ANZAC Day, April 25 2023

 I thought a fitting way to mark our National Day of Remembrance in both New Zealand and Australia would be a quick mention of the last action fought by New Zealanders in WWI, and the plans a French town has to help create a permanent memorial in the shape of a museum dedicated to the event.

Le Quesnoy’s Liberation by Ladder

Surrounded by complex layers of walls and moats, getting close enough to find a way to possibly scale the huge innermost ramparts of Le Quesnoy was never going to be easy for the New Zealand soldiers.

The walls of Le Quesnoy could have been quickly reduced to rubble by heavy artillery, but that was not to be the plan. To ensure the least amount of damage to the town, and potential loss of residents’ lives, the day dawned with the New Zealand soldiers firing 500 flaming oil drums onto the ramparts of the western walls to create a thick smoke screen which allowed the New Zealanders some cover from the German forces.

By 9am the town was surrounded by the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Undeterred, the German occupiers stayed in the town, with no intention to surrender.

The New Zealanders moved closer to the innermost wall of the town during the morning, but soon realised their ladders were going to be too short to scale the huge, final 13-metre sheer brick wall.

A group of men got close enough to the wall to identify one place that offered a chance. Here, a narrow ledge higher up from the moat floor, meant a ladder might possibly be placed to reach the top of the wall. At around midday, a group of soldiers got close enough to the inner wall to attempt placing four long ladders against the ramparts to scale the walls. The Germans, however, fought back from above, and only one of the ladders survived the onslaught.

At 4pm, a chance presented itself and the one remaining ladder was set up on the narrow ledge. It did indeed reach the top. Under the cover of intense rifle fire, Second Lieutenant Averill, followed by Second Lieutenant Kerr and his platoon, climbed the ladder and were quickly over the top and into the town. After exchanging shots with fleeing Germans, the New Zealanders entered the town – some up this same ladder and very soon after, many others through different entry points in the town. Some 2,000 German soldiers surrendered and the c.1,600 French occupants in the town were liberated without the loss of a single civilian life.

The people of Le Quesnoy were overjoyed and came out from hiding to excitedly greet their liberators. Cheering, they embraced them, offered food, and showered them with autumn flowers, before they patriotically flew the Tricolour from their buildings. Salvation had been delivered, not by the English they expected, but from men who came, as they later remarked, from the uttermost ends of the earth.

In front of this peaceful area, perfect for reflecting on the past, beyond the low wall inscribed with “From the uttermost ends of the earth”, a memorial has been installed on the inner wall.

 Of the 93 Kiwis killed in action in Le Quesnoy, 65 are buried in the local cemetery,

The building that will house the new museum, now due to open in October this year.

As you will realise from the news headline above, Weta Workshop, the Peter Jackson business that creates many of the costumes, props and CGI effects for his movies, will be involved in providing larger than life displays to help tell the story of the action at Le Quesnoy. 

Courage, Heroism and Sacrifice

Known as ‘The Battle of Sambre’, current research shows 196 New Zealanders are known to have died between the 1st and 7th of November 1918 in this battle – or later from injuries sustained in this period. The taking of Le Quesnoy on the 4th of November was a significant event in this period, with that particular day accounting for three quarters of these causalities. Many of the men who were killed had survived the bloodshed of Gallipoli, the Somme and Passchendaele, to die just a few days before the end of World War I.  Some would even see the war finish before their injuries proved fatal. Christopher Pugsley, ONZM is regarded as one of New Zealand’s foremost authorities on war and he has compiled, with the help of others, the names of these 196 men with a little about each of them. This list can be found in his book: Le Quesnoy 1918.

New Zealand’s overall World War I cost in human terms was enormous for a country whose population only just exceeded one million. During 32 months of service in France and Belgium, the New Zealand Division was to incur in the region of 48,000 casualties. Over 12,500 men died in France and Belgium, the largest death toll of our people, in one time, than at any other period in our country’s history.

Lest We Forget