US Wartime Bases in Auckland

[pjw4118]

The AWMM archives have turned up some excellent aerial photos of the many camp sites around Auckland.

Dated July 43







There are quite a few so here is the 1943 index

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[img src="http://i764.photobucket.com/albums/xx288/PJW4118/Wartime%20Bases/_AAA1148_zpsxxvv0vyw.jpg" alt="



Then a batch from 1944











And the index





If you spot a localty of interest I am happy to post it.

Quite a few places are a mystery location Opaheke and Hilldene for instance and Karaka North and Grand Vue

[pjw4118]

The last photo was over cropped on transfer , it Waikeraka Park Onehunga before the Marines/ Army built the concrete grandstand. Used for stock cars for many years its just been closed to the public. Also surprising is the number of harbor inlets then, all filled in with rubbish and now built over.

[Dave Homewood]

Wow, these are really fascinating photos. That one of North Head, is that a submarine-net or anti-shipping boom crossing the harbour?

[pjw4118]

Correct

[shorty]

Especially interested in the ones of the Avondale Hospital as it became Avondale College, my old school. Would also like to see the two Western Springs locations as I was brought up there.

[isc]

I remember going to Scout camp at Helvetia in the early 1960s. isc

[kevsmith]

Would like to see both the US Camp, Maungakiekie and the 39th General Hospital (Cornwall Hospital)
Lived in Maungakiekie Ave from 1948 to 1965 and the 39th General Hospital was part of our playground as was all of One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park.
There was a US camp in the Warkworth area that I can't see listed. My parents spoke of it often and I can just remember the sound of the Army trucks traversing Waiwera Hill when we camped at Waiwera beach at the end of the war.

[Dave Homewood]

For that matter, I'd love to know what the US troops were doing in Hamilton, and where they lived there. Was there a US camp? People I have talked with remember lots of Americans working in the town's centre, but I have no idea what they were doing.

[pjw4118]

Shorty here's the shots of Western Springs and Avondale











Looking at the photo dates its amazing to see the change at Avondale from June 43 to Jan 44. The speed of construction makes you wonder

[pjw4118]

I will post the other pics soon. There were numerous "bases" around Warkworth which was HQ and details are in Harry Biolettis book "the Yanks are Coming " They had a gunnery range at Tapora and practiced landings on Omaha beach.The picture of Kaipara Flats was the nearest railway station to Warkworth and had just a few huts to greet the Marines before they marched to Warkworth.

[Dave Homewood]

"practiced landings on Omaha beach."

That seems ironic. I have always wondered is Omaha a Maori word in the context of the Auckland beach, or is it named after the US state?

There were US Marines (or maybe US Army?) camped in the Leamington Domain, here in Cambridge, for a while one summer during WWII, I'm told. Not sure what they were doing.

Avondale was a New Zealand Army camp originally. It was home to the 1st Field Regiment, New Zealand Field Artillery, plus it was used to train Territorial Army, and the first intake of WAAC's went in there in December 1940. Did the NZ Army move out when the US troops arrived?

[rone]

On the first index list below the photo of Waikaraka Park, there is reference to NZ Army Owens Road. Would that be where the underground plotting bunker used by the Air Force and later taken over by Civil Defence. It was if I recall correctly in the grounds of the old Teachers training College. On the same page is a reference to GVP CAC, what is that? is it anything to do with the CAC factory in Mt. Eden? Would be keen to see the pictures of those two sites please.

[emron]

Neat photos Peter,

I think you'll find that Opaheke, Karaka Nth and Hilldene were in the Papakura District, Grand Vue and Orfords in Manurewa and Helvetia, Rooseville and Paerata in Pukekohe District.
I've found lots of peacetime aerial photos in the Auckland Council archive, especially of the inner suburbs like Western Springs and Avondale, but I guess all of these here would have been top secret at the time. If I remember correct the Avondale hospital was built in anticipation of heavy casualties from a planned invasion of mainland Japan and was never commissioned. It was quickly converted into classroom blocks for Avondale College and adjacent Intermediate. The 1945 layout is barely recognised as the College that I attended in 1970. Nearly all of the outlying blocks had long before been either demolished or relocated and the grounds cleared for playing fields.One or two wings remained of the old barrack type blocks. There was still one section of corridor that was strengthened concrete and with blastproof doors which may have been designed as an above ground shelter. By then this was one of the only clues to the original purpose that the facility was built for. Likewise it's good to see the wartime photos of Western Springs with the Military Camp in it's prime. I'd be interested in seeing detail of the USN Radio Station at Mt Albert.

[davidd]

GVP = Guard Vital Points, an Army unit or formation, purpose self evident - they had detachments all over the country, presume they were full-time soldiers, but could easily have been conscripted from the Territorial Army, of even the Home guard as they would not be required to serve overseas. May not have the name totally correct, as relying on memory, might be Guards (plural). CAC might be the installation they were dedicated to guarding! Somebody with more authoritative references than possessed by me should be able to provide better information, and even the Internet should contain some good clues.
David D

[flyinkiwi]

Nov 14, 2016 18:00:12 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

For that matter, I'd love to know what the US troops were doing in Hamilton, and where they lived there. Was there a US camp? People I have talked with remember lots of Americans working in the town's centre, but I have no idea what they were doing.

I can offer a partial answer Dave. My grandmother in law (is there such a term?) billeted US Marines in Frankton as there simply were not enough beds in Auckland. She's passed away now but she used to remember them as being impeccably well mannered and good dancers.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks. I have talked with people who said there were loads of them in Hamilton, they'd see them in the town centre, etc. I wonder what the big picture was. They surely cannot have all been billeted in houses simply due to overspill from the Auckland camps.

[pjw4118]

Kevsmith here are the two shots, Cornwall Hospital and Maungkiekie Camp






Rone, heres the pic of Owens Rd the underground control bunker, seen in the centre with a few vents showing.
Also a current picture of the bunker.





The CAC factory is lower centre by the Quarry. The tall tower was used to drop molten lead down into water to produce shot. CAC also made 303 and 22 ammo. At school nearby in the 1958/60 period class was often interrupted by machine gun fire as CAC did QC on their products.




And Ron heres the UN station on Mt Albert. What a barren place it was in 1944. A lot of the mountain was taken away by the railways and for the NW motorway.



Thanks for ideas on the locations. Just a reminder that the photos are all from the AWMM Collection and if used , be credited to them.

[Dave Homewood]

I have just twigged, why is Hobsonville included here? It was never a US base, was it?

[davidd]

Dave,
To best of my knowledge, the Americans never evinced any interest in Hobsonville, although they were fully aware of its presence. They did request that NZ supply them with various airfields and seaplane alighting areas but I guess that they considered Hobsonville too small and restricted, and too difficult of access. They were interested in bases for interceptors (fighters) and flying boats as well as the use of airfields capable of meeting their ferry route requirements, and also required a large stores depot.
David D

[pjw4118]

Dave , the title of the collection is Defense Construction Camps and was produced for the PWD. So I guess it was to record all construction sites both for US and NZ use.
There are other albums ( yet to be seen ) of construction in Northland . Airfields are covered in the official history of the Aerodrome Services Branch PWD.