When Montgomery saw the NZ troops in the field for the first time, he was astounded by their size and strength, and exclaimed aloud,
"these are not men, they are gods"
He was appalled by the fact that no NZ soldier would salute him (a three star General at the time), they would only salute their own officers, but noted that "if you wave to them, the usually wave back".
Rommell was extremely impressed with NZEF, and remarked that if he had two full divisions of these troops, he could win the war by himself.
Kiwi lads been fuckin up shit, for a while now….