Since the First World War, the coastal defences of Auckland had come under a single battery, 13 Heavy Battery (13 Coast Battery prior to 1934). In March 1940, 13 Heavy Battery was broken up into three batteries and the overall force increased in manpower. The 9th Heavy Regiment was formed in July 1940 to command the Auckland defence batteries, which included both coastal artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. In 1941, the regiment was expanded to include the coastal artillery batteries which covered other ports in the upper North Island. At its peak size in 1943, the regiment consisted of nine batteries:[2]
The name of the regiment was changed to 9th Coast Regiment in October 1944 and in the same year, the coastal defences were effectively mothballed. After the war it was decided that only the defences at Auckland should be kept in an operational state by a small peacetime garrison. In 1948 the territorial force was reorganised. All the New Zealand Artillery became part of the Royal New Zealand Artillery and the batteries were renumbered as:
- 91 Battery (North Head)
- 93 Battery (Motutapu)
- 94 Battery (Castor Bay)
- 95 Battery (Whangaparoa)
- 96 Battery (Waiheke)
It was decided in 1957 that the coastal artillery regiments were no longer necessary. That decision may have been connected to the British turn towards missiles as expressed by the 1957 Defence White Paper. The armament and equipment were placed on a care and maintenance basis, while the regiment was reduced to a cadre. Over the coming years, the equipment was scrapped and much of the facilities and land were sold off. The regiment eventually dropped to a single quartermaster sergeant, but continued to exist on paper until it was formally disbanded in 1967.
New Zealand