11 January 2017

Maidenhead, United Kingdom

MEDIA RELEASE

NEW ZEALAND PREMIER REMEMBERS HIS COUNTRY’S WAR DEAD ON BELGIUM PILGRIMAGE TO CWGC CEMETERIES AND MEMORIALS

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, William English, has made a special pilgrimage to remember his countrymen who died 100 years ago in Belgium during the First World War. Mr English spent a day visiting four Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and memorials, each with a connection to New Zealand.

The First World War took approximately 100,000 New Zealanders overseas, and around 10% of the then population of 1.1 million was under arms. Some 18,000 New Zealanders died during the war, more than 12,000 of them on the Western Front.

Remembering New Zealand’s dead – the CWGC in Belgium

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates more than 4600 New Zealand Servicemen who died in the First World War in Belgium. Their names are remembered in 80 cemeteries and memorials across the former battlefields.

Liz Sweet, the CWGC Director of External Relations (Western European Area) said:

“It was a great privilege to welcome the New Zealand Prime Minister to CWGC Berks Cemetery Extension, the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial and Tyne Cot Cemetery. This visit is important in the run up to the commemorative events which will take place later this year to mark New Zealand’s involvement in the Battle of Passchendaele. The CWGC is working closely with the New Zealand Government on these events.”

Prime Minister English visited the following CWGC cemeteries and memorials during his day-long tour. Photographs of these sites are attached to a separate email.

CWGC Berks Cemetery Extension

80 men from the New Zealand Division are among the 880 men buried in the cemetery. The cemetery also contains the Ploegsteert Memorial, which commemorates more than 11,000 men who died in this sector but who have no known grave.

CWGC Messines Cemetery and Memorial

A beautiful memorial at the entrance to the cemetery, in the form of panels around a sunken circular path below the cross of sacrifice, commemorates more than 800 New Zealand troops who fought in the area, but who have no known grave.

The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial

The magnificent CWGC memorial at the Menin Gate in Ypres records the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The site was chosen because of the hundreds of thousands of men who passed through it on their way to the battlefields.

The memorial is now famous throughout the world as the setting, each and every evening, for a ceremonial sounding of the Last Post by the local fire brigade.

CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery and New Zealand Memorial

Tyne Cot is the largest Commonwealth War Graves cemetery in the world. 520 New Zealanders, 322 of them unidentified, are buried in the cemetery. The Tyne Cot Memorial forms the rear wall of the cemetery and a special recessed apse forms a memorial to New Zealand’s missing.

Commemorative events in 2017: note for media

The contribution New Zealand troops made to the Allied war effort in Belgium will be marked at a series of events throughout 2017 – including commemorations for The Battle of Messines (7 - 14 June 1917) and the Battle of Passchendaele (31 July – 10 November 1917). With notice, the Commission would be delighted to help organise advance visits for members of the New Zealand media to its workshops in Arras in Northern France, or to the CWGC cemeteries and memorials in Belgium. For further details, please contact Peter Francis at the address below.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Battle of Messines

Before General Haig could launch his planned offensive towards Passchendaele and the channel ports he needed to capture the high ground of the Messines Ridge, to the south of Ypres, to prevent the Germans observing his preparations for the wider battle. On 7 June 1917, huge mines were exploded under the German trenches on the ridge, and New Zealand troops of 2nd and 3rd (Rifle) brigades attacked the ruined village of Messines itself. By 7am they had cleared the village of the enemy, but came under increasingly heavy German artillery fire. By the time the New Zealand division was relieved on 9 June more than 700 men had been killed.

The Battle of Passchendaele

The offensive that became known as the Battle of Passchendaele began on 31 July 1917. The New Zealand Division entered the fighting on 4 October, supporting an Australian attack on Broodseinde Ridge. The former All Black captain, Dave Gallaher, was one of more than 320 New Zealanders killed in that attack.

There followed the blackest day in New Zealand’s military history, when the 2nd and 3rd rifle divisions were ordered to attack Bellevue Spur. The troops found their way blocked by uncut wire and were mown down by German machine guns. More than 845 officers and men were killed, the greatest loss of life in a single day in New Zealand’s military history.

Ends.

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