race to Trieste 256 21 J-Force and the Divisional Cavalry 272 Part 4 * Armoured evolution 22 An Armoured Corps and a royal title 278 23 Return to divisional armour 285 24 The Korean War 301 25 Mid-century armour 311 26 Changing focus 319 27 Vietnam 334 28 An Armoured Cavalry force 353 29 The Scorpion purchase and M113A1 upgrade 368 Part 5 * Challenging decades 30 Armour wars: the politics of a new vehicle 382 31 East Timor and Afghanistan 397 32 Restructuring and an armoured tradition 412 Appendices 1 Rolls of Honour 425 2 Remembrance Rolls 476 3 Service-related honours 478 4 Selected key personnel 505 5 Summary regimental and unit histories 527 6 Key vehicles in New Zealand armoured service 549 7 Selected organisational charts 561 8 Awards and trophies 570 9 Regimental colours and guidons 573 Notes 576 Bibliography 609 Index