From the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: The New
A History and Guide to its Battlefields
Author: John H. Gray
Extent: 400 Pages - Case bound
The New Zealand Division earned a high reputation as an Allied strike formation on the Western Front in 1916 - 1918. It fought at First Somme, and the Battles of
Messines, Broodseinde, and First Passchendaele. It responded effectively in plugging a gap in the British line at Second Somme during the sudden
German advance in March 1918. It held its new line, and then was in the vanguard of the Advance to Victory through the Hindenburg Line, before its
celebrated Relief of Le Quesnoy, at wars end. It pioneered the fielding by the New Zealand Army of an infantry division; another of which was also
to earn renown in World War II.
The book is in full colour throughout and covers the whole chronological course of the Division’s operational progress, from May 1916 to November 1918. It is the only one to do so other than the voluminous Popular History based on Official Records by Colonel Hugh Stewart, published in 1921. Incorporated in the narrative are clear, detailed route instructions and accommodation suggestions which will ensure effective planning by those who choose to visit all or part of the Division’s operational itinerary.
Farm buildings were largely rebuilt on previous sites, and so most former
battlefields are little changed in that respect from 1916-1918. The reader is guided to localities from which it is possible to visualise troop movements in the past.
For the fi rst time the two facets of detailed history and visitors guide have been combined in a single, manageable format. The Division’s places of memory are described and illustrated.
These are places of pilgrimage for the descendants of the 13,467 New Zealand
The Author
John H. Gray, CBE (Civ), OBE (Mil), ED, JP is a retired City Manager of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Born in 1928, he volunteered for the Territorial Force of the New Zealand Army as a private soldier in 1949, enlisting in the New Zealand Scottish Regiment RNZAC. Commissioned in 1951, he retired in the rank of Brigadier in 1974.
He was the senior national officer in the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (Kashmir) in 1963-1964, and from 1965 to 1968 commanded the 3rd Battalion, (Auckland (Countess of Ranfurly’s Own) and Northland), Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment.
Posts as deputy commander of the 1st Infantry Brigade Group, and of Field Force
Command followed, and finally he was Territorial Force Advisor to the Army General Staff, the most senior post open to an officer of that Force at the time.
He has a long-standing interest in New Zealand military history and has made a detailed study of the role of The New Zealand Division in World War I during battlefield visits on seven occasions since 1997, including most of the places mentioned in the text.
John Gray has also written Quid Non Pro Patria, a monograph on Sergeant H.J. Nicholas, VC, MM, published in 2007, and the Great War section of Auckland Infantry - a forthcoming History of The Auckland Regiment, to be published later in 2010.
He is a member of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps Association and the Royal New Zealand Returned and Services Association.
Photo from the book -
Holy Communion- Battle of Messines
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