page_title: Occupation of German Samoa
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Occupation of German Samoa / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Members of the New Zealand Railway Engineers unit in Samoa pose alongside their commandeered German narrow-gauge locomotive, now bearing the letters 'NZR' (New Zealand Railways). The figure on horseback is Captain Percy St John Keenan, a career soldier who served as staff officer for the Railway Battalions before the war. He was initially chosen to command the Railway Engineers in Samoa, before being appointed Adjutant of the 3rd Auckland Regiment. Lieutenant Bert Christophers subsequently assumed command of the railwaymen. One of the men leaning against the engine has been identified as Sapper Peter Stanley Marriott, an NZR locomotive fireman who was later wounded while serving with a trench mortar battery on the Western Front. This photograph comes from a series of NZ Railways negatives. Archives Reference: AAVK 6389 W3493 Box 89/ C1279 archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=21013696 Material from Archives New Zealand Caption information from www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/nz-railways-engineers-sa...
context_page_description: The Occupation of Samoa was the takeover – and subsequent administration – of the Pacific colony of German Samoa by New Zealand during World War I. It started in late August 1914 with landings by the Samoa Expeditionary Force from New Zealand. The landings were unopposed and the New Zealanders took possession of Samoa for the New Zealand Government on behalf of King George V. The Samoa Expeditionary Force remained in the country until 1915, while its commander, Colonel Robert Logan, continued to administer Samoa on behalf of the New Zealand Government until 1919. The takeover of Samoa was New Zealand's first military action in World War I.
context_section_description: The SEF remained in Samoa until March 1915, at which time it began returning to New Zealand. A small relief force arrived in Apia on 3 April 1915 and the troopship that brought them to Samoa transported the last of the SEF back to New Zealand. Logan remained and would continue to administer the country on behalf of the New Zealand Government until 1919. His term was controversial for he significantly mishandled the arrival of the Spanish flu influenza pandemic in November 1918, resulting in over 7,500 deaths.
  From 1920 until Samoan independence in 1962, New Zealand governed the islands as the Western Samoa Trust Territory, firstly as a League of Nations Class C Mandate, and then from 1945 as a United Nations Trust Territory.
caption: New Zealand troops in Samoa, c. 1914–15.
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