Four surviving veterans of one of New Zealand's most famous naval battles joined nearly 600 sailors and thousands of well-wishers in a parade on Auckland's Queen St yesterday to mark the Battle of the River Plate's 75th anniversary.

"I wasn't as dead as I had first surmised." Those were the words of HMS Achilles gunnery officer, Lieutenant Richard Washbourn, in a previously unpublished letter.

US embassies have been told to prepare for violent protests ahead of a report into the CIA's use of torture.

52: To be Irish but fighting for Britain was to be conflicted.

With bells clanging, whistles screeching and hundreds of booted sailors clattering to their firing stations, boy seaman Bob Batt had every right to be scared.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters claims "large-scale" military preparations are under way at New Zealand bases in anticipation of a deployment to Iraq.

51: New Zealanders from different points on the political spectrum hated censorship.

World War II's greatest escape, which involved Kiwi officers scaling barbed wire fences instead of the previously favoured method of tunnelling, has been told for the first time.

The Iraqi army includes 50,000 "ghost soldiers" who do not exist, but their officers receive their salaries fraudulently, according to the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Only in a topsy-turvy world would it be seen as rational to bring a posse of spies to heel by increasing their rights to snoop without a warrant, writes Brian Rudman.

Two military heroes - former spy Pippa Doyle and Willie Apiata - rubbed shoulders last night as France bestowed its highest honour on the 93-year-old Mrs Doyle.

She parachuted behind enemy lines, evading the Nazis to to spy on their troop movements. Now a quiet Aucklander is to receive France's highest honour.

48: A third of the kauri bushman who went to war did not return home and today a memorial plaque on the landward side of Lion Rock records 49 names in their memory.

British journalist and Islamic State (Isis) group hostage John Cantlie says in a newly released propaganda video he is likely to suffer the same fate as other US and UK hostages, who were beheaded.

46: Clive Collett had flown nearly 1200 hours in dozens of different aircraft when he took to the air in a captured German plane over the Firth of Forth.

Four brothers slipped out of Australia last week to join the fight with Islamic State (Isis) in Syria.

The World War I memorial unveiled this week in France remembers those who perished on both sides.

44: Hastings-born George Masters took part in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 before being posted to Europe. His bravery was recorded in the London Gazette

When Tuareg fighters swept into Libya's biggest oilfield, they displayed the exuberance and eccentricity typical of fighting in the country.

Military records and images of thousands of NZ veterans - including Richie McCaw's grandfather - are being publicly released to mark Armistice Day.

John Key was playing to a vital international audience when he said that New Zealand has an opportunity to make sure the United Nations Security Council lifts its game.

The domestic dimension of the response to Isis, which according to Key is a "game-changer for NZ", contained confusions of its own, writes Toby Manhire.

The Government's carefully thought through approach to battling Isis at home and abroad is an extremely pragmatic and smart political strategy, writes Bryce Edwards.

The Government has taken its time to decide New Zealand will not join Western allies in military action against the terrorist group that has taken over part of Iraq and Syria.

Three NZ Defence Force personnel have already left for the Middle East to scope out a role for New Zealand forces to help train Iraqi forces fight ISIS.

The Prime Minister's landmark speech on national security has two messages for New Zealanders, but they are somewhat discordant.