US forces arriving in Wellington in April 1942 - a year before some of their number would spark a running riot in the streets of downtown Wellington later dubbed the Battle of Manners Street. Pictured (L - R) Joe Senecal, Frank Zalot, Joe Versakas. None of the men in this photograph were involved in the riot.

It was cloaked in mystery for decades under a government-ordered press blackout but during World War II hundreds of US servicemen and local troops and civilians clashed in bloody skirmishes on the streets of the capital that took authorities eight hours to bring under control.

The deadly rolling brawl became known as the Battle of Manners Street and was sparked on April 3, 1943 by small group of servicemen who bought their racism with them from the US southern states.

The violence was triggered after they blocked Maori – "Black Curs", as they called them – from buying a drink and told them they could not ride in trams and could walk only in back streets.

According to Wellington historian Redmer Yska it was a Saturday night when the riot began in the Allied Services' Club in Manners St.

"When the Yanks removed their belts, Kiwi servicemen waded in. It was all on," Yska told The Dominion Post in April .

"The 'battle' spread into the streets. Tough US military police, who arrived to restore order, took sides and used their batons.

"The fighting spread to the ANA Club in Willis St, where belts and knives were used, and into Cuba St.

"More than 1000 US and Kiwi troops joined in, as well as several hundreds of civilians. Many US soldiers were injured, with at least two killed."

In 2011 The Dominion Post dug into obscure Archives NZ files to reveal military documents previously swept under the carpet.

"The archives reveal how brawls erupted through the inner city after four or five merchant seamen decided to"clean up" several US servicemen. The battle is revealed to be a series of vicious scraps that started at the Allied Services Club in Manners St about 6pm and took eight hours to quell," the newspaper reported.

Tensions between Maori soldiers and US troops flared again on May 12, 1945 outside the Mayfair Cabaret on Cuba St.

The stoush kicked off when as many as 150 Maori soldiers and an unknown number of US Navy personnel squared off.

"It is apparent that Maori soldiers bear a deep resentment of US servicemen, the chief cause of which is the disparaging and humiliating treatment of the Maori by US personnel," Brigadier A Conway wrote. "It is apparent that US personnel do not appreciate the standing that the Maori has in our community and are inclined to treat him as they treat the American negro."

Despite this racial edge the easy-going warmth and charm of the Americans – in New Zealand for training on their way to war or taking in a bit of R & R – seemed to entrance women and rile men.

Their arrival in 1942, at a time when large numbers of New Zealand armed forces were serving in Europe as Japan entered the war, was to shift the cultural landscape.

The prostitution and alcohol industries also boomed during the visitors time in Wellington, Yska said.

Authorities were "tearing their hair out" as girls moved to town to sell sex.

"Overpaid, oversexed and over here" was a common term of derision, and about 1500 Kiwi women ended up marrying visiting US servicemen.

Historian Jock Phillips said there was a cultural divide between the Americans and New Zealand troops: "The Americans were a bit more sophisticated and had more money to spend ... They were charming, they gave the women flowers, they were sometimes referred to as the "bedroom commandos" – it was a bit of a challenge for the more repressed New Zealand men."

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