Remembering Passchendaele: NZ's worst military disaster
Thursday 4 October 2012, 2:54PM
383 views
War historian Glyn Harper will give an address at a remembrance service marking the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele.
The ceremony will be held at the Auckland War Museum next Friday, October 12.
Professor Harper says the battle, on 12 October 1917, remains our worst-ever military disaster.
“In the space of a few short hours 846 New Zealand soldiers were killed and 2,700 wounded. A further 138 men died of their wounds over the next week.
“It was an attack that should never have gone ahead under the dreadful conditions then prevailing.”
His talk will focus on the tragic event and examine its human cost to New Zealand.
Military and civic dignitaries are attending the ceremony, organised by the Passchendaele Society to commemorative the First World War battle, and will take part in a wreath laying.