Dominion’s Losses in Last War

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 115, 16 May 1941, Page 3

Dominion’s Losses in Last War

KILLED TOTALLED 17,202 The losses suffered by the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Greece may be placed in perspective by comparison with returns of New Zealand casualties in some major operations and battles of the last war. The final returns for the principal theatres of war were:—Gallipoli, 2721 dead, 4752 - wounded, total casualties, 7473. Egypt and Palestine, 640, 1146 and 1786. France and Belgium, 12,483, 35,419 and 47,902. United Kingdom and other places, and at sea, 853 deaths. The total losses incurred in the actual war period were 17,202 deaths and 58,014 wounded. These figures included 1622 deaths from sickness and 255 from other causes overseas, and 505 of officers and men in training or attached to the Expeditionary Force in New Zealand. Western Front Battles. The three principal battles in which her troops were engaged on the Western Front cost New Zealand in the neighbourhood of 16,000 casualties. Exact figures are not available, partly owing to tha difficulty of separating losses at the height of each battle from those incurred in operations which immediately preceded or followed it, and of accounting at the time for the missing, subsequent deaths from wounds and those wounded who found their way to British and other clearing stations. The following figures, taken from the official war history of the New Zealand Medical Corps, are regarded as good approximations. In the Second Battle of the Somme, extending over 23 days in September, 1916, the reported New Zealand casualties were 1097 killed, 4943 wounded and 705 missing, making a total of 6745. However, it was estimated that of the missing approximately 500 were killed, raising the total dead to over 1500. Roughly one-third of the effectives engaged became casualties. Messines and Passehendaele, For the Battle of Messines, extending Over three days in June, 1917, there were 473 killed, 2726 wounded and 434 missing, making 3633 casualties. The official history, however, estimates that approximately 700 were killed. Casualties amounted to about 15 per cent, of the strength. At Passchendaele, in the following October, 570 were killed in six days, 2106 were wounded and 620 were reported missing, a total of 3296. However, the history suggests that the casualty return for the whole of October, as recorded at administrative headquarters in London, was a truer measure of the New Zealand losses in the operation. This accounted for 1536 killed. 4309 wounded and 233 missing, a total of 5078.