Samoa Expeditionary Force

Occupation of German Samoa
Part of the Asian and Pacific theatre of the First World War
The Union Flag being raised at the courthouse at Apia on 30 August 1914
Date 29–30 August 1914 Location German Samoa Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Australia  New Zealand  France	German Empire German Samoa
Commanders and leaders
Robert Logan	Erich Schultz-Ewerth
Strength
1,413 (landing party)	c.100 (militia and Fita-Fita)

United Kingdom

 German Empire

The Occupation of Samoa – the takeover and subsequent administration of the Pacific colony of German Samoa – started in late August 1914 with landings by an expeditionary force from New Zealand called the "Samoa Expeditionary Force". 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 but its commander, Colonel Robert Logan, continued to administer Samoa on behalf of the New Zealand Government until 1919. The occupation of Samoa represented New Zealand's first military action in the First World War.

Upon the outbreak of the First World War on 5 August 1914, the New Zealand Government authorised the raising of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) for service in the war. Mobilisation for the war had already begun, with preparations discreetly beginning a few days prior. The day after the declaration of war, the British Government requested New Zealand seize the wireless station at German Samoa, a protectorate of Imperial Germany, deeming it "a great and urgent Imperial service."

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