NZ POWS

[christine liava'a]

I have just received a copy of a list of All? NZ POWs in WW1

531 of them supposedly, only I think part is missing , as I have counted them and there are only 468!

One heading is Unit

and under it are 189 men Ent Btn who were apparently captured on 16/4/1918 in Germany.

What does Ent Btn

mean? Entire Battalion?

and what NZEF group got captured on this date? Where were they and what were they doing?

[Guest bonza]

Entrenching Battalion?

The location, Germany, is equally intruiging. Not too many allies had made it that far by April 1918.

[christine liava'a]

Thanks Bonza,

"In France the New Zealand Division was almost always employed in attacks and in holding the line. A few prisoners were lost in trench raids, and a company of the Entrenching Battalion ran out of ammunition and was captured in the German offensive in April 1918. The British Official History remarks that this was the biggest loss of New Zealand prisoners during the war.

PS Why your name?

I had a great uncle, now dead, Whose nickname was "Bonce" short for "Bonza"- because he was a "Bonza baby"

[Captain Dave]

What does Ent Btn mean? Entire Battalion? and what NZEF group got captured on this date? Where were they and what were they doing?

As you have discovered, Ent Btn means Entrenching Battalion. What were they doing? Page 377 of the New Zealanders in France describes during the German offensive, NZ troops were withdrawn as the vanguard of the German tps advenced. During a counter attack in order to stabilise the line, the 1st and 3rd NZ Ent Bns were already in the Somme, but the 2nd was still at Abeele. It was reinforced with details from the Corps reinforcement wing to 1100 men and provided with 12 Lewis guns, it was rushed forward to plug the line behind the village of Meteren on the afternoon of the 12th. The Germans pushed through and

"Neuve Eglise fell in the early hours of the 14th, Bailleul on the 15th, Meteren on the 16th. In our withdrawl from the last place 2 Coys of the 2nd Ent Bn, new in the front line were involved. Though 60% of the men were new drafts, they held their ground with tenacity till they found the enemy round both flanks. The left coy fought it's way back, Sergt WP Merrin M.M inspiring his pl which was surrounded on 3 sides by the enemy. The right company nearer Mereten held on too long and lost 100 prisoners."

So there you go, fighting a delaying action with reinforcement troops. Incidently my wifes great, grandfather was with the left coy. He was rushed in as a reinforcement and posted to No 2 NZ Ent Bn 13 April 1918, he was wounded in action on 16 April 1918 with gunshot wounds to the back, arm and thigh. This was his second time being wounded by the age of 18. Speaking to his son, he apparantly carried round two holes in his arm and leg for the rest of his life that you could fit a babys hand in.