Massacre at Passchendaele: The New Zealand Story

During only a few hours on October 12, 1917, over one thousand New Zealand soldiers were killed and an additional two thousand were wounded on the German front line in the tragic Battle of Passchendaele. This World War I battle has gone down in history as the New Zealand Army’s ultimate military disaster. Yet the full story behind this heartrending loss of life remains misunderstood.   The new, revised edition of Massacre at Passchendaele meticulously outlines the Allies’ situation in October 1917 and describes with precision each attack made on Passchendaele. Harper employs several diary extracts and transcripts of recorded interviews to bring to life all of the harrowing, complex elements of these battles: the rationale of the strategists, the anxieties of officers, and the subdued desperation of the soldiers are all documented.   With an appendix listing the names of all New Zealand soldiers killed at Passchendaele, this book transports the reader back into the disastrous reality of this battle and captures its pivotal place in New Zealand’s history.