Le Quesnoy 1918: New Zealand’s Last Battle

By Christopher Pugsley

Stirring history of First World War battle launched in French town that Kiwi troops liberated in 1918

The New Zealand Division’s capture of the French town of Le Quesnoy was its last and most successful action in the First World War.

An authoritative new book on the campaign was launched in Le Quesnoy on 4 November as part of the inauguration of a New Zealand Memorial Museum — 100 years on from those desperate days.

In an action that made the front page of the New York Times, Kiwi troops scaled the town walls by ladder and overwhelmed the defenders, freeing Le Quesnoy from years of German occupation.

Drawing on his detailed knowledge of the landscape and those involved, Dr Christopher Pugsley puts together the story with his mastery of drama — while paying tribute to the New Zealanders who died (and whose details are fully recorded here for the first time).

Richly illustrated with maps, photographs and paintings of the battle by George Butler, Le Quesnoy 1918 is a passionate account of how the Great War ended.

About the author:

Dr Christopher Pugsley is one of New Zealand’s leading historians. A retired Lieutenant-Colonel in the New Zealand Army, he was a lecturer in military studies in New Zealand, Australia and UK until his retirement in 2012. The latest of his many books is The Camera in the Crowd: Filming New Zealand in Peace and War, 1895–1920.

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