polderhoek

Bleak winter

The New Zealand Division’s involvement in the battle of Passchendaele came to an end on 18 October when it was relieved by Canadian troops. The New Zealanders were not done with Belgium, though, and they continued to operate in the Ypres area until February 1918. The waterlogged conditions, bleak winter weather and depressing memories of the Passchendaele fiasco combined to make this a particularly trying experience. Another failed attack, this time at Polderhoek in December 1917, added to the misery.

The funeral of Victoria Cross recipient Henry Nicholas

Following his death, Henry Nicholas was buried in the French cemetery at Beaudignies. However, as the battalion wished to show greater respect, army chaplain Rev. G.T. Robson had the body exhumed and reinterred, with full military honours, among other war graves in the Vertigneul churchyard in northern France. The service was conducted by the Bishop of Nelson, Dr Sadlier, with battalion commander Brigadier-General Young and other officers as pall-bearers.  Robson wrote to Nicholas’s mother, telling her that 'It was an impressive ceremony and thus was laid to rest one of the heroes of the New Zealand Division.'

Henry Nicholas arrived in France in September 1916 and saw action at the Somme. He was involved in many of the actions fought by the New Zealand Division in 1917, including the successful attack on Messines ridge on 7 June. He missed the battle of Passchendaele due to illness but rejoined his Canterbury Regiment in time for the Polderhoek attack on 3 December. His actions there earned him the Victoria Cross.