|
|
|
|||
|
|
||||
|
New Zealand in the First World War |
|
|
|
New Zealand was involved
in the First World War by the King's declaration of war. Despite its
geographic isolation and small population, it immediately pledged its
support for the British cause.
As early as October 1914 the New Zealand Expeditionary Force sailed from Wellington. Diverted from their original destination in Europe, the New Zealanders were landed in Egypt, where they helped repulse a Turkish attack on the Suez Canal in February 1915. |
|
On the fateful day of 25 April 1915, as part of the New Zealand and Australian Division, the New Zealanders landed at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. They fought valiantly throughout the campaign until evacuated with the rest of the Allied forces at the end of the year. Back in Egypt, the NZEF was reorganised. Reinforcements from New Zealand replaced the Australian component of the Division, which embarked for France in April 1916. The New Zealand Mounted Brigade remained in Egypt. As part of the Anzac Mounted Division, it took part in the ultimately successful Sinai-Palestine campaign against the Turks. The New Zealand Division's first major trial on the Western Front was during the Battle of the Somme. It took part in the Fourth Army's attack on 15 September. By the time they were relieved on 4 October, the New Zealanders had advanced three kilometres and captured eight kilometres of enemy front line. More than 7000 had become casualties, of whom 1,560 were killed. In June 1917 the New Zealand Division further distinguished itself in the storming of Messines ridge. During the Third Battle of Ypres in the following October, however, it was bloodily repulsed in its second attack at Passchendaele; with 850 dead, this remains the worst disaster in New Zealand's history in terms of lives lost in a single day. The New Zealanders performed valiant deeds at the Somme in helping to halt the great German offensive of March 1918. Later in the year they excelled in the open country fighting that was brought about by the Allied counter-offensive. In their last action, they captured the ancient fortress town of Le Quesnoy in a daring assault. Maori played their part in the war. A contingent took part in the Gallipoli campaign, and later served with distinction on the Western Front as part of the New Zealand (Maori) Pioneer Battalion. The total number of New Zealand troops and nurses to serve overseas in 1914-18, excluding those in British and other Dominion forces, was more than 100,000, from a population of just under a million. Forty-two per cent of men of military age served in the NZEF. New Zealand also played its part in the war at sea. Just after its outbreak, the cruiser HMS Philomel, loaned to New Zealand as a training ship, sailed with two Royal Navy cruisers to escort the New Zealand troops sent to occupy German Samoa. Later in 1914 these three ships escorted the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to Egypt. From January 1915 Philomel patrolled the Gulf of Alexandretta in the Eastern Mediterranean, supporting several landings and sustaining three fatal casualties, one being the first New Zealander killed in action in the war. She also took part in the defence of the Suez Canal, operations in the Gulf of Aden and patrols in the Persian Gulf. New Zealand had no air force of her own during the First World War but several hundred New Zealanders served with the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Air Force. |
|
