50 Facts About Leslie Andrew

Leslie Andrew received the decoration for his actions during the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

Leslie Andrew saw action on the Western Front from September 1916 to early 1918, and ended the war as an officer in England.

Leslie Andrew remained in the military after the cessation of hostilities, and joined the New Zealand Staff Corps.

Leslie Andrew held staff and administrative positions in New Zealand and, while on an officer exchange program, British India.

Leslie Andrew returned to New Zealand in 1942 and commanded the Wellington Fortress Area for the remainder of the war.

Leslie Andrew retired from the military in 1952 with the rank of brigadier, and died in 1969 aged 71.

Leslie Wilton Andrew was born on 23 March 1897 in Ashhurst in the Manawatu region of New Zealand, the son of William Andrew, headmaster of a local school, and his wife, Frances Hannah.

Leslie Andrew grew up in Wanganui, where his father had moved his family having taken up a position in the area, and was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School.

Leslie Andrew participated in the cadet program while at school and later joined the Territorial Force.

Leslie Andrew volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in October 1915, when he was 18.

Leslie Andrew was tasked with leading two sections to destroy a machine-gun post.

Leslie Andrew then led his men to the original objective.

Leslie Andrew was awarded the Victoria Cross for his leadership and bravery at La Basseville.

Leslie Andrew's objective was a machine-gun post which had been located in an isolated building.

Leslie Andrew then continued the attack on the machine gun post which had been his original objective.

Leslie Andrew displayed great skill and determination in his disposition, finally capturing the post, killing several of the enemy and putting the remainder to flight.

Leslie Andrew's conduct throughout was unexampled for cool daring, initiative, and fine leadership, and his magnificent example was a great stimulant to his comrades.

Aged 20, the youngest recipient in the NZEF to receive the VC, Leslie Andrew was promoted to sergeant the day after the action at La Basseville.

Leslie Andrew was presented with his VC by King George V in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 31 October 1917.

Leslie Andrew continued to serve on the Western Front until he was sent to England for officer training.

Leslie Andrew was commissioned as a second lieutenant in March 1918, and was posted to Sling Camp, the main training facility for the NZEF, as an instructor.

Leslie Andrew was still in England when the war ended.

Leslie Andrew served in staff positions for the next several years.

In 1937, having been promoted to captain, Leslie Andrew led the New Zealand contingent sent to London for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

At this stage, 22nd Battalion was regarded as the best of the battalions of the brigade so Leslie Andrew was ordered to hold the strategically important Point 107, the dominant hill overlooking the airfield.

On 20 May 1941, the opening day of the Battle of Crete, 22nd Battalion was heavily bombed and strafed, and Leslie Andrew was lightly wounded.

Leslie Andrew soon lost communications with his forward companies but these were able to drive off the German attackers and hold their positions.

The lack of contact with the companies to his front was a concern to Leslie Andrew as was the increasing presence of Germans to his rear.

Leslie Andrew requested support from the adjacent 23rd Battalion but this was refused by his brigade commander, Brigadier James Hargest.

Leslie Andrew used his battalion reserve to mount a counterattack with the help of two Matilda tanks but this failed.

Accordingly, Leslie Andrew withdrew the remaining units that he was able to contact.

The withdrawal to the positions of the 21st and 23rd Battalions came as a major surprise to Hargest, but instead of ordering an immediate counterattack, he directed Leslie Andrew take overall command of the defences of 5th Brigade and conceded the airfield was lost.

Leslie Andrew remained as commander of 22nd Battalion during the early phases of the North African campaign.

When Hargest, still commanding 5th Brigade, was captured on 27 November 1941, Leslie Andrew was given temporary command of the brigade the next day.

Leslie Andrew led the brigade up until 8 December 1941, including a period, from 1 to 3 December, when it was besieging Bardia and fighting off German attempts to relieve the town.

Leslie Andrew reverted to command of the battalion on 9 December 1941 but was later rewarded with the Distinguished Service Order for his leadership of the brigade.

Leslie Andrew relinquished command of 22nd Battalion in February 1942 and returned to New Zealand in response to a need for experienced officers to oversee development of home defences after the entry of Japan into the war.

Back in New Zealand, Leslie Andrew was promoted to full colonel and appointed commander of the Wellington Fortress Area.

Leslie Andrew was formally discharged from the 2NZEF in October 1943, reverting to the regular army thereafter.

Leslie Andrew continued leading the Wellington Fortress Area for the rest of the war.

Leslie Andrew was promoted to brigadier in 1948 and appointed commander of the Central Military District.

Leslie Andrew continued in this appointment until his retirement from the military in 1952.

Leslie Andrew was later invited to run for Parliament but declined.

In 1953, Leslie Andrew was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.

Leslie Andrew died on 8 January 1969 at Palmerston North hospital after a brief illness.

Leslie Andrew's funeral was attended by three fellow VC recipients, including Reverend Keith Elliott, a former soldier of the 22nd Battalion, who provided a reading.

On 31 July 2017, the 100-year anniversary of the action at La Basseville that earned him the VC, a plaque in Leslie Andrew's memory was unveiled at the Wellington railway station.

In private correspondence to Davin, Kippenberger expressed the view that Leslie Andrew should have fought his battalion to the last man.

Leslie Andrew took offence at the public criticism and his relations with Kippenberger would be distant and cool thereafter.

Leslie Andrew did have his supporters, including former soldiers of the 22nd Battalion, and Bernard Freyberg, the overall commander on Crete, did not blame Leslie Andrew for the loss of the island.