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This map shows the northern part of the Western Front in 1916 and 1917, as well as some of the major battles that took place there in these years.
The battles on the Western Front in this period were some of the deadliest in modern history. Both attackers and defenders suffered huge casualties from quick-firing artillery, modern machine guns and rifles, and miles of barbed-wire defences. After gaining some experience in this environment on a ‘quiet’ sector around Armentières, the New Zealand Division took part in the nightmarish Battle of the Somme in September 1916.
Facing manpower shortages and pressure on the Eastern Front, the German army withdrew from the Noyon Salient in March-April 1917 to prepared positions along the strongly defended Hindenburg Line, part of which is indicated above by the broken purple line.
A detachment of New Zealand pioneers and the New Zealand Tunnelling Company took part in the operations at Arras in April-May 1917. After recovering from the Battle of the Somme, and bolstered by new recruits, the New Zealand Division was heavily involved in both the relatively successful Battle of Messines and the carnage of the Third Battle of Ypres.
This image Appears In 3 Articles:
First World War in maps
Battle of the Somme
Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium
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