Passchendaele — the worst day
- When
- 12 October 1917
- Reach
- Nationwide
An attack on Bellevue Spur in Flanders mud, against uncut wire and without effective artillery support, killed around 845 New Zealanders in a few hours.
It remains the largest loss of New Zealand life in a single day. The preliminary bombardment had failed to cut the German wire, the ground was impassable bog, and men were shot down in front of the entanglements. Casualties including wounded exceeded 2,700. The disaster is far less known publicly than Gallipoli, though it cost roughly a third as many lives in one morning as the entire eight-month Gallipoli campaign.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
Related
The Gallipoli landing
New Zealand troops landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April. Of about 14,000 who served there, 2,779 died. The date became the country’s day of remembrance.
New Zealand enters the First World War
About 100,000 served overseas from a population of just over a million. Around 18,000 died and 41,000 were wounded — proportionally among the heaviest losses of any country.
New Zealand troops sent to the South African War
The first overseas war New Zealand fought as a country: around 6,500 men and 8,000 horses, and 230 deaths.
New Zealand declares war on Germany
‘Where she goes, we go’ — 140,000 served overseas and nearly 12,000 died, from a population of 1.6 million.