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New Zealand Division  Divisional History  The New Zealand Division in 1914-1918 The history of New Zealand Division Formed in Egypt in March 1916, the Division was based on the New Zealand and Australian Division. In April 1916 the Division moved to France and remained there. It developed a reputation as being among the best of the formations under British command, fighting in many of the major actions of the war. 1916 The Battle of Flers-Courcelette - Somme 1916 The Battle of Morval - Somme 1916 The Battle of Le Transloy - Somme 1916 1917 The Battle of Messines The Battle of Polygon Wood - Third Battle of Ypres The Battle of Broodseinde - Third Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Passchendaele - Third Battle of Ypres 1918 The Division was not affected by the restructuring of the army to having three brigades per Division, that took place in the British Divisions in February 1918. The First Battle of Arras - Somme 1918 The Battle of the Ancre - Somme 1918 The Battle of Albert - Somme 1918 The Second Battle of Bapaume - Somme 1918 The Battle of Havrincourt - Hindenburg Line The Battle of the Canal du Nord - Hindenburg Line The Battle of Cambrai - Hindenburg Line The pursuit to the Selle The Battle of the Selle The Battle of the Sambre and the capture of Le Quesnoy The Division was selected to advance into Germany and demobilisation commenced there in late 1918. The Division was disbanded in Germany in March 1919. The Divisional Order of Battle of the New Zealand Division 1st New Zealand Brigade - joined from the New Zealand and Australian Division in Egypt in March 1916 1st Wellington Bn 1st Canterbury Bn 1st Auckland Bn 1st Otago Bn 1st NZ Machine Gun Company formed January 1916, left to move into New Zealand MG Bn February 1918 1st NZ Trench Mortar Battery formed in France April 1916 2nd New Zealand Brigade - formed in Egypt February 1916 2nd Wellington Bn 2nd Canterbury Bn 2nd Auckland Bn 2nd Otago Bn 2nd NZ Machine Gun Company formed January 1916, left to move into New Zealand MG Bn February 1918 2nd NZ Trench Mortar Battery formed in France April 1916 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade - formation completed in Egypt March 1916 1st New Zealand Rifle Brigade 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade 4th New Zealand Rifle Brigade 3rd NZ Machine Gun Company formed January 1916, left to move into New Zealand MG Bn February 1918 3rd NZ Trench Mortar Battery formed in France April 1916 4th New Zealand Brigade - joined May 1917, broken up February 1918 3rd Wellington Bn 3rd Canterbury Bn 3rd Auckland Bn 3rd Otago Bn 5th NZ Machine Gun Company left to move into New Zealand MG Battalion February 1918 4th NZ Trench Mortar Battery Divisional Troops - under direct command of Divisional HQ New Zealand Pioneer Battalion formed February 1916 from Maori Bn, Otago Mounted Rifles and 2nd Maori Contingent 4th NZ Machine Gun Company joined February 1917, left to move into New Zealand MG Battalion March 1918 NZ Machine Gun Battalion formed February 1918 NZ Divisional Train ASC later titled 749, 750, 751, 752 and 1048 Companies NZ Mobile Veterinary Section AVC NZ Divisional Employment Company joined February 1917 Divisional Mounted Troops - under direct command of Divisional HQ Otago Mounted Rifles joined Pioneer Bn in February 1916, one Sqn remaining until March 1916 when it left to become II ANZAC Corps Cavalry Regiment Divisional Artillery 1st NZ Brigade, RFA 2nd NZ Brigade, RFA left December 1916 3rd NZ Brigade, RFA 4th NZ (Howitzer) Bde, RFA broken up January 1917 NZ Divisional Ammunition Column V.NZ Heavy Trench Mortar Battery RFA formed June 1916, left February 1918 X.NZ, Y.NZ and Z.NZ Medium Mortar Batteries RFA formed April 1916; in February 1918, Z broken up and batteries reorganised to have 6 x 6-inch weapons each Royal Engineers 1st NZ Field Company 2nd NZ Field Company 3rd NZ Field Company 4th NZ Field Company formed March 1917, broken up February 1918 NZ Divisional Signals Company Royal Army Medical Corps 1st NZ Field Ambulance 2nd NZ Field Ambulance 3rd NZ Field Ambulance 4th NZ Field Ambulance joined June 1917, broken up February 1918 25th Apr 1915 Landings 10th of September 1916    12th of September 1916    12th September 1916 Creeping Barrage   14th September 1916 Operational Order No.106   15th September 1916 New Positions 15th September 1916 Assembly Trenches   25th September 1916 Offensive Resumes  236th London Brigade Royal Field Artillery report from Mametz Wood. At 1430 the Fourth Army resumed the offensive. The 1st Division attacked along the Flers Line and secured their objectives with very little trouble. They joined line with the New Zealanders in Goose Alley. The New Zealand Division on our right secured all its objectives; our troops securing Grid Trench in front of Guedecourt, Les Boeufs to the north of Morval. The French secured Fregicourt and Rancourt. Batteries kept up continuous fire all day on the barrages ordered by 47th Divisional Artillery. At night D236 Battery was shelled with lachrymatory (tear gas) and other shells suffering two casualties. War Diaries 27th of September 1916 Attacks   5th Oct 1916 Wire Cut   3rd Feb 1917 On the Move   4th Feb 1917 Advance Party   5th Feb 1917 Instruction   19th Feb 1917 Orders Received   22nd Feb 1917 Reliefs   22nd Feb 1917 Reliefs   23rd Feb 1917 Reliefs   25th Feb 1917 Reliefs   26th Feb 1917 Reliefs 18th August 1918 Operational Order No.1    23rd Nov 1917 Quiet   27th Mar 1918 Moves   6th of April 1918 Line Adjustments   10th of April 1918 Under Attack   21st of August 1918  Division Advances   22nd of August 1918 A New Objective   23rd of August 1918  Division Attacks   26th of August 1918  Enemy Retreats   28th of August 1918   Situation Unchanged   28th August 1918 Report on Operations with 4th Corps.   