The Battle of Messines was a prelude to the much larger Third Battle of Ypres, better known as Passchendaele. New Zealanders played a prominent role in the successful action at Messines but paid a heavy price: 3700 casualties, including 700 dead.
Battle Of Messines
Events In History
1 March 1916
After the evacuation from Gallipoli in December 1915, New Zealand troops returned to Egypt to recover and regroup. In February 1916, it was decided that Australian and New Zealand infantry divisions would be sent to the Western Front. On 1 March, the New Zealand Division was formed.
Articles
Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium
Ever since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand soldiers. But its impact reached far beyond the battlefield, leaving deep scars on many New Zealand communities and families. Read the full article
Page 1 - Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium
Ever since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand
Page 2 - The battle for Messines
The assault on Passchendaele was part of a vast Allied offensive launched in mid-1917, which, for New Zealanders, started with the Battle for
Māori in the NZEF
More than 2000 Maori served in the Māori Contingent and Pioneer Battalion during the First World War Read the full article
Page 4 - On the Western Front
The New Zealand Pioneer Battalion arrived in France in April 1916. It was the first unit of the New Zealand Division to move onto the bloody battlefield of the
NZ's First World War horses
Between 1914 and 1916 the New Zealand government acquired more than 10,000 horses to equip the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. They served in German Samoa, Gallipoli, the Middle East and on the Western Front. Of those that survived the war, only four returned home. Read the full article
Page 7 - Western Front
More than 3000 horses and mules went from Egypt to France with the New Zealand Division in April 1916. Most of these horses had probably come from New Zealand
1917: Arras, Messines and Passchendaele
During 1917, Allied hopes of a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front were repeatedly raised, then dashed. Read the full article
Page 1 - 1917: Arras, Messines and Passchendaele
During 1917, Allied hopes of a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front were repeatedly raised, then
Biographies
Andrew Russell was one of New Zealand's most important military leaders of the First World War, known for his strategic brilliance and meticulous planning.
The attack of the Otago Mounted Rifles at Messines, 2010
