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Ernest Arthur Griffin and his soldier friends
at Trentham Camp
The New Zealand Rifle Brigade was formed on 1 May 1915 In 1916,
it was divided into three brigades and the 1st and 2nd Battalions arrived
in Egypt in time to become the only New Zealand unit to participate in the
Senussi Campaign and then on the Western front. In January 1916, New
Zealand’s infantry was divided into three brigades - Ernest was with the
3rd Wellington Infantry Battalion, which existed from March 1917 and
campaigned on the Western Front - the Somme 1916; Messines 1917;
Passchendaele 1917. They had cloth patches sewn on the backs of uniform
jackets from to identify their unit.
Src: 100 Days Offensive
Early September, 1918, the Allied British pushed the German
forces on the Somme back to the Hindenburg Line where the German Army had
launched its spring offensive in March became its last major line of
defence on the Western Front. The New Zealand Division followed mopping
up a succession of rearguards. They fought their way through Havrincourt
Forest and Gouzeaucourt Wood before reaching Trescault Ridge, a position
that was part of a chain of enemy outposts and strongpoints screening the
Hindenburg Line, just 4 km to the east. On 12 September, the Third Army
attempted to overwhelm the German positions along Trescault Ridge,
capturing the villages of Havrincourt and Trescault and some of the high
ground during the Battle of Havrincourt (12–14 September). The New Zealand
Division, weakened from its efforts at Bapaume, struggled to advance on
Trescault Spur, an offshoot of the main ridge defended by elite troops.
After two days of bloody fighting the New Zealanders were relieved and
moved back to Bapaume to rest.
Late September, the Allies launched a massive offensive
against the Hindenburg Line, attacking simultaneously along more than half
of the Western Front. On the 26th, American and French forces struck in
the Meuse-Argonne region in the north-east. The next day, the British
First and Third armies pushed toward the city of Cambrai, capturing 10,000
prisoners and 200 field guns. In Flanders, the British Second Army and the
Belgian Army punched through German defences near Ypres on 28 September,
advancing up to 9 km in 24 hours – more ground than was taken in three
months of fighting at Passchendaele in 1917. Back on the Somme, the
British Fourth Army attacked the central sector of the Hindenburg Line on
29 September, crossing the St Quentin Canal and penetrating German support
lines. Stunned by the scale and ferocity of the Allied offensive, the
German high command implored the Kaiser to seek an immediate armistice to
allow their troops to withdraw to Germany and regroup. On 4 October, the
German government asked the Americans to broker a ceasefire. The New
Zealand Division came out of reserve for the final phases of the Battle of
the Canal du Nord (27 Sept – 1 Oct). Fighting their way through the main
Hindenburg Line, the 1st New Zealand Infantry Brigade seized the town of
Crèvecoeur on the final day of the battle, establishing a valuable
foothold across the Scheldt (Escaut) Canal in the process. In effect, the
New Zealanders had already broken through the ‘Masnières–Beaurevoir line’,
a trench system prepared hastily behind the Hindenburg Line on which the
Germans hoped to hold the Allied advance in this sector. After pausing
to regroup, the British Third and Fourth armies renewed their attack on 8
October. Breaking through weak German defences, the New Zealand Division
advanced more than 5 km to take the village of Esnes, capturing more than
1000 prisoners and a dozen field guns along the way. New Zealand suffered
800 casualties and Ernest Griffin was one of 150 who died in this
offensive. That night German forces withdrew to the Selle River, allowing
Canadian troops to take Cambrai unopposed. Further south, the New
Zealanders continued the pursuit for 18 km to the river, seizing an
important bridgehead at Briastre before being relieved on 14 October.

Lynley Reynolds visited the Wellington 100th ANZAC "Field of
Crosses" display held at the Wellington Botanic Gardens. This display was
a commemoration for all the Wellington Region WW1 service personnel who
lost their lives during the conflict - there were over 4000 crosses. The
cross she located and photographed commemorating the sacrifice made by
Ernest Arthur Griffin is shared by Randall Hughes. These have since been
removed,and are to be distributed to some 40 schools and will be brought
out for future ANZAC Day commemorations. 8/10/2018 - it will be 100
years since Ernest was killed in action in France and we who honor his
memory, are left to reflect that just over a month later at 11 a.m. on 11
November 1918, the armistice on the Western Front came into effect .. the
fighting ended as all guns fell silent......
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