29th of August 1918 Enemy Evacuate Town   31st of August 1918  Counter-Attack   1st of September 1918  Attack Sucessful   11th of September 1918 Warning of Relief 12th of September 1918 Training   13th of September 1918 On the Move   15th of September 1918 EAs Active   30th of September 1918  Divisional Relief   2nd of November 1918   Warning of Advance   4th of November 1918 Attack Continued    11th of November 1918 Armistice and a Report   24th of November 1918  An Advance Planned 31st December 1918 Chapter 6. The Final Battles. If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about New Zealand Division? There are:43 items tagged New Zealand Division available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have served with New Zealand Division during the Great War 1914-1918. Drake Denis Timothy. Sgt. 90th Heavy Battery (d.11th Jun 1917) Vernall Douglas. Pte. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2023 marks 24 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. 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Announcements 18th April 2024     Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263925 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates, add a comment or ask a question. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. 255257 Pte. Douglas Vernall Machine Gun Section Douglas Vernall was part of the 21st Reinforcements and served with the NZ Machine Gun Section. Add to this record. 213331 Sgt. Denis Timothy Drake 90th Heavy Battery Royal Garrsion Artillery (d.11th Jun 1917) My Great Grand Uncle Denis Drake enlisted in Waterford on the 7th December 1903 aged 18 years. He was then sent to the Royal Garrison Artillery's No. 3 Depot at the Citadel in Plymouth, England in order to undertake his basic training. From the 1911 census I know that Denis was serving with the RGA 90th Heavy Battery at Multan in India and had the rank of Gunner. On the 1st June 1915 Denis and the 90th Heavy Battery landed at Cape Helles in Gallipoli having departed from Nowgong in Central India. The 90th Heavy Battery served throughout the rest of the Gallipoli campaign and was under the command of the 29th Artillery Division. In January 1916 the 90th was evacuated along with the rest of the British force at Cape Helles and moved to Egypt where it was reorganised and resumed training. In April 1916, the 90th was sent to the Western Front and came under the command of the 22nd Heavy Artillery Group. The 90th spent the rest of 1916 on the battlefield of the Somme and was heavily engaged at times during that battle. In early 1917, Denis and the 90th were moved to Flanders and came under the orders of the 2nd New Zealand and Australian Army Corps. In June 1917 the British Army launched the "Battle of Messines" at Ypres. The intention of this battle was to capture a ridge of high ground running southwards from Ypres. This was required before a larger offensive could be undertaken aimed at breaking out of the Ypres area and recapturing the Belgian coast. The British attack involved a heavy artillery bombardment of enemy positions and the detonation of 19 enormous mines below key German strong points. This attack was a success and the Ridge was gained. However once the German's recovered from the initial shock they launched Heavy Artillery down on the newly won ground and on the British Artillery behind it. It was in one of these artillery attacks on the 11th June 1917 that Sergeant Denis Drake was killed aged 32 years. According to the war diary for the 90th Heavy Battery, during the initial British attack at Messines the 90th Battery's job was "Counter Battery work" - that is firing to destroy or neutralise enemy artillery. During this work the Germans responded by "the battery and vicinity was shelled by asphyxiating gas shell from dusk to dawn", but the gunners toiled away throughout this wearing gas masks. The entry in the War Diary for the 11th June 1917 states that an enemy gun fired several high explosive shells into the battery's position at about 1600 hrs and "Sgt Drake was severely wounded and died in a few minutes". Three other men were also badly wounded, one dying in Hospital later in the day. Sergeant Denis Drake is buried at Saint Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery in Belgium. Alan Roche Add to this record.

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