William George Stevens Major General William George Stevens CB , CBE ( 11 December 1893 – 7 August 1975 ) was a New Zealand military leader and administrator . A Londoner by birth , Stevens ' s family emigrated to New Zealand in 1895 . He joined the New Zealand Military Forces in 1912 and later served with the New Zealand Field Artillery during the First World War . Between the wars he attended Staff College in England and later held a number of positions which required co - ordination of civilian and military resources . During the Second World War he held important administrative roles in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( 2NZEF ) . He was commander of the 2NZEF from November 1945 to June 1946 and oversaw its demobilisation . Stevens retired from the military in 1946 with the rank of major general . He became a diplomat , serving at the New Zealand High Commission in London for several years before his retirement in 1953 . He later authored two volumes of the " Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939 – 45 " . He died in 1975 in Nelson , New Zealand . Early life . William George Stevens was born in London , England on 11 December 1893 . His father , a mariner , was employed by the New Zealand Shipping Company and would be absent from the family home for long periods of time while at sea . His family moved to New Zealand in 1895 and settled in Auckland . He attended Auckland Grammar School and planned to pursue a career in civil engineering . Military career . Stevens ' mother , a teacher in her native England , encouraged him to enter the New Zealand Military Forces and in 1912 , after initially being rejected due to a heart murmur , he entered the Royal Military College at Duntroon in Australia as a cadet officer . Stevens enjoyed his time at Duntroon but when the First World War broke out , his class was graduated early in November 1914 . First World War . Stevens was seconded to the New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( NZEF ) and was posted to the New Zealand Field Artillery . He embarked for Gallipoli with the fourth reinforcements in April 1915 , going ashore in August of that year . Apart from a period of time during October which he spent in Malta recuperating from illness , he participated in the Gallipoli Campaign until the Allied forces were evacuated in December 1915 . In April 1916 , he was transferred to the Western Front with the newly formed New Zealand Division . In late December 1916 , while recuperating from a horse riding injury in England he married his fiancée , Gladys Baker , of Auckland . The couple would have three children . He returned to active duty in early 1917 on attachment to the headquarters of the New Zealand Division . After a further period of illness during which he was hospitalised in England , he served with artillery units for the remainder of the war . He was discharged from the NZEF in September 1919 with the rank of major . Interwar period . Stevens returned to New Zealand in 1920 , having using the intervening time to attend an artillery course in England . He had intended to quit the New Zealand Military Forces . However , upon earning top marks for the entrance examination for the Staff College in Camberley , he returned to England for a two - year course . After completing the course , he then went on to the Imperial Defence College in London . In 1929 , Stevens was brought back to New Zealand as commander of the Royal Artillery , Central Command , based at Palmerston North . He then commanded the General Headquarters Training Depot at Trentham . He was also on the staff of General Headquarters ' s operations and intelligence branch . While in London in the late 1920s , Stevens formed the view that New Zealand ' s future defence requirements would involve greater co - ordination between the civilian infrastructure of the government and the military . In 1937 , when he was appointed as secretary of New Zealand ' s Council of Defence as well as the Chiefs of Staff Committee , he became absorbed in the Organisation for National Security . The organisation , consisting of a multitude of committees , was responsible for preparation of a manual detailing the actions necessary to bring the country to a war footing . This allowed Stevens the opportunity to put his theories in relation to integration of military and civilian resources into practice . As a result of his efforts , when war did break out in Europe in 1939 , the infrastructure of New Zealand was well prepared for prompt mobilisation . Second World War . In late 1939 , Stevens accompanied Peter Fraser , the acting Prime Minister of New Zealand , to London for talks with the British government , advising him on military affairs . He had worked with Fraser previously as part of the Council of Defence . The 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force ( 2NZEF ) , consisting of a single division , the 2nd New Zealand Division , was then being raised in New Zealand for service overseas . Stevens , now a lieutenant colonel , was seconded to the 2NZEF and made Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster - General of the division . He duly embarked for Egypt with the 1st Echelon of the 2NZEF . In addition to his divisional duties , he was also required to administer the 2NZEF as a whole . Although an able administrator , the workload was excessive and in October 1940 , he dropped his divisional responsibilities and was appointed Officer in Charge of Administration of HQ 2NZEF . In this role , he controlled the various depots , administrative units and reinforcements for 2NZEF . Stevens was based in Egypt from 1940 until 1944 , when HQ 2NZEF was shifted to Italy . He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and promoted to brigadier in 1941 . This was followed three years later by an appointment as Companion of the Order of the Bath . In November 1945 , he reached the pinnacle of his military career when he was appointed General Officer , Commanding , of the 2NZEF , replacing Bernard Freyberg . Promoted to major general , he oversaw the demobilisation of the 2NZEF until mid 1946 . Later life . After being overlooked for the role of Chief of Staff of the New Zealand Military Forces , Stevens decided that he did not desire a career in the peacetime army and retired from the army . In June 1946 he joined the Department of External Affairs and later took up a position as official secretary to the New Zealand High Commission in London . He retired in 1953 but continued to live with his wife in England rather than return to New Zealand . While in retirement , Stevens authored two volumes of the " Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939 – 45 " . The second of these , " Bardia to Enfidaville " was published in 1962 , shortly after he and his wife moved back to New Zealand for financial and family reasons . He settled in Richmond , outside of Nelson in the South Island . He continued to write and in 1965 , a work on the wartime service of his former commander , Freyberg , was published . Stevens ' s last years were spent living in a retirement home in Stoke , a suburb of Nelson . He died of a heart attack in Nelson in 1975 , his wife having predeceased him in 1967 .