Unit/ Formation: Royal Marines
Location: New Zealand
Period/ Conflict: The New Zealand wars
Year: 1864
Date/s: 29th April 1864
The defences at Pukehinahina (Gate Pā) were designed by Pene Taka Tuaia, who is said to have learnt his military engineering during the Northern War of 1845–46.
This new pā (A pā is a Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages.) made extensive use of anti-artillery bunkers (rua) and its concealed trenches meant the British had a false sense of security when they stormed it. Numerous bunkers were prepared rather than several large ones, so casualties would be minimal should artillery fire breach one.
When the battle came, 15 Māori at most were killed by shellfire. The pā’s garrison of around 250 was split between two redoubts. About 200 held the main redoubt, which was approximately 80 m long and 18 m wide. Its triple line of trenches had been timbered over and piled with earth for protection. A ditch and bank led to a smaller redoubt consisting of a double line of covered trenches surrounded by a light palisade (pekerangi) which helped to conceal its strength.
Following his victory at Ōrākau, Cameron arrived in Tauranga with reinforcements on 21 April 1864. Seven days later he led 1,700 men out of camp at Te Papa. Expectations of victory were high. The heaviest artillery bombardment of the war was to be unleashed on Gate Pā. To prevent any of the defenders escaping, Cameron ordered the 68th Regiment to take up positions behind the pā.
On 26 April 600 sailors and Royal Marines were disembarked from HMS Harrier, Curacoa, Esk and Miranda to support forces ashore.
On the afternoon of 28 April, Cameron launched an hour-long attack on the front of Gate Pā with four batteries of artillery placed at a range of between 350 and 800 metres.
The battery, the heaviest used in the wars of 1863–1864, included a 110-pounder Armstrong gun, two 40-pounder and two six-pounder Armstrongs, two 24-pounder howitzers, two eight-inch mortars, and six Coehorn mortars. According to accounts by Hēni Te Kiri Karamū and Hōri Ngātai, the first victims of the British cannon shots were Church of England ministers conducting prayers.
Late in the night Greer moved his 700 men from the 68th Regiment across swamps to the east of Gate Pā under cover of darkness and rain to take up a position to the rear of the redoubt to cut off a Māori retreat. Those forces were joined by a detachment of the Naval Brigade from the warships Esk, Falcon and HMS Miranda. By daybreak on 29 April Cameron had a total of about 1650 men surrounding the pā: 700 of the 68th Regiment, 420 from the Naval Brigade, 300 of the 43rd Regiment, 50 Royal Artillery, and another 180 members of the 12th, 14th, 40th and 65th Regiments.
At first light on 29 April the assembled guns and mortars opened fire again, this time maintaining the bombardment for more than eight hours. They destroyed the palisade and completely suppressed Māori gunfire. An estimated 30 tonnes of shell and shot were dropped on or near the Māori position, killing about 15 of the defenders.
At about 4pm, with no sign of life in the pā, Cameron ordered an assault by 300 men—a combined force of Naval Brigade under Commander Hay and the 43rd Regiment, led by Lieutenant-Colonel H.G. Booth—who ran in four abreast with fixed bayonets. Another 300 men followed at a distance as a reserve. Some in the initial British assault force were shot as they entered the main pā, and inside the redoubt more fell as they engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Māori armed with shotguns and mere (short clubs). A lull of about five minutes occurred, during which time Captain G.R. Greaves, who was with the leading files of the assault party, left the pā and reported to Cameron that the redoubt had been captured and that British casualties were light.
But minutes later, as the rear of the pā was breached by the 68th Regiment, all changed. In a sequence of events that is still unclear, fierce fighting erupted, taking a heavy toll on the invaders and panicked British forces began streaming out of the pā. Historian James Cowan wrote: "More than a hundred of the assaulting column were casualties, and the glacis and the interior of the pā were strewn with dead or dying. The Maori suffered too, but not severely."
Thirty-one of the British force died, including 10 officers, while 80 were wounded. At least 25-30 Māori were killed or missing.
Several theories exist to explain the British stampede from the pā. A contemporary report by a seaman in the pā suggested that the flood of soldiers from the 68th Regiment at the rear was mistaken for Māori reinforcements. Historian James Belich has postulated that the bulk of the Māori garrison remained concealed in camouflaged bunkers as the British forces stormed the pā, before unleashing waves of heavy volleys from close range on the British, who were almost standing on their hidden foes. Belich cites descriptions of the main redoubt as being "like ratholes everywhere, with covered ways and underground chambers" and notes that Rawiri Puhirake ordered defenders to "not utter a word or fire a shot till the proper time came for the order".
Belich claims that by providing only a feeble defence from the garrison during the storming of the pā and keeping his garrison hidden, Rawiri Puhirake employed a "remarkable tactical ploy ... brilliantly implemented as well as brilliantly conceived" to lure the British into a deadly trap.
As night fell, the Gate Pā garrison, assuming the site would be stormed the next morning, evacuated their position, passing through the lines of the 68th Regiment and fleeing across surrounding swamps before dispersing
Gate Pā was the single most devastating defeat suffered by the British military in the New Zealand wars.
Related Royal Marines 'Dits':
References/ Further Reading:
Wikipedia - Tauranga campaign
New Zealand History - The Northern War - Ruapekapeka