(Art made by: Unitedprovinces)

New Zealand Hearth Guard Militia: Amazon

With the reformation of the pre-1908 New Zealand militias following the British Revolution, the nation quickly found itself critically short of available manpower between protected industries and the rapidly growing armed forces.

Inspired by their gaining the right to vote in 1893, many New Zealand women’s groups began to lobby the government for the right to enrol in the militia, pointing out the syndicalist use of female units in France and Italy.

With few other options available, and seeing the merits of undermining syndicalist militia, Parliament permitted the admission of unmarried women into female-only units of the recently renamed Hearth Guard.

Dubbed the Amazons by the popular media, the female units were quickly flooded with eager volunteers, most of whom simply removed their wedding rings during the application process. While largely mocked or patronised by the press, the Hearth Guard command found themselves roundly impressed by the eagerness and resolve of the female units with questions being raised behind closed doors in Wellington about the possibility of frontline female units in the Expeditionary Forces.

Despite not being intended to face an enemy force, it was the 3rd (Amazon) Company Nelson Regional Hearth Infantry Battalion that was able to successfully counterattack Australian Syndicalist forces during the Battle of Nelson, in which the battalion suffered over 65% casualties.

This member of the 3rd Company was sketched by a travelling war artist shortly before the battle commenced. The white puggaree on the Service hat denotes her Hearth Guard role combined with her white shoulder piping and stylised epaulettes.

She is also wearing the woollen Weltkrieg era Pattern 1912 tunic, domestically produced in New Zealand exclusively for the Hearth Guard forces. These tunics were ordered as opposed the P36 uniforms as a way to immediately and visibly differentiate between regular and Hearth Guard forces for the general public.

This particular Militiawoman is also carrying the New Zealand designed and made Mitchell Machine-Carbine, firing a .455 calibre Webley Auto round from a 20-round magazine. This MC was used by Hearth Guard and New Zealand Secret Intelligence Bureau into the 1950s thanks to its easy construction and small size.

Further details on this unit and the Battle of Nelson will be available in the upcoming report on the most likely status of New Zealand in the world of Kaiserreich)

(Art made by: Unitedprovinces)