 Sailing upon the Aquitania via Fremantle and Cape Town , the battalion arrived at Gourock , Scotland , after six weeks at sea . Initially they had been destined to join the rest of the 2nd New Zealand Division in the Middle East , but due to concerns about a possible invasion of the United Kingdom by the German Wehrmacht , the decision was made to divert the division 's second echelon , a brigade @-@ sized force that included the 28th ( Māori ) Battalion , to Britain to help bolster the island 's defences . 
