position of Editor-in-Chief of New Zealand's largest-ever publishing project, the Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–45. The New Zealand government had made initial plans for a published record of New Zealand's involvement in the war as early as 1943. Kippenberger, well respected across all branches of New Zealand's services, was championed by New Zealand's prime minister, Peter Fraser, as the person to coordinate the project. The resulting series of books, covering campaign and unit histories as well as volumes on the New Zealand people at war, was to be published by the War History Branch at the Department of Internal Affairs. By 1946, his work with the Reception Group was largely complete and he returned to New Zealand to take up his new position. Initially contracted for seven years from 1 July 1946, he would be involved with the project for the rest of his life. In his capacity as Editor-in-Chief, he guided the planning and production of volumes dedicated to specific campaigns, units and the war effort in general. Kippenberger set a high standard for the official histories. He disavowed any censorship and diligently read every draft of every volume produced under his editorship, providing extensive, but constructive, feedback to the authors. He took special interest in the unit history of his former command, the 20th Battalion. He stressed the need for objectivity but struggled with his own views on battles in which he had been personally involved. The volume on the Battle of Crete proved to be particularly difficult to produce, requiring critical analysis of the leadership of some of his personal friends during the battle. Leslie Andrew, former commander of the 22nd Battalion, was one who took offence at the account of his handling of the battle. The official histories had on occasion been threatened with political interference, particularly with the change in government in 1949. Kippenberger, a person of high standing with both the government and the ordinary New Zealander, was a strong advocate for the project, and was able to convince the new government of the merits of the official histories. Kippenberger encouraged a positive atmosphere at the War History Branch, despite a tight budget and at times crowded work conditions. He was proud of its rate of output, which exceeded the efforts of the better resourced official histories of Australia and Great Britain. By 1963, the War History Branch