Friday 6 June
When the All Blacks face off against the Irish rugby team in Wellington on Saturday night it will fittingly mark the 91st anniversary of another battle, when Irish and New Zealand Divisions fought together at the Western Front.
On June 7, 1917 at 3:10am New Zealand and Irish divisions fought alongside Australian and British counterparts at the Battle of Messines Ridge in Flanders, Belgium.
The battle was considered one of the few outright Allied successes on the Western Front in WWI, but the losses were no less significant.
The NZ division suffered 3,660 casualties (killed, missing and wounded) and the Irish 4,102 (498 killed). Of the 700 Kiwi soldiers killed, three were All Blacks: George Sellars, James (Jim) McNeece and Reginald (Reg) Taylor. All Black numbers 182, 199 and 202 respectively.
A fourth, James Baird (#190), died from wounds suffered in France in Messines on the 7th of June.
As the ANZACs took the town of Messines itself as a result of the battle, the Irish took the town of Wijtschaete just a few kilometres further round the ridge.
On Saturday at Westpac Trust Stadium when the respective jerseys of both teams will be pulled on, it will be fitting to remember those that served their country before them.
ENDS
For more information please contact Bas Bolyn, Defence Public Relations on 021 478 574
Nb: It is also of note that the test is being played in Wellington, both Messines Rd (Karori) and Messines Army Centre (Trentham) are named after the famous site in Flanders Fields.
Background: The Battle of Messines Ridge
- The Battle
Battle of Messines Ridge, Flanders
Began: 3.10 am (Belgian time) on June 7, 1917
One of the few outright Allied successes on the Western Front - 4 months before the Battle of Passchendaele were significant ANZAC casualties were incurred.
- Divisions at Messines Ridge included:
New Zealand Division
Two Irish Divisions: 16th (southern Catholic) Division and the 36th Ulster (mainly Protestant but also some Catholic) Division
British 25th Division (as part of the ANZAC Corps)
Australian Division
- Losses
New Zealand: 3,660 casualties (killed, missing and wounded); 700 killed including three All Blacks = George Sellars, Jim McNeece, Reg Taylor.
Irish: 4,102 casualties (498 killed, 1097 missing, 2,507 wounded)
Overall: Allied casualties (1 - 12 June) 24,562 (3,538 killed, 3,047 missing, 17,977 wounded) German casualties estimated at between 23,000 and 27,000 including 7,354 prisoners
Points of note:
- Thirteen former All Blacks were killed in the First World War and four of them were killed within a fortnight from June 7 to June 21 when the NZ Division took part in the assault on Messines ridge.
- The Battle of Messines was also the site where Blackball miner, Lance Corporal Samuel Frickleton was awarded his Victoria Cross for storming German gun emplacements. His actions are described as:
“Frickleton's battalion was held up on the outskirts of Messines village by several machine-guns firing from the other side of the artillery barrage. With his company suffering heavy casualties, Frickleton (himself slightly wounded) decided to take care of the guns himself.
Calling his section to follow him, Frickleton advanced through the barrage to one of the machine-gun posts. The smoke and noise of the shelling concealed his approach until the last moment. He lobbed in a grenade, rushed the post and killed those inside. With his comrades providing covering fire, he then rushed a second machine-gun post some 25 metres away, killing its crew and destroying the gun.” (Source: www.nzhistory.net)
- 60% of the 100,000 New Zealanders who went to war became casualties (from a NZ population then of 1,000,000.) More than 18,000 died of wounds or disease, the majority (12,483 of them in France and Belgium).