Specialist Units of the NZEF

Page 7 – Signallers

New Zealand troops signalling with flag, Western Front, 1917
New Zealand troops signalling with flag, Western Front, 1917

Signallers enabled military units to communicate by using flags (semaphores), operating signalling lamps, laying telephone lines and using wireless radios.

Sections of the New Zealand Divisional Signal Company (part of the Engineers) were attached to the New Zealand infantry throughout the war. They served with the New Zealand and Australian Division at Gallipoli in 1915, and served on the Western Front with the New Zealand Division from 1916 to 1918. A separate New Zealand Mounted Signal Troop was attached to the Mounted Rifles Brigade which served in Sinai and Palestine from 1916 to 1918.

New Zealand Divisional Signal Company, New Zealand Engineers

NameUnit attached toCampaignsDatesFurther information
1st New Zealand Infantry Brigade Signal SectionNew Zealand Infantry Brigade 1914–16; 1st New Zealand Infantry Brigade, 1916–19Gallipoli, 1915
Western Front:
Somme 1916 
Messines 1917;
Passchendaele 1917;  
Spring Offensive and Advance to Victory 1918.
August 1914–February 1919Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand
Unit diaries at Australian War Memorial
2nd New Zealand Infantry Brigade Signal SectionNew Zealand Infantry Brigade 1914–16; 2nd New Zealand Infantry Brigade, 1916–19Gallipoli, 1915
Western Front:
Somme 1916 
Messines 1917;
Passchendaele 1917;  
Spring Offensive and Advance to Victory 1918.
August 1914–March 1919Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand
Unit diaries at Australian War Memorial
3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade Signal SectionNew Zealand Rifle BrigadeWestern Front:
Somme 1916 
Messines 1917;
Passchendaele 1917;  
Spring Offensive and Advance to Victory 1918.
1915–February 1919Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand
4th New Zealand Rifle Brigade Signal Section4th New Zealand Infantry BrigadeWestern Front:
Messines 1917
Passchendaele, 1917
March 1917–February 1918Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand
Unit diaries at Australian War Memorial

New Zealand Mounted Signal Troop, New Zealand Engineers

NameUnit attached toCampaignsDatesFurther information
New Zealand Mounted Signal TroopNew Zealand Mounted Rifles BrigadeGallipoli, 1915
Sinai, 1916
Palestine, 1917–18
August 1914–June 1919Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand
New Zealand Signals Reserve DepotHQ NZEF EnglandHitching, later Stevenage, England1916–19Unit diaries at Archives New Zealand

Badges, shoulder titles and puggarees

Cap and collar badges: crossed flags and star below enclosed by a wreath on a Maltese cross, with scroll ‘New Zealand Signal Corps’ and surmounted by a crown. Motto: Sodales parati (Prepared as comrades together). 

NZ Engineers shoulder title

The New Zealand Signal Corps was a sub-unit of the New Zealand Engineers, whose shoulder title it wore.

The Signal Corps wore the same puggaree (hatband) as the engineers.

Further reading

Official history of the New Zealand Engineers during the Great War 1914–1919 (Whanganui: Evans, Cobb & Sharpe Ltd, 1927)

How to cite this page

'Signallers', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/specialist-units/signallers, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 22-Mar-2017

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