Books
Gray, J. The New Zealand Division in France and Flanders, May 1916 to November 1918, 2002
Harper, G. Massacre at Passchendaele: the New Zealand story, 2000
The 3rd battle of Ypres, October 1917. The Fallen, pp. 132-203, with brief biographical details.
Harper, G. Spring Offensive: New Zealand and the Second Battle of the Somme, 2003
21 March - 5 April 1918. Appendix 1: Roll of honour, pp. 179-270, with brief biographical details, date and place of death and burial; Appendix 2: structure of New Zealand Division.
Macdonald, A. On My Way to the Somme: New Zealanders and the Bloody Offensive of 1916, 2005
Includes studies of command, training, discipline, morale, environment, and tactics. It also looks at the role of Māori in the Somme offensive, and finishes with a chapter looking at the legacy of the 1916 offensive.
McGibbon, I. The Western Front, A Guide to New Zealand Battlefields and Memorials, 2015
Includes brief descriptions of battles, with guides to cemeteries, memorials and museums. Maps and illustrations. Ch. 2: Passchendaele-Polygon Wood; Ch. 3: Messines-Le Basseville; Ch. 4: Armentières; Ch. 5: Arras; Ch. 6: Somme; Ch. 7: Le Quesnoy; Ch. 8: Marfaux, Black Areas.
Malthus, C. Armentières and the Somme, 2002
The Canterbury Regiment. The author served in France in 1916 as a sergeant, 1st Battalion, Canterbury Regiment, having previously survived the Gallipoli campaign (which he wrote about in his ANZAC: a retrospect, 1965). He was invalided home after being seriously wounded in the 3rd battle of the Somme, which began on 15 September 1916.
Stewart, H. The New Zealand Division, 1916-1919: France, 1921
Includes numerous maps and illustrations. Battles described include Armentieres, Somme, Messines, Basseville, Ypres, Gravenstafel, Bellevue Spur, Bapaume, Havrincourt and Hindenburg Line, Le Cateua, Selle River, Sambre.
Wright, M. The New Zealand Experience at Gallipoli and the Western Front, 2017
Western Front from Chapter 9: Mechanised Death.
Wright, M. Western Front : the New Zealand Division in the First World War 1916-18, 2005
Ch. 1: In Flanders fields; Ch. 2: Trench culture; Ch. 3: The Somme; Ch. 4: Passchendaele; Ch. 5: Spring offensive (second battle of Somme); Ch. 6: One hundred days (August-November 1918); Conclusion: The first World War in history. Legacy of war, pp. 164-9. Includes many maps and illustrations.
Further information
Passchendaele
Battle in October 1917 in Belgium that resulted in horrific numbers of New Zealand casualties.
Sgt Henry James Nicholas V.C. M.M.
Henry Nicholas was the first soldier from the Canterbury Regiment to be awarded the Victoria Cross. He died during the fight for the bridgeheads at the River Ecaillon near the village of Beaudignies, France.
In our catalogue
- World War, 1914-1918 Campaigns France
- World War, 1914-1918 Campaigns Belgium
- World War, 1914-1918 Campaigns Western Front.
- Ypres
- Somme
Online resources
New Zealand and the First World War: Western Front
New Zealand History Online presents information, maps and photos of the Western Front and New Zealander's experiences there including Passchendaele, the capture of Le Quesnoy and the Battle of the Somme.
The New Zealand Division in France and Flanders, May 1916 to November 1918: a contemporary diary of pilgrimages in their footsteps, by John H. Gray
Digitised version of the diary.
Cecil Malthus : World War I papers
The letters follow Malthus’ progress from training in New Zealand to his experiences throughout the war, including time in Egypt preparing for Gallipoli, and his time in France.
War diary, 1915-1916 by H. H. Stephens
The World War I diary of Herbert Harold Stephens, of Sydenham, Christchurch. He writes of his experience at Gallipoli, the Western Front, and through hospitals as he fought dysentery.