NEW ZEALAND MEMORIALS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 51, 14 June 1940, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND MEMORIALS

(By

O.A.

G.

EW ZEALAND’S four memorials to her soldiers of the last warat Le Quesnoy, Longueval, Messines and Gravenstafel-are now |in the hands of the enemy. The memorial at Longueval, on the old Somme battlefield, commemorates the heroism of those who fell in the engagement which began on September 15, 1916, in the Division’s first great ‘assault on the Western Front. At Lon- | gueval an obelisk has been erected where the road leading north from the village crosses the old Switch Trench, about 1,000 yards east ef High Wood. It occupies a commanding position on the highest part of the old trench site, and can be seen from many miles away. When the New Zealanders last saw Longueval and High Wood there was little to distinguish them from the rest of the | scarred countryside. All that was left of High Wood was a few torn stumps; the village was merely a heap of rubble. Since then the wood has been planted again and some of the old trees have taken new life; the village has been re‘built. | Soon after reconstruction began in 1919, a temporary church was erected at Longueval. This was made of a Nis‘sen hut to which was added a bell tower, ‘built from the remaining parts of a -broken windmill. In the church was a small brass tablet bearing the simple inscription: "To the glory of God and in memory of those of the New Zealand Division who fell in the Battles of the Somme, 1916, 1918." The Nissen huts of which the Longueval Church was made, were used in large numbers behind the lines during the last war. They were constructed of pieces of curved, corrugated iron, designed so that they could be erected quickly for housing the soldiers. The memorial at Messines, also an obelisk, commemorates the gallant exploits of the New Zealanders in the capture of that hill and ruined town. Historians consider that the capture of Messines was one of the most. perfect tactical exploits of the last war. The town itself was on the crest of a hill. Our front line before the advance, lay in the bottom of the valley below. On the morning of the advance, mines were exploded, blowing great craters in the hill itself and aiding the advance of our men. Tunnellers had been burrowing for years beneath Messines and their exacting work was one of the principal factors of the success of the operations, as the Germans had constructed strong forts on the hill which dominated the countryside for many miles. — ‘Further north from Messines is the New Zealand memorial at Gravenstafel, which overlooks parts of the Ypres Salient and Passchendaele, this last one of the most tragic of all New Zealand’s exploits; Here mud and rain combined with the enemy to hold up the advance which, despite great losses, was checked

only because we came against wide stretches of uncut barbed wire entanglements. The fourth memorial is at Le Quesnoy, where men of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade stormed the ancient walls and captured the town. Each memorial bears an inscription both in English and in French: "In honour of the men of the New Zealand Division," followed by a particular reference to the area in which the memorial stands. For example, on that at Longueval are the words, "First Battle of the Somme, 1916," and the sentence, "The New Zealand Division, after gaining this position as their first objective, launched from it the successful attack on Flers, September 15, 1916." On the front panel of each memorial is a beautiful design suggestive of Maori carving, showing the words "New Zealand," enclosed in a laurel wreath supported by crossed taiaha, Carved on the base are these words: "From the uttermost ends of the earth." The Le Quesnoy memorial is in the form of a large panel on which the winged figure of Victory holds a laurel wreath over a symbolical group.